The Royal African Society, which celebrated its 120th birthday recently, continues to be a catalyst for positive change promoting African voices in the United Kingdom and globally.  



You feel a deeply inspiring and immersive connection with Africa every time you speak with Arunma Oteh. And when the reason for this conversation is the 120th birthday of the Royal African Society, which this Nigerian powerhouse now chairs, it’s a delightful confluence and celebration of all things African.&nbsp;



“I&#8217;m just fascinated by our origin and who we are,” begins Oteh about the Society over a Zoom call from London a day after the biennial Film Africa festival – 48 films across seven venues in the city from 28 October to 6 November – held alongside the celebrations. Endless weeks of work and late nights have gone into putting it all together, not to mention a gala evening at Aqua Shard on November 2, but Oteh, a former Treasurer and Vice President of the World Bank, a scholar at the University of Oxford and who took over as the Society’s chairperson last year, is thrilled and thoroughly energized.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“What I found about the Royal African Society is that it&#8217;s a diamond mine; I don&#8217;t think that ‘gold mine’ is sufficient to describe it…Everyday, you discover more.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



She refers to Mary Kingsley, the English travel writer and ethnographer whose two trips to West Africa significantly shaped British perceptions of the continent, and in whose memory the Society was founded in 1901.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“What I love about her is that while others wanted to teach and preach to Africa, she wanted to learn and promote Africa. We&#8217;ve evolved over the last 120 years, but really, that being in our DNA, we say ‘how can we promote Africa and amplify Africa&#8217;s voice, and how can we make sure that Africa’s space in global conversations remains? I stand on the shoulders of our predecessors who are giants,” says Oteh.&nbsp;



The Society’s objective is to create a flourishing future for all Africans, and promote African voices in the United Kingdom (UK) and globally. In all of these conversations, the idea is to not just celebrate African creativity but also African business, science and technology.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Other activities include supporting the All Party Parliamentary Group for Africa, a cross-party group of UK parliamentarians from both the House of Commons and House of Lords that exists to facilitate mutually-beneficial relationships between Africa and the UK; expanding the Society’s business program; initiating educational programs as well as running festivals. The Society’s African Arguments website (“promoting writers from Africa to air views that you may not hear or see”) has reached over 1.5 million readers, nearly half in Africa.&nbsp;



The recent celebrations were to especially promote Creative Africa, through Film Africa which brought together filmmakers and outstanding storytelling from across Africa and the diaspora for its 10th edition. And the “grand finale” of it all: a gala that was a fusion of African entertainment, film, fashion, food and music. A headline feature of the gala, in the middle of the fashion show – featuring names like Shade Thomas-Fahm, Alphadi and Yemi Osunkoya – was a live auction of art by Sotheby’s.&nbsp;



“We focused the event around Creative Africa. And this is because in the creative sector, Africa is now a global leader. It&#8217;s turning into big money, and it&#8217;s not just in film, it&#8217;s in fashion, food, music and literature,” says Oteh.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We also wanted to highlight this point in technology and finance. These people are actually leading the way through this kind of creative innovation. They&#8217;re finding African solutions to African problems, and we wanted to celebrate that.”&nbsp;



The Society’s programs also include the Africa Writes biennial festival, featuring contemporary African literature and thought, usually held in the summer over a weekend at the British Library. Past headline speakers have included Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong&#8217;o with son Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ, Wole Soyinka, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ben Okri, Nawal El Saadawi, Alain Mabanckou and Chigozie Obioma. &nbsp;



“The aim is to get the sort of cutting-edge latest African literature coming out. What we&#8217;re looking for are the writers who are going to be famous, who are going to win Booker prizes, sort of 10 years hence,” says Dr Nicholas Westcott, who has been Director of the Royal African Society since 2017. “We get a fantastic array of writers, some who are well-known…and the publishers come along too, and it has really impacted our audience.”&nbsp;



One of Oteh’s primary objectives has also been to connect the African business world and titans of industry.&nbsp;



“There is no other organization that goes from business to research and academia to politics to culture like the Royal African Society,” she continues.&nbsp;



“We have this business breakfast that’s most sought-after by city professionals, where you invite an African business or political leader who can share perspectives on a specific issue…One of my goals is to reflect the fact that you have a number of corporate titans who are Africa-based. And what Nick and I and our colleagues on the Council have seen is since we started reaching out to these entities across Africa, there&#8217;s been an excitement around participating in the Royal African Society because they see it as an opportunity to be able to present themselves to the diaspora around the world. It&#8217;s fascinating what the possibilities are.”&nbsp;



Concurs Westcott: “This [is the] crossover between business, culture, education and public affairs that we can provide; we build linkages, we have a network, we provide a platform. And we work very largely in partnership with others, so they are crucial for us to be able to expand our impact.”&nbsp;



In 2017, the Prince of Wales, Prince William, succeeded Queen Elizabeth as Royal Patron of the Society. The future king was present for the celebrations this year.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Prince William was able to come and spend time with us; he attended the plenary [of a master class in filmmaking],” says Oteh. “What I admired about him was whether it was [a conversation on] fintech, conservation, banking or trade, he was prepared. And he made people feel at ease and always had something special to say to each person. He said he loves Africa and is passionate about it. He really took a great interest and I think he will follow this up; he wants to know what happens next!”&nbsp;



Africa wants to know too. And so does the world.&nbsp;

Chineke! playing at the Aqua Shard (photo by Wayne Campbell)

‘It’s A Diamond Mine!’: The Royal African Society Turns 120

Africa shone in Washington this past week, as the US wooed African heads of state at the US-Africa Leaders Summit underlining the continent’s significance and committing to invest in its future with renewed vigor. What’s next? More in this exclusive FORBES AFRICA interview.



The United States demonstrated the big Africa push with commitments to support Africa’s inclusive growth at the US-Africa Leaders Summit held last week in Washington DC.



At the US-Africa Business Forum, President Joe Biden said the US is “all in on Africa’s future” and called it “another historic summit”. As many as 49 African heads of state attended and business deals worth a reported $15 billion were signed during the forum.



The last time this summit was held was eight years ago under the Obama-Biden administration.



The Biden-Harris administration now plans to invest at least $55 billion in Africa over the next three years, and is recasting traditional US policy priorities.



After signing a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for Trade and Investment between the US and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, during the US-Africa Business Forum, US Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai, said: “The future is Africa – for the United States and global economy. Africa’s significance is undeniable… The Biden-Harris administration recognizes that it is impossible to meet today’s challenges on trade without African contributions and leadership, and our support of the AfCFTA is part and parcel of this…



“But our work together will be an inclusive undertaking, requiring active participation from African Union member states, Regional Economic Communities, diaspora, SMEs, women-owned businesses, young entrepreneurs, workers and civil society groups.”



More from an interview during the December 13-15 summit with Constance Hamilton, the Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa, Office of the United States Trade Representative, who also oversees the administration’s implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA):


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<figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Constance-Hamilton-image-credit-Office-of-the-United-States-Trade-Representative-Executive-Office-of-the-President.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57172" width="375" height="375" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Constance-Hamilton-image-credit-Office-of-the-United-States-Trade-Representative-Executive-Office-of-the-President.jpg 240w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Constance-Hamilton-image-credit-Office-of-the-United-States-Trade-Representative-Executive-Office-of-the-President-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px" /><figcaption>Constance Hamilton, image credit US Department of State</figcaption></figure></div>


Q. It’s Africa in the United States, with heads of state visiting from the continent. What is the sentiment you&#8217;re seeing right now about Africa?



A. There&#8217;s just a lot of optimism about the relationship, that we all have an interest in finding common ground so we can work better together [on] all the major issues facing not just Africa and the United States, but the world; everything from climate change to the war with Ukraine to all issues. I think that what this [summit] does is it brings together like-minded people to try to find solutions to some of the major problems in the world today. And so it&#8217;s a very good vibe right now. We had a big meeting to talk about the African Growth and Opportunity Act, they had an opportunity to engage with congressional members&#8230; both sides offered their views on what should happen, what&#8217;s worked, what didn&#8217;t work well in the program, and changes that they may want to think about going forward… it’s a lot of goodwill. I hope one of the things this meeting does is reinforce the importance of Africa to America. I think that&#8217;s a very good thing.



Q. It’s good to see the narrative shifting, because we always hear about Africa needing aid, but people not really talking about working together with Africa. Do you see big collaborations coming together?



A. Absolutely. I mean, even countries that are facing challenges, as Ambassador Tai has articulated many, many times is that we do believe in growth from the bottom up, so that [for] those who are marginalized, those who are not seeing any benefits and trade, that we come up with policies and plans to make sure that they do, that they are part of the success story. There are a lot of conversations about how we work together both as a group, and individually in each of the countries we talk to; how do we work together to do better.



Q. There are smaller countries that don&#8217;t receive the kind of attention from the world that the bigger economies perhaps receive, and they have their peace and security issues and are conflict-ridden. How you engaging specifically with some of the smaller emerging markets on the continent?



A. One thing I would say about that is the way my office is structured, every country, whether they&#8217;re big or small, is important to what we&#8217;re doing. So whether you&#8217;re a tiny island nation, whether you&#8217;re Nigeria or South Africa, we pay attention to you… we pay attention to all the criteria, we look at each country to make sure that they are meeting the criteria. And we get very specific. So when there are challenges, we reach out to find out where we can find the assistance to help them address some of their problems. We use USAID and some of the other agencies within the US government to make sure that we can identify resources that we can point in their direction. So it&#8217;s not just about providing aid, it&#8217;s also providing assistance for them to do what they want to do.



Q. With the AfCFTA aiming for a single market, how are you capitalizing on that opportunity?



A. One of the things that happened at this meeting, was Ambassador Tai and Secretary-General Mene from the AfCFTA Secretariat find a memorandum of understanding, laying out a plan for us to work with the African Union Secretariat, to help them implement and negotiate new protocols on the AfCFTA. We definitely want to be a partner in that, we see the importance of it; we&#8217;ve been supporting regional integration on the continent for decades. So we know the importance of this. We also understand the challenge. I mean, you think about 55 nations, we know that the borders are thick, you know that it&#8217;s difficult for goods to move, we know that there&#8217;s some transportation and trade facilitation issues. This is an opportunity to work with the Secretariat and with the members to figure out a path forward.



Q. Moving to Africa’s greater integration into the global economy, what does the world think of Africa&#8217;s investment climate at the moment? How are you mobilizing the power of the business community there to invest into Africa?



A. I think that where Africa and African nations can really benefit from this whole move towards globalization is by getting into value and supply chains, where they have strength to do that. I think that&#8217;s one of the things when we talk about the AfCFTA, when we talk about AGOA, when we talk to countries about improving their investment climate so that investors aren&#8217;t just interested and taking out raw materials, they&#8217;re interested in joint ventures or putting up manufacturing facilities&#8230; I do think that there is, especially with AGOA, that allows countries from other partners to produce manufactured goods. I think that there&#8217;s a way forward on that. One of the issues we&#8217;ll be looking at is how to bring African countries more into value and supply chain.



Q. What about catalyzing private sector partnerships?



A. It’s always a part of what we&#8217;re trying to do, part of the AGOA forum that we&#8217;ll have in South Africa in 2023. We hope to bring a large US private sector contingent so they can see what Africa offers. And they can also talk about joint ventures and other investment opportunities. That&#8217;s always part of our idea. The governments can’t do it, trade happens from private sectors. And so getting our companies, our SMEs, our women or youth-oriented enterprises to come to Africa, and see what they can do. That&#8217;s part of what we hope to encourage.



Q. This is a continent with countries that lack basic services such as power, health equity, food security, rule of law or democratic reforms. How are you going to accelerate progress in all of those areas?



A. It&#8217;s a big continent with a lot of countries, and each one has different issues. They don&#8217;t all have the same challenges. I think the key is to find out what are the challenges in a particular country and identify what we can do to assist. If they&#8217;re part of the AGOA family, that gives them a leg up, because there are things that we&#8217;re already doing to help them trade. If they&#8217;re not part of the AGOA family, we still care about their development, even when we take a country out of AGOA, part of the work is how do we get them back in? There are a lot of challenges on the continent, there are a lot of challenges in America, but these are all things I think that can be solved by working together.



Q. With the growing youth population on the continent, how are you engaging with these young minds, innovators and entrepreneurs in the startups ecosystem?



A. We know that a lot of the innovation in digital trade is coming from young people. But it&#8217;s not just the youth, it&#8217;s also women. When we had the African Women Entrepreneurship Program, which was a big part of AGOA, and I thought that this was one of the most exciting elements of what AGOA brought to the table because it allows these women to form their own chapters in the countries, and they help each other find employment opportunities or help their companies grow. And I think that the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) that started under President Barack Obama is also a way of identifying really bright, enterprising young people, and helping them get to where they want to go in terms of business. So I think there&#8217;s a lot that we&#8217;re doing already that supports not just women, but also youth. It&#8217;s hard for me to articulate all of the different initiatives that are out there, but I do think that there&#8217;s a lot that we&#8217;re doing to try to bring them into businesses so that they can follow their dreams.



It&#8217;s really important to have this kind of dialogue and meet face-to-face [at the summit]; it’s very important for relationships. I think that it&#8217;s a fantastic vibe. Next year, we hope to be in South Africa for an AGOA forum after [South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry] Ebrahim Patel said he&#8217;s looking forward to hosting everyone, and I&#8217;m looking forward to being there.

US-Africa Leaders Summit 2022, image credit Office of the United States Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President

$55 Billion And The Importance Of Africa To America

Dubai International (DXB), the world’s busiest airport by international passenger numbers, has announced a robust Q3 with prospects for a stronger Q4. In addition, the airport says it has recorded “tremendous growth” in traffic between DXB and the African continent, making it the third busiest region for the airport in terms of passenger traffic.



DXB increased its annual forecast for passenger traffic to 64.3 million following a strong performance in the third quarter, and the prospects of a stronger surge in the offing for the rest of 2022.



&#8220;The growth in passenger traffic has been terrific throughout the year and continues to exceed our expectations by a margin,” says Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, in a press statement.



Speaking to FORBES AFRICA, on Africa’s significance for the airport, he adds: “Traffic on routes between Dubai International (DXB) and Africa, which has been a key market for DXB for many years, has grown tremendously in 2022 making it the third busiest region for us in terms of passenger traffic.



“A total of 4.6 million passengers travelled between DXB and the multiple city destinations across Africa in the first nine months of 2022. We expect the region’s strong performance to continue throughout the remainder of the year.&#8221;



UAE-based carrier Emirates recently announced it will be increasing its flight schedule to South Africa in 2023, with Durban benefitting even sooner, with daily flights scheduled to start before the end of the year.



India was DXB’s top country destination in terms of traffic volume, recording 6.8 million passengers in the first nine months of the year

Aircraft at DXB

‘Africa Is Third Busiest Region For Us’: Dubai Airports CEO On Growth In Passenger Traffic

When she speaks, the world listens. Melinda French Gates is one of the most powerful advocates for women and girls in the world and co-chair of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, which has, over the last 10 years, spent at least $10 billion to benefit sub-Saharan Africa. In an exclusive Zoom interview with FORBES AFRICA, she speaks about the 2022 Goalkeepers report, on female economic power, building food systems and the bright future of young people on the continent.



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Q. Your foundation has just released the Goalkeepers 2022 Report: The Future Of Progress that tracks the progress of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There’s data and diligence, but seven years in, how are we doing? Has anything changed?



A. These goals were set because they’re ambitious. We were making substantial progress on a number of them before the pandemic hit. But I’m sorry to say that since the pandemic, it has set back every single goal that was set. That’s how devastating this pandemic has been. So we need to take that in as a world and say ‘that’s a setback, but also what’s possible’. And I think one of the things that still makes us hopeful as a foundation is we see the incredible progress that was made before: the deaths of children under five going down, malaria going down, and more people on HIV/AIDS treatments than ever before. And we believe that we can make progress again. But as a world, we’ve got to invest now, because unless we do, you’re going to see millions of people who do not get their livelihoods back or do not reach their full potential because of the devastating impacts.



Q. You visited Africa in June, your first visit post-pandemic. What were your learnings in the rural parts? What were the innovations you saw on the ground, in particular, from young people?



A. The cell phone! In some places, it’s the smartphone, in some places, a plastic phone&#8230;I am seeing that when women get cash put in their digital accounts, it changes their economic power. For instance, in Niger, when women got that money on their phone, they were 70% more likely to go to the market, they bought 15% more grain. So we’re seeing the protection of having it on their phone – somebody doesn’t take it, their husband doesn’t use it for something else. That’s an innovation we didn’t have 15 years ago in this development space. I’m also seeing young people have great ideas for business. I met a young woman in Senegal who started a company with her female business partner, and they’re collecting rubber tires from around the city that used to collect water and breed mosquitoes. They’re crushing them, selling them to cement factories, they’re using them so that the rubber goes under the pitch of the football field. And they’ve got orders from all over the continent now, they can’t keep up. So we’re seeing like in Senegal, 31% of businesses are being created by women, but they only have less than three and a half percent of access to capital. So we need to open capital up to women, so they have it in the informal sector but also the formal sector. I see this incredible ingenuity and potential, but we’ve got to do the right things to unlock it.



Q. In your report, you say gender equality depends on women having power, not just empowerment. Can you elaborate?



A. Having economic power means you have resources in your hand, wherever they come from – the informal sector or formal sector – but you have them in your hands in a way that’s specific for you, and you get to spend them the way you think is right. Often, women know the right thing to do is to spend it on more food for their family, or buy a bicycle for the child who needs it to get transported to school. When you can make a decision about your own resources and you have them, that’s economic power. And women spend their resources differently. We need to make sure that women are supported in the right ways to have digital money at their disposal. 



Q. &#8230;And also supported in terms of caregiving infrastructure, which brings me to the question of childcare and about Africa lagging in terms of quality healthcare for women. We’ve had telemedicine and all the new technology coming up during the pandemic, but in your home visits to the rural areas, what did you see?



A. Women are demanding healthcare, they know they need it. They’re saying, ‘I have to walk so many kilometers to get even decent healthcare, I get there and the supplies aren’t there’. Again, an innovation that I saw in Rwanda was a company called Babyl, where women can call in on their cell phone and ask questions. There’s a whole symptom tracker; they talk to a nurse, they talk to a doctor. Young girls are calling



in and asking about their sexual and reproductive health and where they can access contraceptives, so that privacy is an innovation that takes some of the pressure off the health system&#8230; because some of that can be handled over the phone&#8230; we’re seeing innovations there that can help. And then you’re absolutely right on the caregiving side, I see it in my own country, and I see it across Africa. I met several, many impressive female scientists in Senegal, and they’re saying ‘I could only get my doctorate degree because there was a childcare solution available to me, or the place that I’m working, I’m demanding childcare on site’. We have to solve the childcare crisis. If we want women to work, and they want to work, they have to have a safe and affordable place to put their children.



Q. In the US, what’s the buzz around African ingenuity and innovation at the moment?



A. I think we need to remind people there’s this vibrancy in Africa, and we are seeing it in the cultural space, in the music, people are being exposed to it and there are amazing African artists. We need to remind people what stimulates business



– having access to capital. We haven’t solved that in the US yet; there is access to capital for men, but women still in the US have trouble accessing capital. As we open that up, we need to remind people that in emerging markets, in low- and middle-income countries across the continent of Africa, there are amazing ideas, and we need to have access to capital there too. Again, in Senegal, I met a woman who had started an accounting business, she sold it to one of the Big 8 accounting firms. And she’d started a women’s investment club. And she was not only teaching women how to start a business, she was making sure they had access to capital. I’ve seen the same thing in other places like Kenya; those are all ways we can start to see that entrepreneurial spirit that people already have, and make sure their businesses get funded and started.



Q. It is an unfortunate reality that there is a lot of gender bias in the investment landscape in Africa. How do you think industry, the private sector, the business world, the billionaires of Africa, need to start thinking differently to channel those investments to purposes that are very imperative not just for Africa, but for the world?



A. I think as we now finally have data and are collecting data about women, people are waking up. Presidents, prime ministers and heads of companies who are starting to realize that ‘I sell more product if I have women at the creative table creating products that benefit everybody, and not just males in society’. So we have to make sure they all come together and start to see that their business is going to be better off. We actually know we can grow the economy by trillions of dollars if you bring women into the formal sector, right? The only way is to make sure they have a solution for their childcare needs. As a world, we expect women to care for the children. But unless they have safe and affordable childcare, they can’t take that great accounting job, that great tech job, and they can’t work in media. So we got to have that solution for them if we’re going to draw them in. And in the informal sector, there are so many things we can do to make sure they have access to credit, to make sure that women are seen and are on registers. Having data on women’s lives is imperative. And it’s something we can all contribute to.



Q. In the Goalkeepers report, Bill Gates writes about the war in Ukraine and that there should be investments in agriculture R&amp;D. This is where climate change also enters. And it is the largest threat to food production, especially in Africa. What kind of innovation or innovative thinking is needed to address the current food crisis?



A. There absolutely is a food crisis, the hunger is just growing across the continent. That’s because 14 African countries rely on wheat from Ukraine and Russia to feed the population. What do we need to do? We absolutely have to give humanitarian aid to people going hungry today, and of the people going hungry, 150 million of them are women who are food-insecure; of all the people who are food-insecure, three out of five are women. We have to address the humanitarian crisis, and we’ve got to build the food systems. There are seeds that are drought-resistant, that are flood-resistant, seeds that deal with crop problems and being able to predict that, using those innovations and [to make sure] they reach not just male farmers, but also female farmers; 50% of the farmers are also women, if you get this whole system working right, Africa can actually feed itself. And it’s completely possible.



Q. What excites you most about Africa today, what is the future of the continent for you?



A. It’s seeing young people say ‘I not only want to reach my full potential, I can and here’s how I’m going to do it’. There’s this entrepreneurial spirit that exists. I see it in Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, South Africa&#8230;when you start to see these businesses created for the economy, and the young people are also thinking about climate change early. And they want to do it for their generation and for those who have come before them. Human ingenuity is what’s going to lift up the continent. And when you pair that with the innovations that they have, and the ideas, you can see an incredible amount of lift coming for the continent from them.



Q. You have young daughters as well. What do you tell them about having a voice?



A. I tell all three of my children – two daughters and a son – use your voice, use your education, use your intelligence to give something back to the world and lift someone else up. My youngest daughter is 19. She spent three weeks in Rwanda. I was there for part of the time with her. She saw the most remote parts of the Rwandan health system, and says ‘how do I get my generation in the US focused on these issues on the continent, how do we make sure my generation sees what I am lucky enough to see in my travels, and that we do something about it’. I talk to all three of my children about using their voice, and using their generation to help lift up everybody.



Q. If you were to wear a businesswoman’s hat, what is the advice you would give young African female women entrepreneurs coming up? What are the qualities that they should have?



A. You have a lot of potential and ideas; do not let anyone tell you that you can’t live your dream. When you’re a young female entrepreneur, even in my own country, or in Africa, you have a lot of people who will put your idea down or say ‘that won’t sell or I’m not going to fund you’; you’re going to hit barriers, women hit far more barriers than men do. Keep going, your ideas are worth it, and you’re going to find people who are there to support you.



Q. When are you coming next to Africa?



A. Sometime in 2023. I need to get to Southeast Asia at the end of 2022. But I certainly will be back on the continent. I love being there, any chance I get, and I missed being on the continent during the pandemic.



Q. Any one country here you are really looking forward to that you’ve not visited?



A. That would be like picking your favorite child. I think I’ve been to maybe 30 African countries. I’m always trying to go to a new one just so I make sure I’m going around in different regions. But then I like to revisit certain African countries too because I want to see the progress and what’s possible. So we’ll see.



Q. You earlier mentioned culture, do you follow African music, and the art scene here?



A. I do. And of course, YouTube makes that incredibly easy. But then when I was in Senegal, I actually got to meet with some of the young female designers who are making new fabrics and some of the artists and it’s just amazing to see the vibrancy that’s there and how they’re trying to support the rest of West Africa. So I love that!

Clinton Global Initiative September 2022 Meeting – Day 1

‘Incredible Ingenuity And Potential In Africa’: An Exclusive Interview With Melinda French Gates

The word ‘multi’ comes up many times in a conversation with 28-year-old Dubai-based Nigerian businesswoman Gbemi Giwa.



“I am a multi-passionate entrepreneur with a knack for turning ideas into creative impactful brands…. I am a multi-hyphenated person…” she says in a Zoom interview on a hot summer day in August from her abode in the sunny city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.



Although Giwa started out as an influencer and launched several businesses in the glistening Middle Eastern emirate by the time she turned 26, she is wary of calling herself ‘a serial entrepreneur’.



Now making a conscious effort to focus solely on her core competence – the food business – she says her passion project remains Catfish, an online restaurant serving “a healthy twist on African dishes” that she launched in Dubai in 2018.



The realization to hone in on one serious endeavor came after a few “bold moves” and the twists and turns that the Covid-19 pandemic brought when Giwa was forced to close down Gbemi’s Kitchen, the physical restaurant she started in 2019 at the Jumeirah Lake Towers in Dubai serving authentic Nigerian food.



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“In 2020, Covid hit and for the first time, I navigated a big loss with the shutting of my restaurant concepts, forcing me to start afresh with a larger focus on building a Covid-proof business with a deeper focus on digital,” she says of those tough months.



She started by launching a consulting company called Digiboss to help women in business build their online profiles to establish themselves as thought leaders, whilst consistently attracting profitable partnership opportunities.



“I help millennial women build an impactful personal brand and commit to taking action by teaching them profitable action steps to validate their creative ideas, craft them into polished concepts and launch them into the real world,” says Giwa.



“Using the same method I teach my clients, I was able to secure funding to relaunch my restaurant Catfish just at the end of the pandemic. I’m currently navigating our redirection into the e-commerce space and retail by taking a piece of the growing ready-to-eat industry.”



The food business is not new for her. It was while at design school in 2014 that she launched Dubai Fit Foodie, a wellness blog she calls her “longest-paying side hustle”. Her growing years shaped her early love for African food and she wanted to give it the respect it deserved.



A year later, she turned her love for dancing by launching dance classes in Dubai, teaching Afrofit, which she calls her “second longest-paying side hustle”.



In 2016, she specialized in creating impactful digital campaigns for local and international brands in the Middle East. A year later, yet again foraying into the business world, she launched a boutique agency specializing in branding and content creation for F&amp;B concepts.



‘A good idea is nothing without action’. 



Even when she was 16, on a plane to Dubai from Lagos to enrol at the American University of Sharjah, she was already harboring ideas of creating content and an impactful career. Even if at times, this meant going against the norm and using the word ‘no’ multiple times to her now-late father, also a businessman, who took a keen interest in her professional journey.



“I am from a classic African family that says ‘either you become a doctor or a lawyer, or you are nobody’.



“But ever since I went to design school, I’ve been obsessed with ideas. I believe good ideas come when you explore and exhaust several bad ideas, but a good idea is nothing without action.”



Luckily, she was glad to find herself in Dubai.



“It’s one of the easiest places to do business in, especially if you know the right people and have the money… I always tell youngsters it’s better to partner with the right mentor, as they have the experience and you can keep learning from them.”



Where there’s hustle, there’s also heart.



“My passion will always be around creating content, product, and brands that reflect my African roots and help people embrace wellness in order to feel like their happier healthiest selves,” says Giwa.



Currently catering for events and working towards moving Catfish into the e-commerce space, she will also be seen at The Ripe Market, a farmers’ market in Dubai, from October.

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Hustle And Heart: The Nigerian Entrepreneur Promoting African Food In Dubai

Spotify Monthly Listeners: 505K YouTube Total Average Views: 21 Million SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORTH Instagram: 465K Twitter: 96.7K Facebook: 2.4 Million TikTok: 37.4K



The winner of five Grammys with 14 albums to her name, Angélique Kidjo is one of the greatest artists in international music today. Time Magazine has called her “Africa&#8217;s premier diva” and she has cross- pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&amp;B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. She recently released Queen of Sheba – it’s on Spotify – with Ibrahim Maalouf from Lebanon. In an exclusive interview with FORBES AFRICA from Paris, Kidjo says she is right now, in a moment where “things are blooming in her inspiration zone”. She talks life, work and the road ahead for her – and African music. Excerpts:



Q. At age 21, you became a star in Benin, with the album Pretty. But you had to quietly flee your home for Paris at 23, because of the regime that took over in Benin. It was Paris in the 1980s and you were at the prestigious jazz school, CIM. How did you connect with African music? What were you influences at the time?



A. My permanent influence in my music until now is always the culture and tradition of my country. The magnificent thing I learned from my musical journey doing my trilogy album tracing back the roots of slavery through music, is that there&#8217;s not one music in which I don&#8217;t find Africa, it does not exist. We live in Africa not knowing and realizing the power of our culture, how we have ruled the music on the planet. People can say no to it, but it&#8217;s okay. That fact is it’s never going to disappear. Because we are all from Africa – homo sapiens came from Africa. And for me, in that journey, looking back at my culture was something that empowered me the most. I wrote a song called The Sound of the Drums. Because I have to come back, after all this, I said to myself, ‘I have got to figure out if I am dreaming, if I am fantasizing, I am romanticizing the power of my drums and the music of my continent and my country’. And I went back, the awe was still there&#8230; And I&#8217;ve been booed, been bullied and asked ‘is this classical music, you can’t say this’, and I say ‘I will prove to you one day’. All the way, it’s proving to people that everything I do is to build cultural bridges for people to see not only through music that we have one music, but also we are one humanity, we are all unique.



Q. When you went on stage to receive your Grammy this year (Best Global Music for Mother Nature), was there any other emotion you felt that you didn&#8217;t the previous four times you received the award?



A. I did not expect to win, even though I was nominated three times in that category. Because the competition was tough. Being nominated is already a great honor. For me, each nomination is [proof ] my work is out there. People are paying attention to what I do. When I won, I was humbled and didn&#8217;t know what to do&#8230;



I was in total panic, because I did not expect to win. For me, winning a Grammy is not only my work – and I work hard – but also [that of ] the people that come and share the talent with me. And we have a conversation about climate change on this album with new artists.



Since I&#8217;ve written my autobiography (Spirit Rising), I&#8217;ve been doing a lot of talks at universities, and it&#8217;s always exciting, challenging, thrilling to speak to youth in campuses. They have so many ideas. I&#8217;ve been sitting with deans of universities, telling them how come we do not prepare our kids for the workforce&#8230; You can&#8217;t just give them education and let them run out like that, it’s not productive or constructive for us, because we lose a lot of great people the way we are doing this.



Q. On young people and artists, your album Mother Nature also featured Africa&#8217;s young superstars, such as Mr Eazi, Yemi Alade, Burna Boy&#8230; what was that experience like?



A. What I learned from them is their professionalism – it’s mind-blowing. Every music that had been sent was spotless. I had waited for this day&#8230; And on top of being artists, these are entrepreneurs, they understand they have to be free. [In my time], I had to sign a contract for 10 years&#8230; These kids have the right to do whatever they want. They sat back and learned from my experience, and the experiences of Youssou N&#8217;Dour, and Salif Keita. And they don&#8217;t want to take that road. They want to be free in their own right and they are right to be free. And they have to learn that to last, they need discipline: when you say you have got to deliver, you have to deliver. Because when you come from Africa, it&#8217;s a double tragedy, because they expect you to be late, they expect you to do a job that isn&#8217;t good, everything goes against you.



You always have to prove that what you say is what it’s going to be and you can deliver. 



Q. Is that perception changing globally now?



A. Not really. It’s changing but slowly, because those young artists are filling up big venues, and they are unapologetic and taking whatever opportunity they have to be here. Some people are resisting that thinking that it’s going to be a fashion that will dwindle, but it’s going to last and they&#8217;re going to come to the ball. They&#8217;re going to jump on this boat sooner or later.



Q. What is in the next phase of your career?



A. I don&#8217;t know what the future holds. But what I know deeply at the center of my work is that if you don&#8217;t see your own humanity, you can’t see humanity in anybody. If you have freedom and you are not fighting for the freedom of others, you don&#8217;t have any. It’s not just words for me, it’s fact. When we lose sight of those principles, of those self-evident truths, we put ourselves in danger. Because when we allow the bully to walk away with crimes without being punished, they will knock at your door and do the same thing. Our complacency and silence have allowed many people to live a very difficult life that was unnecessary.



So for me, my energy comes from the fact that I believe that what is true is true, what is fair is fair, and let&#8217;s work together. And in that, there is no concept of color, of language, of religion, nothing!



Q. You have global fame. What does fortune mean to you?



A. Fortune for me has never been a matter of money. Because money is a tool that allows you to buy things. But essential things, money can never buy – such as health, and the air you breathe, which is polluted. You can have billions of dollars in your bank account, but you can’t clean that air.



You have got to be happy with yourself and content with what you have to be able to live a balanced life&#8230; What is our purpose on this earth? And that&#8217;s the question I ask all the time, you have to find your purpose before making any plans. And when you start making plans, don&#8217;t make one, have plan A, B, C, D, E, as much as you can. If one door closes, get to the next one. You can fall all the way beneath earth, but you can always rise if you want it&#8230;



In business, having money is a good thing but my father&#8217;s mother always used to say to me that if you are given the choice to choose between your friend and wealth, choose your friend because your friends, when you need them, will be there. When you are down, they will come and talk to you.



Q. And is social media your thing?



A. That is part of the game. But being on stage is what creates a career. I never liked being in a studio, because I started my career on stage. But I knew that going through the studio was compulsory for me to be able to have a career. So doing both is equally important.



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Artists Perform At The 2022 WOMAD Festival

THE PLAYLIST: An Exclusive Interview with Five-Time Beninese Grammy Award Winner Angélique Kidjo on Closing The Cultural Gap

Dr Shaheenah Dawood says it’s an exciting time for oncology research and is spearheading change in cancer care in the UAE, making sure that all patients, whether they come from the Middle East or Africa, have access to medication and treatment.



THERE’S LAUGHTER IN THE BREAST CANCER WARD. Shaheenah Dawood is in her bright sunny office wearing a lab coat, a floral dress and a smile that can make anyone feel welcome and well.



The only thing that is infectious here, in these corridors at the Mediclinic Parkview Hospital in Dubai where we meet, is her energy. Working 7AM to 10PM seeing cancer patients and giving them care and cure, this Consultant Medical Oncologist and Professor of



Clinical Oncology can’t afford to not be that ray of light and hope, and to the care-giving staff around her as well – such as during the lockdown in 2020, when she ordered cheerful pink, blue and yellow scrubs and PPE for those in her department.



But the Emirati doctor’s 24-page CV and the assortment of papers, accolades and awards to her name apart, there is passion in her voice, and serious purpose to her work.



“I always knew oncology is what I wanted to do,” begins Dawood. “And for several reasons. One, I’m a chatterbox, and I could talk as much as I wanted to these patients; the people you’re going to form long-term relationships with. Two, if you get a patient with cancer early on, you can cure them, and the satisfaction you get from curing that one patient, there’s nothing like it&#8230; The last decade has been truly exciting in the field of oncology more than any other specialty.”



Typifying everything the United Arab Emirates (UAE) aims to be in the realm of healthcare for the world, with the glistening city of Dubai becoming the hotbed of healthcare innovation and medical tourism in recent years, Dawood is at the forefront of leading that change, with research, clinical trials, personalized medicine and breakthroughs in oncology to vastly change patient outcomes.



She trained in medical oncology at McGill University Hospitals in Canada, sub-specialized in breast cancer management at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, served as an Editorial Fellow at the New England Journal of Medicine and has an MPH degree from the Harvard School of Public Health.



She could have stayed on in the United States but decided to return home more than a decade ago to become one of the first female oncologists at the time in the UAE, and make a difference.



“I think the UAE, with our leader, is just unbelievable in the way it has put women out there in the healthcare sector. I came in with so many ideas that the first thing I did was put those ideas aside, and say ‘I need to develop something here that’s accommodating to the people here’. I became the head of oncology at Dubai Health Authority, but there was a lot of work to do.



“I developed multidisciplinary tumor boards and comprehensive cancer care programs, working with an excellent group of people. And then I decided to break off and do something other than just clinical work, so I started the Excellence in Oncology Care Summit, which started off with 120 people, and last year, we had 4,000 attending virtually as well as in-person from across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.”



The list goes on, and Dawood is now heading and establishing the oncology clinical trials program at Mediclinic City Hospital that will allow patients in the Middle East to access drugs they would otherwise not have been able to.



“Tests are horribly expensive, everywhere around the globe&#8230; There is data that compared to any other specialty, oncology medications cost the most&#8230; We need to have better access to treatment, and one of them is trying to overcome the cost&#8230; And we need to start addressing it seriously to be able to offer the same type of care to everyone, irrespective of their financial situation&#8230;



“I had a patient from Africa, I can tell you he sold his land to come here and get the medication. I have a lot of patients from Nigeria and Eritrea. We do hear their stories..,” says Dawood, her voice laced with concern but also hope.



In addition, she spends her time teaching at the Mohammed Bin Rashid University Of Medicine and Health Sciences and working with PhD and medical students on their research initiatives.



“The only thing that I keep telling the newer generation,” says the 40-something game-changer in the medical sector, “is that you can achieve what you set your mind to achieve by working hard, and that no problem is without a solution.”



Heartening words indeed in the world of cancer care.

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CANCER’S CURE: The Doctor Who is Spearheading Change in Cancer Care in the UAE

The Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting in Kigali is expected to be the largest in-person gathering of government businesses and civil society across the Commonwealth since the pandemic. Among those confirmed to attend are Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.



BY RIDHIMA SHUKLA



THE COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF Government Meeting (CHOGM) is returning to Africa after almost 15 years. The last time it was held on the continent was in Uganda in 2007. This will be the 25th edition of the biennial conference, and from June 20-25, the world’s political and policy-making glitterati will head to and reunite in Rwanda’s capital Kigali.



With its roots going back to the British Empire, the Commonwealth comprises of 54 member countries. To carry on multilateral dialogue between governments, the consultative and policy-making gathering will convene for the week-long conference across six venues in the hilly East African city: at the landmark Kigali Conference Centre (pictured), the Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village, the Intare Conference Arena as also the Serena Hotel, M Hotel and Kigali Marriott Hotel.



CHOGM was due to have been held in the landlocked nation in June 2020 but was postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.



Over the years, in addition to tourism, Rwanda has positioned itself as one of Africa’s leading conference destinations. And the city is gearing up, as evident in the multiple road widening projects being carried out, security procedures being scaled and hospitality offerings amped up to accoodate thousands of delegates gates.



The country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Vincent Biruta, tells FORBES AFRICA: “Rwanda has a track-record of hosting international events and conferences, and we are ready to host CHOGM 2022 in just a few weeks.”



The incoming traffic is expected to boost the country’s hospitality and tourism sector after the last two years lost to the pandemic.



Ariella Kageruka, Acting Chief Tourism Officer of the Rwanda Development Board, says: “This will be the first and largest in-person gathering for government businesses and civil society across the Commonwealth since the Covid-19 pandemic. Rwanda’s commendable Covid-19 management measures make it the best choice to host a safe event.



“CHOGM presents an opportunity to showcase Rwanda’s abundant tourism offerings and share the country’s conservation story. We are optimistic that bookings from thousands of guests will boost the tourism and hospitality sector, especially as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.”



The 2022 edition, with the theme Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming, will address some of the most critical issues facing the world today. Apart from the heads of state meetings to discuss Covid recovery, climate change, governance and law, ICT innovation and trade, the conference is also holding various forums for driving engagement among stakeholders.



“We look forward to welcoming delegations from all over the world to Kigali to exchange on the most critical issues facing the world today, and agree on actions that will help us deliver a common future,” adds Biruta.



In attendance will also be investors, entrepreneurs, and startups. Heads of governments from over 25 member countries are expected. Those confirmed to attend also include Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

The-Kigali-Convention-Centres-design-is-inspired-by-traditional-Rwandan-baskets

Rwanda Calling: Mega Congress Of World Leaders In Africa After More Than A Decade

For the first time on the African continent, the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa kicked off in Botswana’s capital Gaborone yesterday, April 24, with 600 entrepreneurs in attendance for the five-day event.



At the opening night in Gaborone’s historic Main Mall, an outdoor shopping and commercial hub in the heart of the city, an audience of about 2,000, including summit delegates and members of the public, cheered and swayed to live music.



The country’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who&nbsp;took to the podium for the welcome speech, was greeted by more applause and celebratory ululations.



“Some of the finest under-30s that the world of entrepreneurship has to offer [are here], with 200 from Botswana, 200 from the rest of Africa and another 200 from the rest of the world… We will witness for the first time how Botswana harnesses the power of the entrepreneurial spirit and promotes conversations that foster innovations and creativity… In Botswana, the youth, being change-makers and future leaders, are continuously encouraged to play a leading role through various funding mechanisms from public to private sources… we have also embarked on digitization as the epicenter of our national development agenda and young people are being empowered through several initiatives,” said Masisi.



For the many watching, this was “a people’s concert” held in a place of significance.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“The Main Mall is the original mall built after independence. A lot of us grew up here,” remarked Pat Dambe, Head of Corporate Affairs at the De Beers Group of Companies in Botswana.



The crowds gathered outside the Cresta President Hotel, overlooking the main stage.&nbsp;



“The President Hotel is a legacy hotel. And our President wanted to bring everybody back to where we started and it really is a renaissance. It’s a rebirth. And it’s all about young people, so it’s also the future. We are so excited to see the buildings around that have been upgraded,” added Dambe.



In the crowd, Kemo Kwadiba, the Managing Director of Care Medicals Botswana and one of the 200 entrepreneurs from Botswana sponsored by De Beers and the country to experience the summit, was ecstatic as local hip hop artist ATI took to the stage for an energetic performance.



“I am very keen to meet with entrepreneurs from Africa and the world at the summit; I want to share notes with them, all the way from here to Kasane, where I will be attending the second leg of the summit,” said Kwadiba.



Yet another young businessman in the crowd, Botsile Tshepo Moreba, the owner of Sanctified Delights Bakery in Bobonong, a&nbsp;small town in the country’s Central District, drove five hours to get here.



“I am not an Under 30 lister, but I feel like one,” he said.



Lenny Motshodi, a small-scale farmer who mainly sells lettuce, said he too was looking forward to mingle with other agri-preneurs in the audience.



Similar sentiments from summit attendee, Busi Pooe, the CEO of Tshimong in South Africa and also FORBES AFRICA’s 2019 30 Under 30 lister: “Tonight was hugely inspirational. I had the opportunity to reconnect with past FORBES AFRICA Under 30s from all over the African continent who&#8217;ve been recognized for their potential, and have actually gone on to realize it. President Masisi commented that Africa&#8217;s time is now and the youth are in the driving seat. I&#8217;m excited for the next few days of networking as it will continue to build on the momentum set tonight.”&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;



Just before Ghana’s DJ Black made his way to the stage for his much-awaited show, President Masisi concluded his speech, summing up the mood of the night: “My wife and I are in our dancing shoes and we are ready to rock!”



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An African Night Celebrating Global Entrepreneurship  

FORBES AFRICA was at Expo 2020 Dubai to witness the tech-filled finale of the multi-billion-dollar, 182-day global event that also brought all of Africa.



The party was on for six months.



And on a balmy night, under a gold dome in a grand spectacle of sound and light that saw hundreds of performers and several thousand diverse and starry-eyed visitors, the curtain came down on the Expo 2020 Dubai that brought through its gates an estimated staggering 23 million visitors.



The closing ceremony of the world gala in the UAE emirate last night (March 31), had thousands of visitors streaming in well into the wee hours for the live shows, fireworks and pyrotechnics.



Tech reigned.



Even as Grammy award-winning singer and headline crowd-pleaser Norah Jones said it’s her first trip to Dubai and dazzled in a grey sequinned dress at the piano singing the soulful Come Away With Me, and as thousands thronged every inch of space on the walkways – dodging baby strollers and e-scooters – to hear global pop sensation Christina Aguilera, the true star of the show was the Al Wasl gold dome, the all-rounder of the mega event.



The intricate lattice dome’s eye-popping technical specs? At 67.5 meters tall and comprising 13.6 kilometers of steel, it weighs 2,544 tonnes – “as much as 25 blue whales”. And under it, a sea of humanity gazing at an immersive 360-degree projection system with giant fabric screens.



At the closing event, the baton was handed over to the Japanese city of Osaka, where the next expo will be held in 2025.



The UAE, which celebrated its 50th year during the expo and changed its weekend to Saturday and Sunday in keeping with the West, is home to multiple nationalities. The expo, delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, is being seen as “the start of a new beginning”.



Africa was well-represented too. The colorful African stalls in the world souq areas were quite the magnet for crowds, with hand-woven African baskets and print sandals selling at Dhs100 ($27) a piece.



The African Union pavilion located within the Opportunity District at the expo site spoke to the Agenda 2063 aspirations of the continent and strengthening trade links between the Middle East and Africa.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It’s been a great experience,” says Coumba Dioukhane, a spokesperson at the Côte d&#8217;Ivoire pavilion, even as crowds queue up around us to get their expo passports stamped by the West African country.



“We were able to showcase the Ivory Coast from an economic, social and cultural point of view; this was an opportunity to show to the whole world where we are, and the investment opportunities we have.”



Similar sentiments at the Sierra Leone pavilion.



The salesman at the store inside points to the python skin for sale and a crocodile skin handbag selling for Dhs1,500 ($408). “But you know we also have gold and diamonds,” he says with a glint in his eye. “Our country was hidden but not anymore. The last six months here in Dubai have been incredible.”



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had also been at Expo 2020 Dubai, at his country’s pavilion three days before the finale, calling it “a seminal event… as we strive to recover and rebuild in the wake of the pandemic”.



Some enduring connections for Africa in this glistening city in the desert.

Closing Ceremony Held For Expo 2020 Dubai

World Fair Ends With Festivities, Pyrotechnics And High Tech

A high school drop-out, Nikhil Kamath is India’s youngest billionaire and with a keen interest in Africa.



IF YOU HAVE A PLAN, DOES IT MATTER THAT YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED SCHOOL? Ask Nikhil Kamath, the 35-year-old co-founder of wealth management firms Zerodha and True Beacon and India’s youngest billionaire as per Forbes India’s 2021 India Rich List.



The big name in Indian stock-broking and retail brokerage dropped out of school at the age of 15 to play chess and developed a passion for the stockmarkets and investing in asset classes. He started equity trading at the age of 17 and his first business at 19. He founded Zerodha and True Beacon with his brother Nithin in the last decade, and together, the brothers were reportedly worth $2.59 billion in 2021.



Today, Kamath is creating wealth for some of the richest people on the planet, with a disruptive product – an open-ended fund with no management fees or entry and exit fees.



This commission-free investing model has drawn comparisons with trading platform Robinhood in the United States.



How does he keep this model sustainable in the long-term and how is he looking at African investors? Kamath answers on a Zoom call from Bengaluru, known as India’s Silicon Valley and which is just the setting for his booming fintech.



The man bullish about both India and Africa starts with: “It’s our endeavour to become totally client-aligned, so we have eliminated fixed fees you would associate with a typical fund. It’s a wholesale game in a way, we charge very little, about Rs20 ($0.26) per transaction as an execution fee. We have close to 15%-18% share in the Indian markets, so even though Rs20 does not sound like a lot, with millions of 



transactions a day, that adds up to be a considerable number.” The epiphany for the model came a few years ago when Kamath



was trying to allocate his own capital to private banks and wealth managers and realized the ineptness in the system.



“So to rid the ecosystem of a lot of these inefficiencies, I decided to launch the asset management company (Zerodha), basically building a product I hoped will be available for somebody like me to invest in.”



The seasoned derivatives trader is now eyeing the African market, and hopes to set up base in the continent’s big economies like South Africa and especially Nigeria, for “the new demographic opportunities the region offers”.



India’s regulatory framework is also one of the best that makes it attractive for African investors, a point Kamath concurs with.



“As the world is getting globalized, I think everybody is looking for diversification, not just amongst asset classes but between geographies. So for an African ultra high networth individual (HNI) to participate in India’s growth would be a great opportunity.



“The problem up until now is there haven’t been very many efficient ways of doing it. We are just trying to solve that by providing the connectivity and transparency for these ultra HNIs from Africa to invest in India and get some kind of global diversification. Africa in many ways is a big emerging market for us, and the opportunities are plenty.



“The good thing we have going with India and Africa is there are deep cultural ties going back many decades, and a familiarity with how both the regions have evolved. So I would think it’s natural for increased collaboration and cross-country deals.”



But what does Kamath think of the capital markets and regulatory frameworks in Africa? How would a fund like his work here, we ask, as he hopes to change the nuances of investing.



“What has really worked for India in the last five years is the adoption of technology in the banking and fintech universe. And the regulators have allowed for an ecosystem where this adoption has thrived and happened sooner. Maybe that is a good lesson for Africa, to not go the traditional route of dealing with red tape but to make things more open and integrating technology faster might help reduce the time to get licences and processes working in Africa.”



And coming from a country with a rapidly growing startup ecosystem, the billionaire has advice too for Africa’s young entrepreneurs: “Don’t think too local; there is plenty of innovation happening in different pockets of the world. Actively engage, invest and create, try and learn from the mistakes of others.”



–For the full interview, visit <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/billionaire-nikhil-kamath-on-disruptive-model-of-managing-assets-of-the-ultra-rich/">www.cnbcafrica.com </a>

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The Billionaire Creating Wealth For the Ultra-Rich

In an exclusive with FORBES AFRICA from Seattle in the United States, Melinda French Gates speaks about the billions pledged to support women and combat Covid-19, and the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation’s new Goalkeepers Report that features an updated global dataset explaining the pandemic’s adverse impact on progress toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.



Q. How can the world collectively come together to combat the shadow pandemic that women and girls are grappling within Africa, in the wake of Covid-19?



A. Even a cursory look at the latest data shows us how devastating the pandemic has been for women, particularly when it comes to the economy. This year, women’s employment globally is expected to remain 13 million jobs below the 2019 level — while men’s employment is largely expected to recover to pre-pandemic rates.



The reason for these striking gaps is that women have long faced barriers to economic participation – and those barriers have only worsened amid the pandemic. For example, women have a harder time accessing finance and credit than men, and they are disproportionately employed in sectors that have lower pay.



The evidence leaves us no doubt: With women making up 50% or more of the workforce in many African countries, we can either take action now or risk facing decades of growth-restricting inequality.



And if we want to avoid that fate, leaders must prioritize women within pandemic recovery planning and policy-making, and donors and global institutions must further expand their support for women-focused programs.



For example, our foundation recently pledged $2.1 billion to support women’s economic and health issues, which we hope will be just one piece of a larger puzzle. Our hope moving forward is that governments, philanthropies, non-governmental organizations, and everyone looking to improve their corner of the world will join us in supporting the empowerment of women and girls. It’s a step that will ultimately pay off for everyone, everywhere.



Q. What are the foundation&#8217;s plans for Africa in the coming months?



A. Our foundation has worked in partnership with African countries for decades, and the more than $1.9 billion we’ve contributed to the global effort to combat Covid-19 is just the latest part of that commitment. We believe strongly that all people deserve to benefit from the innovations and science developed to respond to the pandemic and save lives. Right now, the lack of equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines is standing in the way of our ability to put the pandemic behind us.



In this year’s Goalkeepers Report, we explain how Covid-19 vaccine access has been strongly correlated with the locations where there is vaccine R&amp;D and manufacturing capability. Though Africa is home to 17% of the world’s population, for example, it has less than 1% of the world’s vaccine manufacturing capabilities. That’s why we’re supporting the Africa CDC and African Union’s vision to create a sustainable regional vaccine development and manufacturing ecosystem in the region. These investments in low- and middle-income countries — which are too often left waiting for life-saving interventions— would better protect communities and families from diseases like Covid-19 in the future.



Our foundation is also committed to investments in Africa because we’ve seen the impact of African innovations on many health and financial challenges. As your magazine recently noted, the continent’s diversity and ingenuity inspires resilience and optimism for the future.



For example, one of South Africa’s leading scientists, Dr Penny Moore, discovered that a coronavirus variant first found in her country could circumvent the immune system. Another example we highlight in the report is Senegal. The country led an incredibly effective campaign to ensure forward momentum on routine immunizations, helping health workers adapt their strategic outreach to their communities during the pandemic.



With more forward-thinking, long-term investments in Africa and by continuing to encourage local innovation, we will all benefit from improved health security and pandemic preparedness moving forward.

French President Macron Hosts Counterparts Attending Generation Equality Forum

‘A Step That Will Ultimately Pay Off For Everyone, Everywhere’- Melinda French Gates In Exclusive Interview

In recent years, he has dominated Africa’s rich lists as the continent’s youngest billionaire. Mohammed Dewji, the shrewd entrepreneur and CEO of MeTL Group in Tanzania, has previously been on two FORBES AFRICA covers – in 2013 and 2015. In this new decade, he is eyeing a much bigger chunk of African business.



JUST BACK IN DUBAI AFTER A WHIRLWIND trip dropping off his 18-year-old daughter at the School of Foreign Service at his alma mater, Georgetown University in Washington DC, the 46-year-old Tanzanian businessman, known in the hallowed corridors of the continent’s elite as “Africa’s youngest billionaire”, is more emotional than jet-lagged.



“I had to let go of her, you know, but I’m going to visit DC more often,” says Mohammed Dewji.



He could be speaking for himself too. In FORBES AFRICA’s July 2013 cover, he had said he puts in 100 hours a week growing MeTL into a pan-African conglomerate.



Today, he admits to slowing down “a little bit” – after his headline-grabbing kidnapping incident in 2018 that gave him a new lease on life and made him veer towards philanthropy and impact investing a lot more than before, he says.



But this has in no way decelerated his ambitions to conquer more markets and more milestones.



The astute, hard-nosed businessman running Tanzania’s MeTL Group, operating in areas as diverse as food, agriculture, textiles, trading, energy, financial services, real estate, logistics, and distribution, has a vision for his company that covers every commerce and commodity on the African map.



“My problem is my mind, it runs like a train. I’m trying to slow it down. But I’m not working 100 hours a week anymore; I work 80 hours a week,” he laughs. “I’m still passionate about work, I just cannot have an idle mind.”



The entire MeTL Group, he says, is on course for a targeted revenue this year of about $2 billion. The group had its genesis in the early 1970s as a modest trading house; his father Gulam Dewji, in a few years, turned it into a flourishing import-export business.



Today, the younger Dewji is talking about buying an island with a landing strip “very soon” and venturing into the hospitality business. A half-hour interview with Dewji and he has touched every business there is: his renewed investments in tea, carbonated drinks, macadamia, cashews, textiles&#8230; the list is endless.



But there is the reason for him to feel bullish. With the country’s new President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, taking over early this year following the death of President John Magufuli, Tanzania is waking up to a new vision and positive outlook, hoping to join the continent’s economic giants Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana.



“The new president is so business-friendly, investment-friendly, and FDI-friendly, she is doing good for Tanzania,” says Dewji.



“I have promised her that in the next five years, I’ll employ 100,000. Tanzania is one of the fastest-growing countries in Africa. I am going to continue investing more into the country and of course, in the region.”



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Dewji has his ear to the ground and is well-attuned to the purchasing power of consumers in his target markets in East and Central Africa.



“When I got out of university in Georgetown in 1998-1999, the per capita income in Tanzania was $300. So I was like, ‘okay, how do I become a rich man?’ Today, the per capita income is over $1,000. From the time you wake up in the morning, to the time you sleep, I need to dig deep into your pockets to at least take 70% of your purchasing power, right?” he explains simply.



“So you wake up in the morning, there is tea, sugar, maize flour, carbonated drinks, water; there’s a bicycle, there’s a motorcycle, there’s garments etc etc, So I have been able to just fight to enter. And I’ve been competing with Unilever and Procter &amp; Gamble, and Coca-Cola. I believe that in the next maybe four or five years, my carbonated drinks business, which I am expanding, will be at least over a billion dollars in terms of valuation in East and Central Africa.”



Dewji has big plans in Rwanda.



“I told President Paul Kagame that I was going to invest $50 million. And I’m going to put in an edible oil refinery and a soap plant, I’m going to put in wheat milling, I’m going to put in maize milling, I am going to put petroleum, we’re putting carbonated soft drinks. And they have been amazing. They are punching above their weight. You are welcomed like a king in Rwanda,” says the man, also known to his family and friends as ‘Mo’.



Agriculture is a mainstay business, and in 2022, Dewji says he will be the single largest sisal producer in the world. In addition, he is converting his tea business to organic tea.



“I’m going to invest another $50 million into planting a couple of thousand hectares of new hybrid tea that I can export, and also make more tea locally. I am looking at macadamia in a big way; we’ve invested in Mozambique in the maize milling business, in the cashew processing business. And in textiles, you know that I am one of the largest. If you were to visit my factory, it’s 3,800 people spinning, weaving, processing, dyeing, printing&#8230; For now, I want to also go into denim. We need to create more jobs,” he reels off breathlessly.



Dewji was in Iraq too recently and found a big gap in FMCG – “businesses that I know already”.



In the last few years, he has also found the time to part-own a football club, Simba SC, and is channeling more funds into it.



“And now, we [are among] the top 15 clubs in Africa. We have had back-to-back leagues, and I have invested $20 million. It’s just like having a plane or a yacht; you bleed money. But I just love the club and am so emotional about it.”



In 2015, Dewji also created his eponymous foundation educating underprivileged children right up to the university level in Tanzania, he says. As Tanzania’s only billionaire, he also signed the Giving Pledge in 2016, promising to donate at least half his fortune to philanthropic causes.



“Bill Gates convinced me and I signed the Giving Pledge and it has been amazing. And then, of course, the worst the part was my kidnapping in 2018.”



Kidnapped at gunpoint in Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian capital, in October 2018, outside his gym at 5 AM, Dewji was released after nine days.



“I went through a near-death experience; they basically stripped me and blindfolded me, and I was in a room with two people, without moving for all those days,” he recalls.



It gave him a new life-altering perspective.



“I think by the age of 50, I want my kids to get a little older, and I just want to step down and do philanthropy, because it gives me a lot of satisfaction. When we run businesses, we invest and we want the maximum per dollar, right? So I look at philanthropy the same way; that you spend that dollar or the $100 or $100 million that you want to put to have maximum impact, and I’m going to focus on that!&#8221;

Final Press Release

Get, Set, Mo! $1.6 Billion And Counting

One of America’s most successful self-made women, Hollywood actor Jessica Alba’s journey to entrepreneurship began 13 years ago. Her business, The Honest Company, debuted on the Nasdaq in May this year. In this exclusive interview with FORBES AFRICA, the Los Angeles-based star speaks about living consciously, taking ownership and her new YouTube series, Getting Honest.



Q. Being a newcomer to business when you first started, how did you pick up the tricks of trade and enterprise? What were the significant challenges? 



A. One of the biggest challenges I faced early on was doubting myself – doubting that I could do it if I didn’t have a business degree. I navigated through it by listening, learning and trusting myself on what matters most. I think there is also this assumption that starting a business is easy when you are a celebrity, but success in one industry doesn’t necessarily open doors in another. I had the drive and I had the idea, but I still needed the funding and the infrastructure. When I was pitching room after room of (mostly) men to raise initial seed funding, I was also pregnant with my second child. Some thought I should be a spokesmodel for other brands, others thought I should start smaller. That’s the part of business where being an actor helps: rejection. The more I was rejected, the more I honed my pitch. I am also really driven by my curiosity, I’m constantly asking questions and I surround myself with people who have different strengths than I do, so I’m always learning and growing.



Q. The Honest Company has just debuted on the Nasdaq. Where do you see it in the next five years?



A. We are currently in a quiet period&#8230; What I can say is we are excited to be able to continue to shift the clean lifestyle conversations in the industry – driving our mission forward – inspiring everyone to love living consciously. We made the decision to become a public company because it will help enable us to do just that – driving further accessibility and product innovation, so that we can meet consumers however they want to shop – every day, at every age and through every life stage. The possibilities for an ‘Honest’ world are significant.



Q. What were your own learnings, and the things you would do differently if you had to do it all over again?



A. I think that when you are building a business, doing something you truly believe in, you just want everything to be perfect from day one, but that’s impossible to achieve. The process of building a business is complex and comes with a lot of trial and error. You learn to pivot as yougo.SolookingbackonwhatIwoulddodifferently, I would try to be a little kinder to myself in the process. I&#8217;m such a perfectionist and I was learning on the job so I was really hard on myself if something didn’t go exactly as I thought it should.



Also, I know now that I didn’t need to be insecure about being the only woman at the C-level. I think if I did it all over again, I would really own that this business was my idea and be proud of that. It took me a long time to stop being shy and apologetic and take more ownership over the conversation. I started this company, I had the vision and I brought the right people together to make it happen.



Q. What are the top three challenges facing female entrepreneurs?



A. The first is a lack of representation. When you don&#8217;t see people like yourself in the room, it can be hard to feel like you deserve to be there. That creates a feeling of insecurity that can hold women back.



Secondly, women get less funding from investors. Not only do they get funding less often, but when they do, they get fewer dollars. There&#8217;s a comfort level investors have with what they know and they are used to seeing male entrepreneurs.



Unfortunately, when it comes to investment, it’s not just about having a great idea or a great business, it’s about whether or not you can get the people in the room to believe in you and women have historically been at a disadvantage.



Finally, there’s an unfair expectation around ways women should and should not act. There are social norms that people associate with women and a way they expect women to behave. In business, however, to get things done, you need to be assertive and exhibit boss behavior – it&#8217;s what moves the needle but society doesn&#8217;t necessarily appreciate this type of behavior when it comes from a woman. The way people want to see women act doesn&#8217;t always align with the traits you need to push your idea, vision and business forward.



Q. Be it cinema or business, what are the fundamental traits that you need to bring to the table to shine in both? 



A. You have to be prepared and bring your best self to work everyday, but you also have to be able to go with the flow and pivot when necessary.



Q. With Covid-19 lockdowns, how did your business fare?



A. The Honest Company was built around the ethical values of transparency, trust, sustainability, and a deep sense of purpose. As part of these values, we have always been focused on the importance of omnichannel and accessibility; during the Covid-19 lockdowns, this approach helped us to maintain the strength of our business. We manage an agile global supply chain of highly- qualified, third-party manufacturing and logistics partners that allows us to scale quickly and effectively. Because of this, we were able to mitigate disruptions caused by the pandemic.



As an essential business, we were able to get our products to our customers regardless of Covid-19 lockdowns due to our omnichannel strategy. Additionally, as a nimble, modern company with internal labs, we have the ability to pivot quickly to adapt to and meet the consumer&#8217;s needs through modern innovation. Because of this, throughout the pandemic, we were able to pay close attention to trends and respond as they evolved, shifting focus toward sanitization, wellness, and self-care. In fact, in less than six months after the onset of Covid-19, we created and launched a new Stay Safe cleaning collection, a complete set of cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting solutions. We will continue to take a similar approach as everything continues to open back up as well.



We also continued to prioritize our community and give back efforts. During Covid-19, these efforts focused on our ongoing partnership with Baby2Baby as well as our March of Dimes partnership. I am proud to say that since the launch of the company, we have donated over 25 million products to families in need.



Q. Are there any upcoming personal creative projects, besides new films?



A. During Covid, I launched my YouTube channel and a series called, Getting Honest, where I sit down with guests from different industries and we have intimate, funny, raw, real conversations about whatever is on our mind at the moment. We often do something fun, like a skincare or makeup routine, while we are chatting. It’s a really casual but entertaining way of talking about all the things – motherhood, business, health, family, etc. I’ve had some amazing guests like Alex Rodriguez, Kate Hudson and Molly Sims and many more to come. It’s been such a fun, creative way to create this community and use my platform to have really honest conversations around what matters most to people.



Q. What does the word ‘impact’ mean to you?



A. It means making a difference and leaving the world better than you found it.



Q. You were the official spokesperson of the ‘for Tomorrow’ project for sustainable innovators with UNDP and Hyundai. Your advice to the next generation of female leaders on the African continent?



A. As I reflect back on my own journey, I wish someone had told me early on that no one would give me permission to lead or to challenge the status quo. So my advice to the next generation of female leaders is don’t wait for someone to give you permission. Trust your gut and, if you believe in your idea, go for it. Don’t let one rejection stop you from achieving your goals. In fact, let the hurdles motivate you. And always remember what the great Eleanor Roosevelt said: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

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‘Need To Be Assertive And Exhibit Boss Behavior’: Jessica Alba Exclusive

Abi Mustapha-Maduakor, the CEO of the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA), on what lies ahead for fintech in Nigeria.



Q. There has been significant activity in the African tech ecosystem. Do you see this sector growing, at least in terms of diversity of funding for fintech startups in Nigeria? Are there any figures to quantify or further illustrate this?



<meta charset="utf-8">Abi Mustapha-Maduakor (AMM): Technology has developed into one of the highest interest emerging sectors for private equity and venture capital investment in Africa. According to AVCA’s Sector Snapshot on Technology, published in April 2021, there were 572 reported Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) fund investments in technology in Africa between 2015- 2020, totaling $6.5 billion. Technology has certainly disrupted various sectors on the continent resulting in the development of innovative homegrown solutions to address challenges therein. In 2020, investments



in technology and tech-enabled companies operating across a variety of sectors accounted for 55% of the total PE and VC deals recorded in Africa, according to AVCA’s 2020 Annual African Private Equity Data Tracker. The sector is poised for exponential growth as the continent catapults further into a digital revolution, bringing efficiency, reducing fragmentation and driving innovation within and across entire sectors. The improving depth and breadth of digital connectivity on the continent is gaining international recognition: eight of the 25 economies identified as outperformers (countries with high Global Innovation Index scores relative to their level of economic development) in the 2020 edition of the Global Innovation Index were from sub-Saharan Africa. These strides towards digitalization across the continent will catalyze further public and private investment in the sector. Nigeria attracted 14% of PE and VC fund investment in Africa’s technology sector (2015-2020) and we expect this trend to continue going forward. Particularly, the fintech industry in Nigeria experienced significant increase in 2020 and attracted increasing [interest] from a wide range of domestic and institutional investors. In 2020, fintech companies in Nigeria raised $112 million from investors; we can certainly expect to see an increase in commercial capital allocated to the same.



In particular, fintech in Nigeria is attracting significant investor interest. In 2020, fintech startups headquartered in Nigeria raised capital from investors based in the United States, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Ghana, and Morocco to name buta few. The sector is further fueled by a number of growth drivers. Regulatory changes were a key enabler to growth in the fintech industry in Nigeria in 2020. The Central Bank of Nigeria implemented the Regularity Sandbox, allowing CBN-licensed firms to live test new and innovative products in a controlled environment before launching their products to the public. This push to create a strong and dynamic digital finance ecosystem set Nigeria on a positive path to receiving diverse and multiplied funding for startups in the fintech space.



Q. Do you see momentum picking up for the fintech industry in Nigeria going forward this year too with Covid?



AMM: The Covid-19 pandemic was not a headwind but rather a catalyst for innovation in Africa’s tech ecosystem. Although the pandemic ushered a period of subdued investment activity in Africa, this lull in deal-making was short-lived. By mid-2020, investors were exhibiting renewed confidence in the continent, and the year saw several PE and VC deals benefitting fintech startups. Examples include the $60 million Series B investment round in Thunes led by Helios Investment Partners and the $30 million Series B investment in Chipper Cash.



Examples of late-stage PE deals in the second half of 2020 include the $30 million investment in mobile-technology insurer BIMA by Leapfrog and other investors in September 2020, as well as the $20 million investment in digital payment solutions provider Global Accelerex by African Capital Alliance in November 2020. Looking ahead to 2021, we can expect the pace and volume of technology investment in Africa to continue gaining momentum. Fintech startups Chipper Cash and Flutterwave, the two most recent additions to the continent’s limited breed of ‘unicorns’ (startups that reached a $1 billion valuation), both successfully raised $100 million + Series C funding rounds in 2021. 



Long-term growth fundamentals remain in place driving the expansion of technology in Africa. Within the fintech space, the rapid growth of mobile and internet penetration in sub-Saharan Africa, coupled with challenges related to traditional banking infrastructure and services in the region, have laid the foundations for fintech to flourish and transform the financial services sector on the continent. According to AVCA’s 2020 Annual African Private Equity Data Tracker, financial technology accounted for 70% of the total number of deals within the financial sector in 2020, and consistently attracts a significant proportion of the value of private equity funding channeled to the continent.



We expect this trend to persist into 2021.

Author: Renuka Methil

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA