A class of prescription weight-loss drugs is transforming weight management to the point that manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand. big pharma continues to bet big on it and the market could be worth $150 billion by 2030.



When Johannesburg-based Kendi (name changed to protect privacy) was pregnant with her second child, she developed gestational diabetes. She didn’t have a family history of the disease so learning how to manage her sugar while nursing a newborn was a mine- field. After years of interchanging injections, patches and pens, her endocrinologist recommended Ozempic to go along with her insulin. Kendi wasn’t on Ozempic for weight loss although in the beginning, she did lose a few kilograms. Her doctors were happy because the drug was working as it was meant to and her blood glucose levels were signifi- cantly lower. The only problem was that when she went to collect her prescription, the pharmacy had no stock. Even the diabetic center was struggling to keep up with scripts, eventually creating a rule that they would only dispense medication if you were a patient at the center. “There are still times when I can’t get the right dosage and only the smaller pens are available,” she says. “You end up injecting double the amount; the pen finishes much quicker and then it’s back to the beginning…”



Welcome to the Ozempic era. A drug originally devel- oped to help treat adult-onset diabetes by stimulating insu- lin resistance is now being used to fight the global obesity epidemic. Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (and Wegovy) belong to a class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists and they’re transforming weight management to the point that manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand, something that hasn’t happened since anti-HIV drugs launched in the 1990s. But it’s not only injectable sema- glutide, the active component in Ozempic and Wegovy, there’s liraglutide (or Saxenda, also from Novo Nordisk) and tirzepatide (Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound) on the market which also target GLP-1 receptors, though they work through different mechanisms and have varied dos- ing schedules.



It’s a lot to take in. To say anti-obesity medicine is big business is an understatement, with Goldman Sachs ana- lysts predicting that the market could be worth $150 billion by the early 2030s.



Shares for both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are also booming, with the two pharmaceutical giants controlling around 80% of the obesity market. And while global spend- ing on obesity medications hit $24 billion last year, Ameri- can multinational company IQVIA’s estimation is that it should reach $131 billion by 2028. It’s no wonder that big pharma and biotech companies like Viking Therapeutics, Pfizer, Amgen and AstraZeneca are all hoping to break the weight-loss duopoly and launch their own GLP-1-based treatments.



In the United States (U.S.), a month’s supply of Ozem- pic costs around $1,000 (R18,000), depending on insurance coverage and dispensing pharmacy. Each box of Ozem- pic contains four weekly doses, administered by a pen. In South Africa, the price is significantly lower, starting at R1,500 ($85) for the minimum weekly dose. According to SAHPRA (South African Health Products Regulatory Au- thority), Ozempic is not registered for weight-loss use in South Africa. Saxenda, which is the same product as Vic- toza when used for diabetes, costs between R2,500 ($141) to R4,000 ($226), depending on the dose required.



Satiety and sugar control



First approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005, GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy, an injectable form of the drug semaglutide, was approved for adults with type 2 diabetes back in 2017. Semaglutide mimics a natural hormone in the body known as GLP-1 that plays a key role in controlling blood sugar and appetite. When blood sugar levels rise, these drugs help the body produce more insulin to lower it, while also reducing the amount of glucose re- leased by the liver.



Dr Brad Merwitz, a Johannesburg-based endocrinolo- gist, sees a number of patients every week that enquire about Ozempic. Of course, not everyone who comes to him is looking for a weight-loss miracle. Some people have pre- existing medical issues like diabetes or other co-morbidities and have read up about the drug. But with Ozempic, there’s something that he has never experienced before as a doctor – people asking for a drug by its name. “There’s been a shift. People used to ask about weight-loss drugs [in general] but not to this extent,” says Merwitz. “People now know the names of the drugs but not necessarily the side-effects, the cost or indications. They just know that there is this ‘wonder drug’ out there that can help them lose an enormous amount of weight in a short amount of time.”



Weight loss is not only the positive side-effect of Ozempic. Once the drug is in your system and the common, gastrointestinal side-effects like nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea dissipate, there are long-term benefits like improved liver function and lower stroke rates. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that semaglutide reduced the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including events like heart attacks and strokes, by around 20%.



Professor John Deanfield, the study’s lead author, said that semaglutide should be routinely prescribed to treat CVDs — a significant breakthrough, given that no previous weight-loss drugs have demonstrated similar cardiovascular benefits.



This is especially impactful for Africa, where car- diovascular disease is a major cause of death. What makes this finding even more remarkable is that the benefits extend beyond weight loss; participants with only mild obesity or limited weight loss still saw signifi- cant improvements in cardiovascular health.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-mental-shift">A mental shift</h2>



Another unexpected side-effect links to the brain and has neuroscientists excited about the connec- tion between GLP-1 and substance abuse disorders and behavioral issues. There are already signs that drugs in this category could treat neurological con- ditions like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s or even be repurposed as anxiety, depression or eating dis- orders’ medication. One of the most common pa- tient responses to taking semaglutide is that it helps to reduce ‘food noise’, a term often used to describe cravings or continual thoughts about eating. In the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, they refer to GLP-1 as a ‘satiety hormone’. This is because sema- glutide works by mimicking the hormone GLP-1, which affects multiple areas in the brain responsible for appetite regulation and fullness.



Merwitz says that what’s important to remember is that these drugs don’t work as a stimulant, like am- phetamines which were used in the past for medical weight loss. “They don’t have those central, neurologi- cal side-effects like the older weight-loss formulations. There is no addictive potential to them,” he adds. That said, Merwitz’ advice is that patients with diabetes should take precedence because there are multiple deleterious effects to uncontrolled sugar. That said, not every diabetic needs Ozempic – the ideal candidate for the drug should also be obese and have cardiovascular issues. “Moving forward, should funding and public health models allow it, these will probably become drugs that are used a lot earlier because of their cardio- protective effects and cardiovascular benefits,” he says.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A silver bullet?</h2>



For off-label use, it’s recommended that patients fol- low strict, calorie-controlled diets alongside other healthy habits like regular low-impact workouts. In fact, research from the Diabetes Care journal found that people who used Ozempic in conjunction with exercise lost significantly more weight than those who used Ozempic alone. “It’s not a silver bullet,” adds Merwitz, who says that what the literature says is that a third of people will have a very good response to GLP- 1, the next third will have an average response, and the last third of people will have no response. “Anecdot- ally, it’s not been my experience that as many as a third have no response.” While these drugs are designed for chronic disease, and the guideline is that you should be on them for a minimum of 12 weeks, people do stop for a number of reasons ranging from that they haven’t seen any weight loss to simply not being able to afford the treatment long-term.



The question really is – is the weight loss worth the cost? And when you stop a drug like Ozempic, have you put enough lifestyle modifications in place that the weight doesn’t return? In a CNBC interview with a senior executive from Novo Nordisk, it was said that most people will recover most of their weight within five years of stopping an obesity drug.



Some individuals may actually gain more weight after stopping an obesity drug than they initially lost. ‘Ozempic rebound’ is common, without the right life- style interventions in place.



But unlike bariatric surgery, which is a permanent procedure (and that comes with post-operative com- plications), GLP-1 drugs are a well-tolerated and re- versable solution.



Goldman Sachs estimates that GLP-1 agonist drugs could be used by up to 70 million consumers world- wide by 2028. In South Africa, where obesity is wide- ly prevalent, Ozempic could be revolutionary. “It’s a very exciting space,” says Merwitz. “Hav- ing these drugs available has really changed the way we manage obesity. It’s given us options we’ve never had before.”

Ozempic

Worth The Weight: Medicine’s Gold Rush

Africa! It was the Formula 1 of political unrest, extremism, and democratic reversals, from 2020 – coups competing for attention, authoritarian powers vying for a podium finish and great-power competition clogging the tracks. The colosseum of Africa in the cauldron of discontent. Yet, U.S. engagement in Africa remains deprioritized in Washington, with only sporadic attention, notwithstanding the actions that can indeed reinvigorate democracy and stabilize the region. Instead, enhanced barriers to market access push African countries further away.



Between 2021 and 2024, the U.S. administration actually suspended a record eight African countries from the U.S. tra preference program, AGOA. The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism puts further pit stops for African manufacturing exports.



And China is buying less crude oil from Africa.



Angola, the second-largest exporter of oil to China in 2010, now, ranks eighth. South Sudan, Sudan and Nigeria have seen declines hovering around 70% in their hydrocarbons’ trade with China. But it’s not all gloom and doom in this Olympiad of hidden agendas.



In minerals and metals trade, African exports to China was $50 billion in 2021, from $15 billion in 2010.



Impressively, Chinese investments are now extending into refining and processing on the continent. These include large lithium processing plants in Zimbabwe and Nigeria.



The latest African sport is China’s focus on semi-processed African agriculture exports. China has even committed to opening “green lanes” to fast-track inspection and quarantine processes. Thirty percent of Kenya’s avocados are exported to China today. Namibia began exporting beef in 2019. Ethiopia and Rwanda also send coffee to China.



These are promising signs in a continent where agriculture contributes a fifth of GDP but provides 50% employment.



As Chinese manufacturers accelerate efforts to relocate and avoid the great Western backlash, destinations have been Southeast Asia and Latin America as U.S. gateways.



Africa will benefit from these shifts if integrated into global manufacturing supply chains. There is much work to do.



As labor costs elsewhere rise, relocating production bases to Africa is sensible. This requires better infrastructure though.



China can then help Africa build up comprehensive industrial capacity in the coming years. Already, Chinese e-commerce platforms are a doorway for African suppliers. Innovative live streaming events on e-commerce platforms during shopping festivals in China boost sales.



Reportedly, the sales of Kenyan tea and Ethiopian coffee surged 409% and 143% respectively during one event alone.



Let’s now move to soft power. How it embeds if you catch them young.



China is the second-most popular destination for Africans seeking higher education abroad, with 81,600 students; 61 Confucius Institutes have been established in 48 African countries already. China supports over 30 African universities and programs to study Chinese language. Universities in China have added new courses for African languages, such as Amharic, Malagasy and Zulu. There is also a plan to train 500 vocational teachers and 10,000 technical personnel annually. Then comes the icing. Media and cultural exchanges between Africa and China have increased. Joint production and broadcasting of movies and television series are rising.



Footballers from Angola, Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria have joined China’s Premier League. Chinese tourists are growing as African countries provide visa-free/on-arrival entries to Chinese visitors. China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has listed 34 African countries for travel. But then, what is the battle of the heart and mind without a bit of money too? China is a prominent lender of last resort through rescue loans and central bank swaps to distressed countries. Not surprisingly, bilateral non-dollar Chinese Renminbi (RMB)-based financing is stealthily growing too.



The agreement reached by Zambia under the G20 Common Framework in June 2023 is a milestone for the Chinese approach to debt restructuring, which favors repayment extension instead of haircut relief.



But somewhere, something is missing which should help the other contestants. China Inc is shifting from infrastructure-oriented projects toward industrialization- oriented projects. African policy responses and the



ability of Western countries to muscle back through core infrastructure financing will be the cherry to pick.



The implementation of the Lobito Corridor by the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment will test the G7’s commitment to infrastructure investments in Africa. Whether the U.S. continues to prioritize the



program’s continuity remains to be seen — especially with a new U.S. administration in 2025. To strike gold, you need a plan. The U.S. and its allies still lack that coherent, well- funded and coordinated strategy to solve the ‘trilemma’: defend democracy, ensure security and extend geopolitical influence; all a function of development and market access. Historically, other strategic priorities have always drawn Washington’s attention away from Africa; Gaza and Ukraine being the current distractions to a massive opportunity.



And hence for Africa, it’s got to be about making hay while the sun shines from the East. Textbooks on ‘how to do things’ are meaningless at the altar of cheque books at times of extreme desperation. Therein lies the current puzzle of how to matter to Africa now. African wisdom thus has to be to ‘run with the hare and hunt with the hounds’.

China-Africa Liner

Expert-Speak: How To Matter To Africa Now

Calling all visionaries, risk-takers and young change-makers; FORBES AFRICA is all set to for the 2025 intake!



For drawing up the continent’s most sought-after list of young leaders, we are on the quest for 30 of Africa’s brightest people under the age of 30 in the Business, Technology, Creatives, Sport and Science/Health categories.



Every year, the magazine’s 30 Under 30 listers prove that they are not just about commerce and clout but also about representing their countries and the diverse, heterogeneous continent they want to serve. The class of 2025 should be no different.



From Tyla to Davido, Vimbai Masiyiwa to Alex Mativo, Tatjana Smith to Faith Kipyegon, they have earned their place on the list. If you make the 11th instalment of the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list, you will join more past honorees such as Elsa Majimbo, Mr. Eazi, Lasizwe, Musa Keys, Lloyd Harris, Sho Madjozi, Bruce Diale, Antonio Depina, Karabo Poppy, Thuso Mbedu, Dr. Esperance Luvindao, Nomzamo Mbatha, Kabza De Small, Burna Boy, Nthabiseng Mosia, Shamim Nabuuma Kaliisa, Sikander Kalla, Nasty C, Chad le Clos, and WizKid.



Our nomination process is rigorous, and those who progress to subsequent rounds will need to provide a police clearance certificate (PCC) or report from your country verifying you have no criminal record, no ongoing disputes or upcoming court cases and that you are a citizen of the country.



As an extra layer of verification, the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 team of curators and editorial research teams will also need a recommendation/reference letter from your financial institution (such as your bank) ensuring you are a legitimate business/brand deploying your funds responsibly. We recommend you contact your financial institution or advisor to prepare for this part of the process.



“For the 11th year, we will sift through the nominations flooding our inboxes to discern the boldest innovators and leaders under the age of 30 in Africa today. They will need to prove what they are doing differently to make the cut as tomorrow’s titans and tycoons pushing the needle of development,” says Renuka Methil, Editor of FORBES AFRICA.



CRITERIA FOR NOMINATIONS AND APPLICATIONS: 



Please read the following carefully before applying. APPLICATIONS CLOSE 20 February 2025 17:00 (SAST)



Business and Technology categories&nbsp;



<ol start="1" class="wp-block-list">
<li>Must be an entrepreneur/founder aged 29 or younger as on 31 March 2025 </li>



<li>Should have a legitimate REGISTERED business on the continent </li>



<li>Business/businesses should be two years or older (please ensure you have your audited financial documents for at least two years as well as your company’s registration documents; should you make the second stage, this will be required) </li>



<li>The more innovative the business the better (as it contributes to Africa’s growth story!) </li>



<li>Have you/your company created social impact on the African continent? </li>



<li>The company must be profit-generating </li>



<li>Must employ people in Africa </li>



<li>All applications must be in English </li>
</ol>



Sports category



<ol start="1" class="wp-block-list">
<li>Must be a sports person aged 29 or younger as on 31 March 2025</li>



<li>Must be representing an African team</li>



<li>Should have a proven track-record of no less than two years</li>



<li>Should have significant earnings</li>



<li>Endorsement deals and/or awards of any kind would be a bonus</li>



<li>Entrepreneurship and social impact are a plus, especially if you are a sportsperson applying under the Business/Technology categories. However, the business must abide by the same rules as under Business/Technology.</li>



<li>All applications must be in English</li>
</ol>



Creatives category&nbsp;



<ol start="1" class="wp-block-list">
<li>Must be a creative aged 29 or younger on 31 March 2025 </li>



<li>Must be from or based in Africa </li>



<li>Should be making significant earnings </li>



<li>Should have a proven creative record of no less than two years </li>



<li>Awards of any kind would be a bonus  </li>



<li>Social media presence will be taken into consideration. </li>



<li>Entrepreneurship and social impact are a plus, especially if you are a creative applying under the Business/Technology categories. However, the business must be legitimate, registered and also two years or older. </li>



<li>All applications must be in English </li>
</ol>



Health/Science categories&nbsp;



<ol start="1" class="wp-block-list">
<li>Must be a creative aged 29 or younger on 31 March 2025 </li>



<li>Must be from or based in Africa </li>



<li>Should have a proven track record in the field of health and/or science for no less than two years</li>



<li>Must have social influence and impact </li>



<li>If the nominee is a doctor/professor, please provide us with documentation and a reference letter from the institution where the applicant received a doctorate or Ph.D   </li>



<li>Entrepreneurship and social impact are a plus, especially if applying under the Business/Technology categories. However, the business must be legitimate, registered, and also two years or older. </li>



<li>All applications must be in English</li>
</ol>



<a href="https://forbesafrica.typeform.com/Under302025">>>>>>>>>>Click here to apply&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;</a>

under 30_1200 x 900

The 11th Annual List – Call For Nominations To FORBES AFRICA’s 30 Under 30 Class Of 2025

The value of African art in the international market has reportedly more than doubled to $72 million.



At various times in the latter-day stages of its chameleonic three-billion-year life, it’s been known as Epher, Ophir, Ham, Corphye, and Faraqa. It’s been Alkebulan: ‘the mother of mankind’. This womb of creativity is Also Known As Africa, itself the mischievous title of an annual art and design fair returning for its ninth edition from October 18 to 20 at Le Carreau du Temple, Paris.



“Also Known As Africa is an open-ended question to all artists, art lovers, curators, collectors and professionals to join the conversation about what is each and everyone&#8217;s Africa,” says Victoria Mann, the fair’s founding director. “It’s about making no assumptions, and embracing everyone&#8217;s unique vision.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
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The fair features 37 exhibitors and over a hundred artists, with a “particular focus” on the ultra-marine scene.



“We created AKAA with the intention of presenting artists defined not by their location, but by the link to the African continent they highlight in their art practice,” says Mann. “These links go above and beyond borders. Highlighting the Caribbean and West Indies territories is in line with this approach, and we are thrilled to include talents who very naturally find their place alongside the diverse line-up of artists showcased at the fair.”



These wider cross-continental conversations reach out into the diaspora, facilitating a de-colonization of the creative ‘supply chain’ by supporting a multiplicity of perspectives. “Over the past nine years, we have seen incredibly compelling and innovative ways we can see contemporary African art from an angle that highlights these conversations through curatorial practices, residency programs, and within the market,” she says. “More contemporary artists from Africa are joining international galleries, who have a diverse roster of artists, and several galleries that specialized in the African contemporary art scenes are now working with artists from other parts of the world, creating that dialogue internally.”



In the 10 years since AKAA’s inception, the value of African art in the international market has more than doubled to $72 million, as biases about the nature of African art have shifted and matured into a more nuanced understanding of its diversity and breadth. “Our aim was to offer an economic and cultural platform that would contribute to the development and rise of this market, and that would allow the French public to understand and appreciate these art scenes without cliché or preconceptions,” Mann says. “This is no longer an emergent market, but one that is stable, and growing stronger. Galleries that participated in AKAA as their first international fair now travel the whole world, and young artists who were presented for the first time in Paris have been acquired by major collections.”



The venue, a covered market close to the 800-year-old enclosure where the royal family were held captive during the French Revolution, was an important curatorial choice that gives larger installations room to breathe and interact with the exhibition space.



“From the very start, the Carreau du Temple, with its urban metallic structures and high ceilings allowing natural light to pour in, was the ideal canvas to welcome a monumental installation,” she says. This year’s installation is by Malam, a Paris-based artist from Cameroon “whose work brings about a dialogue between the memory carried by discarded objects, and the consequences of overconsumption our modern-day society faces”.



This is a freedom not only of artistic scale, but to be and name oneself, celebrated in the country of liberation.



“I don&#8217;t believe that any artist today wishes to be qualified by where they come from, but rather by what they do,” Mann says. “It’s a much more dynamic, contemporary, and rich way to present these art scenes.”

Delphine Diallo, The Protector of Humanity_2023©FisheyeGallery

‘What Is Each And Everyone’s Africa’: Check Out This Art Liberation In The Streets Of Paris

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="10" height="17" src="">It is a workplace reality that caring too much for your colleagues can hurt you.



It is the essence of ‘compassion fatigue’, a increasingly common concern in workplaces all around us.



Consider a librarian stacking books on a shelf designed to comfortably hold 20 volumes.



Day by day, more books are added to push the load to 30 and then 40. Eventually, the shelf buckles under the weight of twice its intended capacity.



The shelf is no longer able to perform its primary function without repair or reinforcement.



This analogy vividly illustrates the dangers of compassion fatigue – an affliction of growing concern in many workplaces.



Compassion fatigue occurs when individuals, particularly those in supervisory, management or leadership roles, find themselves absorbing the emotional stress of their team members well beyond their personal capabilities.



In the modern workplace, individuals are increasingly expected to navigate high-stress environments themselves while providing support and maintaining a high level of empathy and sensitivity towards their colleagues.



This often means they prioritize the needs of others above their own.



Over time, this unsustainable cycle leads to a breakdown and renders them incapable of assisting anyone – including themselves.



This phenomenon is characterized by a profound emotional and physical exhaustion that diminishes a person’s ability to empathize or feel compassion for others.



Originally identified among professions with high exposure to traumatic situations, in sectors such as healthcare, social work and emergency services, it is now recognized as a more widespread issue affecting individuals in a wide variety of workplaces.



For instance, nurses and doctors face daily trauma as they care for critically-ill patients, sometimes leading to emotional exhaustion and reduced empathy.



In a corporate setting, consider a project manager who oversees a high-pressure team with tight deadlines and significant client demands.



This manager constantly mediates conflicts, manages stress and provides emotional support to their team. Over time, the continuous emotional labor without adequate breaks or support can lead to compassion fatigue.



And employees in high-stress customer service roles, like call center agents, experience repetitive emotional strain from handling constant complaints, which can lead to diminished sympathy and patience.



Compassion fatigue can present differently in everyone while individuals might observe its symptoms in their personal life, their work environment or both.



Common signs include irritability, anger and anxiety, which are often accompanied by sleep disturbances such as insomnia or nightmares.



Individuals might feel burdened by the emotional demands of their roles, leading to reduced job satisfaction and a withdrawal from social interactions. Both physical and mental fatigue are common alongside a loss of enjoyment in daily activities.



There can be issues with concentration, a tendency to suppress emotions and a dread of work responsibilities – coupled with feelings of guilt.



Some might experience numbness, hopelessness or a sense of powerlessness.



Denial is also a significant barrier, preventing individuals from acknowledging their struggles and seeking help.



While compassion fatigue and burnout are often seen as the same, primarily because they both involve emotional and physical exhaustion, they differ in their origins and how they present.



Compassion fatigue arises specifically from prolonged exposure to others’ trauma or significant distress. Burnout stems from chronic workplace stress and overwork, affecting various job sectors beyond caregiving.



Recognizing these signs is crucial for safeguarding against the debilitating effects of compassion fatigue.



Prevention also requires an individual to cultivate a balance between being empathetic and maintaining emotional boundaries to prevent the over-absorption of others’ stress and emotional states.



For those who feel they might be at risk of succumbing to compassion fatigue, it is worth remembering the many adages that highlight the importance of self-care. So, heed the wisdom of adages such as “you cannot pour from an empty cup”, which underscores the importance of self-care in sustaining one’s ability to care for others.

Burnout businesswoman under pressure in the office

Expert-Speak: Compassion Fatigue – The Dangerous Descent From Helping To Hurting

In the pristine wilderness of Gabon are the majestic and gentle Western Lowland Gorillas. A firsthand report from our travel writer on what goes into habituating them.



Sitting still in the forest with my tracker, we were awaiting the arrival of western low- land gorillas on their morning forage. And then, suddenly, as if on cue, they did, slowly but surely. In the thick ar- rowroot bush undergrowth, I noticed a juvenile western lowland gorilla staring at me through the verdant leaves. Soon, I was surrounded by juveniles, sub-adults and mothers watching me curiously. A baby gorilla and her sibling came almost 10ft from me at which time we had to hurriedly move away to keep a healthy distance – so as not to expose them to airborne human viruses. That moment still lives in me.



I am recollecting this experience from about a decade ago when visiting the Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of the Congo (ROC), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, where Dr Magdalena Bermejo, a Spanish primatologist, first habituated the western lowland gorillas in the early 1990s. Like the habituation of mountain gorillas at the Bwindi National Park in southwestern Uganda in 1991, enacting the same process for their western cousins had been a remarkable achievement.



The habituation of wild gorillas – the process of getting them to ignore the presence of humans, or be used to seeing and being around humans – has long proven to be a useful tool for research and conservation programs. It generates revenue for sustainable tourism for local communities, ends the practice of bushmeat hunting, enables detailed research on feeding ecology and social behavior in addition to protecting the forests where they live.



Mountain gorillas are large apes with long dark hair and an average weight of 440 pounds. They are to be found in mountainous areas, at elevations from 8,000ft to 13,000ft, in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); and they have adapted to freezing temperatures. Lowland gorillas, much smaller and weighing an average of 330 pounds, live in the equatorial rainforests in much warmer environments, and forage for food on adjacent swamp lands and savannah grasslands. They inhabit the countries of Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the ROC and the Central African Republic (CAR).



During my Odzala trip in 2015, I was completely enamored by these gentle creatures and spent several hours watching them go about their daily lives. Over dinner once with Dr Bermejo, I learned about the difficulties and expenses of habituation, including the dangers of exposing human-borne viruses to these apes.



She said her biggest shock came when over 5,000 gorillas – including the nearly 200 animals her research group was observing – died during an Ebola outbreak in the ROC. She shared with me the research videos, captured using camera traps, of their social behavior.



In my quest to see these gorillas again, I traveled to Gabon in 2018. The country has the largest population of these animals inhabiting the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest area after the Amazon. This second visit to see habituated gorillas took me to the Loango National Park where scientists from the Max Planck Institute from Leipzig, Germany, had begun their research since 2016.



With my interest peaking after visiting Gabon, I met Spanish conservationist Antonio Anoro, whose NGO, Gabon Untouched, has been developing eco-tourism in the country. For over a decade, Anoro has played a key role in bringing tourism to the remote Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, home to the one of highest numbers of western lowland gorillas and chimpanzees.



Gabon Untouched, in collaboration with Dr Etienne François Akomo-Okoue of IRET (Institut de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale), have managed to protect a



17-member gorilla group – originally habituated by scientists from Kyoto University, Japan, in 2005 – for the sake of research, tourism and community development.



After yet another visit to Gabon in 2019, Anoro invited me to join his NGO as an advisor, thereby giving me an opportunity to help and also get a firsthand look at gorilla conservation and sustainable tourism development.



In 2023, Gabon Untouched and IRET launched a new program to habituate another group of gorillas. They selected an area on the perimeter of the Moukalaba-Dou- dou National Park, where intense ape activity had been noticed by villagers. Using scientific parameters proven by apex species surveys, camera traps were set up in three transects running over 2kms into the forest. Within weeks, the images of gorillas and chimpanzees approaching a nearby stream were recorded and a suitable site selected for the habituation process.



The habituation of gorillas in the tropical forests of Central Africa requires high-tracking skills prior to making the decision of which group to follow. As studies show, it is important to employ the same trackers to continue searching for gorillas in the forest – to increase their tracking skills and techniques. These abilities include finding the trails of gorillas from field signs (feces, footprint, food scraps), identifying the vocalization of gorillas and using the aforementioned techniques to locate them.



Accumulated experience in the forest and the ability to predict their location daily helps to follow trails of gorillas reliably and consistently.



Experience has shown that it takes four trackers, spending an average of nine hours per day in the presence of these animals, for habituation to take effect. Two to three years of such efforts, often accompanied by researchers, accelerate the habituation process. Silver- backs, the leaders of a gorilla family of up to 20 members, become semi-habituated within a year of regular contact. Historically, habituating females takes longer than males, and like the males, they start with avoidance, aggression and curiosity before habituation.



On my last trip to Gabon last year, I met Rodrigue Nzou, one of the leaders of community eco-tourism organization Papa Yitu in the Punu village of Doussala, at the edge of the Moukalaba-Doudou National Park.



Nzou told me: “Conservation has changed the way villagers look at wildlife. The employment from research and eco-tourism activities has stopped the hunting for bushmeat.”



It has been a tradition among the Punu people to call the silverback gorilla ‘Papa’ (chief in French). The name ‘Yitu’ means ‘hope’ in their language. As the head of Papa Yitu (hope for the gorillas), Nzou works closely with Gabon Untouched. Gabon, which is 90% forested and often called the Last Eden, is home to nearly 30,000 western lowland gorillas – that’s 25% of its estimated total population. Their protection also keeps the planet green by saving the forests where they live.

gabon

Track, Watch, Befriend: Habituating Gorillas In Gabon

Amid the widespread global support for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there was an underlying concern among economists and financial advisors in the emerging and frontier markets: public sector and donor funds were stalled, if not regressing, and the funding gap to realize the SDGs was increasing. The challenge was to incentivize and mobilize private capital, reduce risk-return profiles, and avoid conflicts of interest such as institutions providing commercial financing and managing concessional resources.



In 2002, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided project finance subsidies to multinational funders. Seven years later, a $30 million Clean Technology Fund Renewable Financing Facility was used to finance a 250MW wind project in Mexico. These were early steps in using a mix of public and private capital to support clean energy projects in developing countries.



Today, the term ‘blended finance’ is much more common, as multilateral institutions and donors invest more official development assistance (ODA) in this way.



Using development finance and philanthropic funds to drive private capital flows to emerging and developing markets is an accepted catalyst that helps to bridge the financing gap and contribute to the SDGs.



Blended finance is being used successfully in sectors including renewable energy infrastructure, urban transport, and agriculture. The Global Environment Facility —an independent financial organization established in 1991 comprising representatives from 32 constituencies — is a prime example, using blended finance to scale up financing for renewable energy technologies in developing countries.



South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) exemplifies how blended finance can help renewable projects. The government provided initial support and guarantees to mitigate risks for private investors and international financiers; development finance institutions offered concessional loans and guarantees to cover political/credit risks in this emerging market; and a robust regulatory framework with power purchase agreements ensured predictable investment returns. By blending public de-risking instruments with private capital, the program successfully unlocked renewable energy investment by addressing investor concerns upfront through an enabling policy environment.



Managing the risk



Blended finance clearly depends on public sector support to encourage private investment in emerging markets. However, legal frameworks, stability, and transparency must be addressed; clear laws and policies are essential, while ensuring clarity and accountability in complex financing arrangements. Governments and international institutions are crucial in facilitating this environment.



Blended finance fund recipients acknowledge that, while beneficial in attracting private investment for public projects, there are potential risks. In the worst case scenario, misalignment between the financial objectives of private investors and the social or environmental goals of public or philanthropic funders may lead to reputational damage if investments result in unintended negative social or environmental impacts. Therefore, it is essential to customize ODA by considering the appropriate use of blending in emerging markets.



Solving for the opportunity



Mitigating the risks requires a robust financial ecosystem that fosters public-private dialogue and partnerships, enhanced due diligence, and the involvement of local communities Multilateral development banks and international financial institutions can create the right climate for investment, encouraging participation by pooling capital from public, private and philanthropic sources to spread risk. They can also offer risk-sharing instruments such as guarantees or insurance products to protect against political, credit and currency risks, thereby mitigating potential losses and making projects more attractive to investors.



Banks and financial institutions on the ground, with longstanding market expertise, can help promote consensus among stakeholders to establish principles for structuring and allocating blended finance, which can prove valuable.



The private sector can provide technical assistance to strengthen project preparation, build the capacity of local partners, and ensure that projects are developed with sound governance practices and business plans.



Conclusion



Developing countries are still far short of the financing required to achieve SDG Agenda 2030. Leveraging private finance is only part of the solution – getting the finance to where it is most needed is what matters. Blended finance can, and should, play a crucial role in achieving global development goals facilitating large-scale capital mobilization and ensuring that such mobilizations are carried out responsibly and sustainably, ultimately contributing to a more equitable and sustainable global economy.

diversity team discussion focused on ESG (environment,social,governance)  for net zero goals in a sustainable green office

Expert-Speak: Blended Finance – Bridging The Gap In Emerging Markets In Support Of The SDGs

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Steering South Africa Inc.: The 2024 List Of Top CEOs In Africa’s Biggest Economy

Born and raised in Uganda, software engineer and rower Kathleen Noble has represented the East African country in the niche sport at two Olympic games.



Those who did not know probably did a double take at the blonde-haired woman in Ugandan colors in her rowing boat at the Paris Olympics.



But although she is of Irish ancestry, Kathleen Noble is every bit Ugandan as any other who has represented the ‘Pearl of Africa’ at the Olympic Games.



Noble was born in Kampala to Irish missionaries, her father, a doctor, and mother, a teacher, who have lived in Uganda for the past 31 years. “When we grew up in Uganda, people asked where I was from and I’d say ‘Ireland’. But then when I was on holiday in Ireland, people asked me where I was from, and I’d say ‘Uganda’.”



She swam for Uganda while still a schoolgirl and almost by accident now finds herself a double Olympian in the single-scull rowing competition.



“When I finished high school, I was kind of done with swimming and wasn’t really thinking of continuing. I kind of felt like going to the World Championships was a capstone to that career and something I was very happy with,” she tells FORBES AFRICA.



Instead, she went to Princeton University in the United States (U.S.) to study, and where her roommate was on the rowing team.



“I found that I was missing sport and so she was kind of like, ‘maybe you should try out rowing’ and I’m like, ‘okay, maybe I’ll try it out’.



“The reason I joined was because I wanted to exercise, I wanted a team, I wanted the opportunity to compete, and I wanted to be outdoors. And then I found that I really enjoyed the rowing part of it. And I was quite good at it.”



She was quickly on to the varsity team and not long after, there was a coincidental visit to the school by Uganda’s rowing coach and a connection was quickly made.



“Rodrick Muhumuza was the national coach at the time. And he was there on some kind of training trip. And he ended up talking to a girl who was on my team, and she then told him about me, and then he got in touch with me. And so that’s kind of how I got connected to the Ugandan team. I would never have thought to go looking for them. It had never occurred to me before that that I could compete in international competition.”



After graduating, Noble retired from rowing and did not do it for a year. She was then invited to the Olympic Qualifiers and it did not take long to find her stride and make the Uganda squad for the last Games in Tokyo.



“It was a very restricted experience, because of Covid-19. For me, the primary emotion was just relief, because there were so many steps along the way, where it seemed like it wasn’t going to happen. Paris, with the full experience of having spectators and drawing from that energy, was definitely one of the factors that drove me to go for a second Games.”



Now, she lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the U.S., juggling work as a software engineer with her Olympic training. “The attitude I take towards my training is that I want to do the best that I can within the constraints that I have. And to recognize that, I’m not in a position of being a full-time professional athlete, and that is okay.”



But it will be with pride that she wears Ugandan colors and her journey with rowing in the country is far from over.



“Uganda is a lovely place to grow up and I miss it. Representing Uganda has had a key role in my identi- fying as Ugandan. That has kind of forced me to step up to the plate a little bit and be like, ‘yes, this is my country’, and I feel closer to it for it.



“We have a vision of setting up a High Performance Centre in Uganda. I feel like I’ve been given so many opportunities, and I feel that I want to take those and reflect them back or allow those to be an avenue, through which other people can have opportunities,” Noble says.

Rowing – Olympics: Day 7

Proudly Wearing Ugandan Colors And Rowing For The Country

On the morning of July 14, 1978, South African Kevin Anderson left Shakespeare beach in Dover for Cap Gris-Nez in France – a 32km stretch of water that’s physically and mentally demanding. Strong currents, unpredictable weather, jelly fish, icy cold water, and possible hypothermia were just some of the risks he faced. When he walked out the water on the other side, he was the youngest person in history to finish – he was just 11 years old.



On 24 August, 2022, Michelle Weber broke the South African women’s record for the fastest crossing. In September 2024, the oldest ever channel swimmer was Otto Thaning, a 73-year-old heart surgeon from South Africa.



And these are just three of the stories that capture the spirit of South African swimmers – and continue to cement the country’s reputation as reportedly one of the top three in the world for creating English Channel swimmers.



But, is this exclusive to South Africans, or are there other factors in play? FORBES AFRICA asked Derrick Frazer, owner of Big Bay Events, a company that trains English Channel swimmers, why he believes South Africa is such a popular training ground.


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“A lot of swimmers from countries with warm water such as America, Australia and India, have to spend a huge amount of time acclimatizing to cold water, whereas swimmers who have trained in Cape Town go to the channel and say, ‘wow, this water is so warm, it’s fantastic’,” he laughs.



“If we can get 13- or 14-degree water here, we’re happy, and the channel is around 16 to 17 degrees.”



The other success factor is a combination of cost and Cape Town. The False Bay swim is similar in length and complexity as the English Channel, it is also significantly cheaper. “It can cost at least R250,000 (approximately $14,385) to swim the Channel,” says Frazer. “It’s a huge amount of money and this is without factoring in a two-year training plan and, if you don’t live in Cape Town, flying in for training sessions in cold water.”



Having trained people from all over the world with an 83% success rate crossing the Channel, Frazer is quick to highlight how local is actually just as lekker.



“Getting a good slot for the Channel swim is hard and the cost is incredibly high. There is also the fact that if the weather is bad, the swimmers can’t cross, and this year has been particularly bad. Because the swimmers don’t want to lose their fitness, they come to False Bay instead.”



False Bay is just as challenging, significantly cheaper, and growing in global popularity. As Frazer points out – the well-known races are hard to get bookings for, they’ve been subject to competitive price increases, and often exclude swimmers without big budgets.



“False Bay is growing in international stature as more people come here to face the challenge – it’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the next few years,” he concludes.

Image 2 courtesy Derrick Frazer at Big Bay Events

How South Africans Have Made History Swimming The English Channel And Why The Country Is A Popular Training Ground

Last year, FORBES AFRICA featured inspiring women in our first-ever ‘Over 30 Under 50’ list, celebrating those excelling in their 30s and 40s. From musicians and actors to business leaders and tech entrepreneurs, we highlighted a dynamic cross-section of female trailblazers, disruptors, and decision-makers across the continent.



We now announce the second annual FORBES AFRICA &#8216;Over 30 Under 50&#8217; list, to be published early 2025, to showcase a new set of formidable leaders in this age group in Africa writing their stories and owning their success.



Know someone who fits the bill? Nominate them today – or apply to share your journey!



<a href="https://forbesafrica.typeform.com/Over30Under50">>>>>>>>Click here to nominate&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;</a>


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Call For Nominations For FORBES AFRICA’s 2025 ‘Over 30 Under 50’ List

The Bristol Zoo Project is set to evoke a sense of the dense forest and landscape of Equatorial Guinea.



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“Conservation zoos have a critical role to play in working with communities and connecting them with wildlife.” – Dr Justin Morris
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If you were looking for wildlife in the United Kingdom’s cool and rainy southwest, you’d easily find squirrels, hedgehogs, perhaps the occasional deer. Bats too. Even beaver. Stoic, quotidian creatures, unperturbed by sunlessness and drizzle.



You might not expect to discover endangered species like cherry-crowned mangabeys, slender-snouted crocodiles, or African grey parrots, but spot them you can from spring 2026, thanks to Bristol Zoo Project’s Central African Forest habitat, now under development on a 136-acre site in the Gloucestershire woodlands. These exotic additions to the British countryside will be joined by the Zoo’s troop of western lowland gorillas, in an environment designed “to evoke a sense of the dense forest and landscape of Equatorial Guinea” by the Bristol Zoological Society, a conservation and education charity founded in 1835.



“The character of a central African forest is created through utilizing and enhancing the qualities of the local landscape, rather than attempting a false replication of the original habitat,” says the charity’s Chief Executive, Dr Justin Morris. “And by understanding and applying the structure of a tropical forest, which consists of specimen trees, upper, mid and lower stratum, and a forest ground cover. Each area, particularly the animal houses and interior spaces, has been built with temperatures and humidities as a central requirement for each species. Of course, our existing gorilla troop are well acclimatized to the British weather already.”



Though 78% of the species the Society cares for are threatened, they are also part of targeted conservation programs; Morris says the aim is to increase this number to 90% by 2035. The new habitat will eventually be joined by the Central African Savannah project, home to black rhino and ostrich, alongside the Society’s existing giraffe, cheetah and zebra populations.



In a 21st century Britain becoming more sensitive to its colonial past, and less and less comfortable with animals living in captivity (according to YouGov research, half of surveyed Britons believe the practice of keeping large animals should be phased out, with a quarter calling for zoos to be banned entirely), the Society’s projects are as much about capturing hearts and minds through education as providing safe havens for animals whose continued existence on the planet is now in dire jeopardy.



“Like our award-winning Bear Wood (a walkway experience through treetops, from which wolves, lynx and wolverine can also be glimpsed), the new Central African Forest habitat will have integrated learning spaces, enabling students, visitors and schoolchildren to observe, record and appreciate animals in a natural scene, connecting people to threatened wildlife and animals in an immersive landscape,” says Morris.



The site will also feature a Conservation Campus, giving young people access to new knowledge opportunities around veterinary medicine and animal breeding.



“By creating a new education and skills hub for the region, with 20 new learning spaces, we want to inspire and create the conservationists of the future,” Morris says. “It will provide teaching facilities for more than 600 students each year, participating in our higher education programs, and help us to engage 90,000 school children.



Visitors will be able to watch veterinary procedures, see animals extinct in the wild and being bred for reintroduction, explore field conservation programs across the world, and learn how they can become conservationists themselves.”



A home away from home then, for these critically endangered creatures, and a rare chance for the human population of a curious island nation to share in their new and protected lives.



“Conservation zoos have a critical role to play in working with communities and connecting them with wildlife,” says Morris. “We have an incredible opportunity at Bristol Zoo Project to show what a modern, progressive conservation zoo can be.”

How A Central African Forest Is Shaping Up In The UK

South Africa’s first electric minibus taxi, eKamva, was unveiled at the Smarter Mobility Africa Summit in Johannesburg today.



It was launched alongside an integrated electric vehicle (EV) business model and charging infrastructure called ‘flx EV’.



The prototype electric minibus is a project by GoMetro, Powerfleet, formerly MiX Telematics, alongside electronics manufacturer HSW, ACDC Dynamics’ charging network, and Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Engineering.



The 15-seater electric minibus has a 70kWh battery capable of a 200km range for commutes; and 80% of its battery recharges within 45 minutes from its 50kW DC charging support.&nbsp;



Justin Coetzee, CEO of GoMetro, tells FORBES AFRICA that the journey started two years ago, when the world started going electric. “We asked ourselves, why isn’t there an electric minibus?”



Most electric buses available were 9m in length, so after a challenging search across Europe and China, GoMetro eventually found a Chinese model that could be turned into a South African-specific minibus.



“If we’re going to electrify the minibus sector, we’re going to have to do it ourselves. This is a proudly South African project alongside our industrial partnerships,” says Coetzee.



The flx EV website will soon allow minibus taxi owners and operators to apply to be added to the waiting list, while the flx app will let owners manage fleets, monitor vehicle status, prepay for charging, and find its nearest charging hub.



GoMetro will be taking eKamva on a roadshow later this year, targeting taxi ranks, associations, and hubs in South Africa’s Western Cape.



“That to me is the highlight – the industry is at the start of the journey with us, so we have to make sure that whatever they want out of an electric taxi, we listen,” adds Coetzee.



GoMetro plans to build a hub at the Century City taxi rank in Cape Town, and Stellenbosch, and hopes to have its first 10 to 20 electric taxis operating by the second half of 2025.



“There’s a huge market of private sector van usage for people movement, which goes beyond the taxi industry that we will be addressing, such as staff transport, hotel shuttles etc, but first, we need to get our model right,” says Coetzee.



Rudi Kriel, transport economist and Head of Programme at GoMetro, shares that the eKamva will either be sold outright, through a leasing model or a different type of model, such as purchasing the vehicle but leasing the battery, so the buyer still owns the asset.



“The battery will stay in the vehicle, but the ownership remains with flx EV. You just pay a subscription fee per month to have access to the battery, charging facilities and the like; it’s a model commonly used in Africa,” says Kriel.



GoMetro hopes the taxi industry will adopt the new technology on the electric minibus, which would ultimately improve operations, with its claim of up to 70% lower monthly running costs.



“At the end of the day, the taxi industry are business people, right? If you give them something they can save money on, they will be interested. And that’s the plan here, to save people operating costs, and to improve the environment,” says Kriel.



While no pricing has been confirmed for the eKamva, Coetzee hints at a ballpark figure of between R1 million (approximately $57,730) to R1.5 million ($86,600).

Image supplied

‘A Proudly South African Project’: Start Of The Journey For The Country’s First Electric Minibus Taxi

Have you found your niche? I received a lot of advice when I set up my company, but perhaps the most important consisted of just three words: Find Your Niche.



Five years later, I’m still struggling to apply this principle. Interestingly though, so are most of the companies I deal with.



So why is this, and what are we missing out on exactly? Well, let’s start by defining what a niche business is.



Per ChatGPT, it’s “a company that focuses on a specific segment of the market, catering to a particular group of customers with specialized needs or interests”.



Nerve Money provides a great example of what it means to be niche. If you have not heard of them, that’s because you are not a musician or comedian in need of a business banking app. You see, Nerve only focuses on delivering banking services to artists living in America.



Like all niche businesses, Nerve has a huge advantage in that it has fewer competitors. In the United States, thousands of banks fight for market share with similar products and services. But Nerve isn’t competing against the likes of JP Morgan and Citibank. Its founders believe they have found a differentiated offering that will appeal directly to American artists who want help with invoicing and payments.



But it’s examples like this that simultaneously highlight the benefits of going niche whilst scaring business owners away from trying to find theirs.



And that’s because size matters!



Nerve, for example, may face less competition, but they are restricted to the three million people who sing songs and play guitars. Most bankers I know would treat this as a passion project and would never imagine taking the idea to go niche to their leadership teams.



However, the fear that going niche means missing out on larger opportunities, is also a fallacy. Because niche doesn’t have to limit your upside.



In fact, some of the biggest and most well-known businesses in the world are actually niche.



Have you, for example, heard of Patagonia? Yes?



Well, they achieved global success by targeting outdoor enthusiasts who value high-quality, environmentally-friendly clothing.



Or, what about Nvidia?



Their initial niche was GPUs designed for gamers. And now they have found a bigger niche where they provide AI chips for data centers, with over 40% of their revenue coming from Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta.



As an aside, at the time of writing, this niche business is now worth just over $3 trillion, and they are the second-most valuable company in the world.



That puts them just ahead of Apple, who many would argue also deserve to be considered niche.



So, niche most definitely does not mean small. It does mean narrowing your focus so you really zoom in on delivering quality, differentiated services that solve real problems and generate real value for your clients.



And what excites me most about this idea of ‘going niche to thrive’ is that the opportunity to succeed has now been amplified a thousandfold because of the arrival of artificial intelligence and large language models.



These technologies allow us, for the first time, to design and distribute an infinite array of products tailored to solve end-user problems in highly personalized ways.



If you’re wondering where the demand will come from, rest assured. We each have an endless capacity to imagine new problems, and each one, much like fingerprints, will always require a unique solution.



But will big businesses, like JP Morgan, have the wherewithal to use their capital and resources to create hundreds of differentiated brands that cater to every possible human whim?



Or will it be the century for startups, which, like Nerve, leverage the democratization of technology to collectively solve for these infinite use cases?



I don’t know, although I do have my hopes and suspicions.



Ultimately, whether AI drives huge consolidation or mass fragmentation, it is clear that in both cases, the spoils will go to those that move away from second-rate generic offerings to instead focus on niche services that solve our unique problems at scale. As business leaders, it has never been more critical to find our niche. So, I’m going to double down on finding mine. Have you found yours?

Marketing segmentation

Expert-Speak: ‘It Has Never Been More Critical To Find Our Niche’

The great poet William Butler Yeats once said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Yeats’ words could be viewed through the lens of societal impact – the impact of education on the world around us.



Necessary in this pursuit are multilateral relationships that strengthen development – locally, regionally and beyond. In Africa, the value of collaboration in this regard is immense. This is because these collaborations enable the sharing of resources, knowledge, and best practices, facilitating comprehensive growth and allowing us to collectively address common challenges.



Now, more than ever, we are realizing the role universities play in societies beyond the mandate of higher education. We are vessels for societal impact, and our scope is increasingly broadening and pushing our gaze outward. As we realize this vision, fostering collaboration among universities in the region and beyond is crucial. Universities need to provide guidance on moral, political and social issues. 



This is what I refer to as societal impact. This concept represents the effect of our research and work in the real world. It represents a shift beyond academia to the economy, society, culture and beyond. The emergence of an ‘engaged university’ represents a sphere where institutions actively contribute to societal development and address regional challenges. In this regard, it is wholly necessary for us to develop peer-led networks that significantly contribute to development.



Times Higher Education’s Chief Knowledge Officer Phil Baty in a report on university-industry collaboration writes: “Universities cannot fulfil their limitless potential without collaboration – collaboration between institutions, with industry and across borders.”



The very notion of collaboration needs to extend beyond higher education institutes. The Dowling Review of Business-University Research Collaborations suggests that strategic business-university research collaborations entail a range of benefits and allow challenges to be addressed by research questions that have tangible applications. 



Through these collaborations, researchers can have a tangible impact while improving their arsenal of skills. For industry, this collaboration allows for new techniques or technologies to emerge and extends innovation and expertise. As this thought suggests, there is great value in collaborating with industry.



Similarly, in a university and industry collaboration study, Othman and Omar assert, “Even though universities are known to pursue fundamental research as well as educating the people, they may not provide ready-made workers that are highly competent and capable of performing in any conditions.



However, universities do have the capacity and also capabilities to ensure that the workers capabilities are tailored to the needs of the industry.”



Indeed, as these ideas demonstrate, universities have a mandate that extends beyond their own walls – we have a responsibility to society to provide answers. The impact we can make together is significant. Establishing joint research and design (R&amp;D) projects between industry and research institutions in both countries can facilitate technology transfer and knowledge exchange and promote innovation in mutual areas of interest – particularly related to areas of sustainable development. Collaborating on skills development initiatives can address workforce needs and promote capacity building, particularly across borders. 



The economist Ricardo Hausmann argues that this is how the working population gains ‘know-how’, which he defines as a combination of implicit knowledge and experience. This knowledge transfer alongside capacity building initiatives speaks directly to inclusive economic growth and job creation. Hausmann’s thesis suggests that there is much more to be gained by international knowledge transfer, especially as countries such as South Africa look to ‘leapfrog’. 



Related to my previous point, facilitating the transfer of technology from research institutions to industry can also stimulate innovation and economic growth. Supporting entrepreneurship and startup incubation can spur economic development and job creation. Collaborative initiatives, such as accelerator programs or venture capital funds, can provide resources and mentorship to aspiring entrepreneurs in both countries. 



As Hausmann suggests, there is much more to be gained by widening these collaborations beyond borders. In the pursuit of societal impact, cooperation and mutual understanding creates a space where diverse perspectives converge, where innovative ideas are nurtured, and where the seeds of future collaborations are sown. 



As the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once said, “I am deeply convinced that there is no other way to deal with global challenges than with global responses and organized in a multilateral way.” If this indeed is now our mandate as universities, then we must both offer and welcome collaboration – particularly within the continent as we seek to address many of our common challenges. This is how the very notion of the ‘engaged university’ emerges.

Author: Forbes Africa

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA