The Nairobi-based co-founder of Craydel, an online career guidance platform, speaks to FORBES AFRICA about its ambitions to democratize higher education and scale across Africa. But first, more on what sparked his entrepreneurial journey.



Manish Sardana is in the midst of a busy day, opening yet another office, a bigger one, in Nairobi’s upscale Westlands area when we catch up for a conversation on Craydel, the edtech startup he successfully co-founded in Kenya in 2021, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.



“Right now, we have five offices – three in Nigeria and two in Kenya – and about 70-odd employees and we are growing rapidly,” the platform’s 43-year-old CEO says about the growth of what was once “just an idea in his head”.



At a time when most startups are battling to survive and retrenching staff, Craydel is hiring rapidly and on its way to profitability in 2024, he adds. On the cards: expansion to more markets such as Ghana, Uganda and South Africa. The investors are keen and Sardana is optimistic.



“When you are building something that has a real vision trying to solve a real problem, you get people gravitating towards you,” says Sardana of his platform that dispels misinformation and biases for students and guides decisions on college and course selection.&nbsp;Craydel is building the tech infrastructure to empower African learners to search, match and apply to their best-fit higher education institutions.



In 2021, Sardana, along with his co-founders <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-nguru-38677638/?originalSubdomain=ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Nguru</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayne-aman-premji/?originalSubdomain=ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shayne Aman Premji</a>, secured $1 million for Craydel in a pre-seed round led by Enza Capital, a private venture fund that invests in early-stage tech startups across Africa. Subsequently, they secured another $1.5 million to grow the platform.



Craydel – a play on the word ‘cradle’ – &nbsp;hand-holds students wanting to pursue higher education – from graduation to post-graduation to PhD – at any point in their student or professional career. In fact, 50% of their postgraduate enrolments are working professionals looking for a career change, says Sardana.



The tech startup has 380 direct partnerships with universities so far and seeks to democratize access to tertiary education, in turn, addressing the low gross enrolment rate, of about 9%, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This includes working professionals who have not been to college before, for want of access to capital and resources.



Two years in, Sardana says they have figured out the formula for success.



“We know that if you do X, Y and Z, you are going to be successful. That equation is very clear to us now.



We want to show that we can build a real unicorn out of Africa, creating real impact.”



But there’s a reason why Craydel may as well be on its way to savoring billion-dollar success in the future. Sardana has a track-record of building and scaling successful businesses from the ground-up.



His penchant for entrepreneurship had its humble beginnings in India, and followed him to Africa, a continent that he now calls home and one that has “given so much” to him.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I owe it to Africa,” he explains of his mission to expand opportunities in education.



“One of the things I realized early on in life is to observe things around me… What I love is looking at ecosystems and how things work, and understand how it is broken, and use technology to disrupt that ecosystem. There&#8217;s also a theory I use, which is called ‘perpetuators versus agitators’; wherein perpetuators perpetuate an ecosystem because it benefits them, while an agitator can really shake this up from the outside and create a better, more efficient ecosystem,” says Sardana.



‘Serial entrepreneur’



His first tryst with entrepreneurship was at the age of 10. From a middle class home in Delhi – with three rooms and 16 family members – Sardana was born to parents who worked in the government and instilled in him a love for reading.



He engaged this by creating “a sharing concept or library with a common pool of books and comics from everyone in one place”, renting books out to friends and relatives. The venture failed, but not without him realizing how much he enjoyed the process of creating it. All through school and college, he found enterprising ways to make pocket money, becoming “a serial entrepreneur more out of necessity than anything else”.



His parents allowed him these entrepreneurial bouts, so long as he was going to top his class, study economics and go on to become a civil services officer. Whilst studying for an economics degree in Delhi University’s Hansraj College, Sardana was also teaching students. But disillusionment set in.



“I mean 90% of what I studied two years ago, I had no recollection of, and I could not see how that education was going to ever help me in life. And especially because I had kind of exposed myself to building businesses, I did not see any practical application of what I was studying.”



Along with a couple of friends, he soon set up his own publishing business – a college magazine in Delhi University that proved to be very popular on campus. He hustled, spending nights at the printing press and knocking on advertisers’ doors during the day, thumbing through the Yellow Pages directories and traveling across Delhi on his dad’s scooter. This was in the year 2000.



“My parents said I have got to stop this and do my master’s degree,” says Sardana. His mom filled out a form to the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. Some of India’s greatest economists such as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and former Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh have taught at the institution. &nbsp;



Sardana cleared the entrance exam, quite by default. “I really did not study for it. The only way I cleared the exam was because I was teaching my classmates and charging them money for it. So I would [conduct] private tuitions for my own classmates, and in the process of teaching them, I would kind of learn myself.”



Very soon, he realized it was all theoretical economics and he had no passion for it. It didn’t challenge him enough, so three months into the course, he quit.



After that, he tried to rekindle the magazine business but had to close it down. He also authored an economics textbook for class 12 students. A year on, he went on to do his MBA at the FORE School of Management and was subsequently hired by advertising agency FCB Ulka. Before long, he felt “jaded” in the industry doing marketing campaigns. But Sardana was also closely watching from the sidelines the big renaissance unraveling in India’s technology sector.



“That was in 2004-2005, the internet was coming up, Amazon was becoming a big thing and Google had come up. I saw the power of technology really changing and transforming ecosystems and got really excited about it,” he recalls.



After that, he worked four years in a successful edtech startup called Vriti, and the company managed to raise a total funding of $35 million.



“It was a lot of money at the time… Eventually, I sliced the part of the company I was running and set up as a separate company. I sold my company to a financial investor. So that was my first successful exit, which I was really happy about.



“And then, after seven years, I needed a break, I was very much done. Startups can also be an emotionally-draining experience, you know, especially when you are just married and have kids.”



A six-month break ensued, during which time he also helped his wife set up her bakery business, delivering her cakes door-to-door in their black Maruti Esteem car.



That was in 2014 when Sardana’s Africa rendezvous was just about to begin.



‘Owe it to Africa’



One of his former bosses who had been following his journey in the technology space told him about an opportunity in Africa with multinational communications company, WPP to focus on the digital marketing side of the business.



Within 10 days of receiving the offer, Sardana was on a plane to Kenya, his first trip outside of India. It took him three years to settle down, to understand the market and the consumers, and he was promoted to Managing Director for WPP-Scangroup in SSA.&nbsp; &nbsp;



He won a lot of business for the company but the entrepreneur in him was beginning to surface, again. He built a marketing automation platform called Optimus for the company, which is when he met and worked with his current co-founder and CTO, Nguru.



He presented the product to the board but it didn’t work. He presented it to one of their clients, Barclays in Kenya, and thereby to the bank’s leadership in South Africa, who were very impressed and gave him a chance to deploy it across their markets, which he calls his “first lucky break”.



“Once Barclays happened, you know, success creates more success. Suddenly, at WPP, the guys woke up!”



Sardana says Optimus was also deployed by leading African entities such as Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity Bank, the Old Mutual Group and Airtel.



The epiphany after that was inspired by his wife, whose bakery business was also doing well.



“She said to me ‘you know, you guys keep building all this sophisticated technology for large blue chip companies, but what about building something to help small businesses like us scale’?



“That was my first moment in Africa when I said, ‘okay, I&#8217;m making a lot of money for myself, am building a lot of wealth for my organization and for my clients, who are very rich people to start with, but we are really not doing anything of any significance, of impact, using our skill sets, and our insights for the large masses, the small business sector. If you understand Africa, it&#8217;s really run on the back of very micro SMEs.”



This led to the creation of Optimus Mini for small businesses. Eventually, that platform was called Goby – “the smallest fish in the world”. He explains the philosophy behind it.



“The big fish eat the small fish. So we wanted to empower the small fish to fight and compete with the big fish, by giving them access to all the technology and resources they needed. It was essentially e-commerce-as-a-service platform, allowing small entrepreneurs to upload their product pictures and prices, and it will set up an entire e-commerce shop for them online, integrated with payment gateways and logistics partners to deliver the products.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="682" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-682x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-60328" style="width:335px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-682x1024.jpeg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-768x1153.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-1023x1536.jpeg 1023w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-1364x2048.jpeg 1364w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-scaled.jpeg 1705w" sizes="(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Manish Sardana; image supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


It really was just Nguru and Sardana developing it at that point.



“John is an exceptional technology guy, he&#8217;s amazing. I would come up with a product design, the user experience, the strategy, the business side of things and he would build the technology. Technology was always my handicap – I always regret not learning to code. I have all the stuff in my head but can’t build. I tell John he completes my handicap,” says Sardana.



In three months, they had 3,000 merchants signing up, deeming the platform a success. This was while they were still with WPP-Scangroup, when they had the reach, the capital and client access afforded by the company.



When Covid-19 struck in 2020, e-commerce took off and so did Goby. Leading brewer AB InBev approached them to sign on for “a B2B version of the product” to take orders online and deliver alcohol. Diageo, too, came along.



But the time had come for Sardana to go on his own, even if it meant giving up a lucrative salary and the comfort of a full-time job at WPP.



“Working with Manish was always magical, a journey into the future,” remembers Serah Katusya of that time, when she was the Managing Director at Mediacom, a sister agency at WPP-Scangroup; she is now the CEO of Belva and founder of WildMango.&nbsp;“He challenged and inspired with the same energy. He paved the way for many of us into tech, into thinking and building business solutions.&nbsp;He was definitely an agency leader decades ahead of his time.”



By the time he left WPP, Sardana had enough confidence in his abilities to build and scale real businesses. He wanted to build something in a very different space, specifically, in education.



“I think that was a very big inflection point in my life… that I was wasting all my knowledge, talent and experience building things for big companies, and I wanted to solve real problems on the ground. So that kind of gave me an exceptional amount of clarity… seeing the lives of ordinary Kenyans, doing fascinating things with very little resources and transforming their lives became a real thing.”



‘A cradle for young students’



Sardana’s research showed that there were government subsidies and funding for primary education but there was not a lot of momentum in higher education.



“The higher education infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa is extremely weak. The problem is that in most schools, the career counselor is essentially a teacher with the least amount of workload…. This entire industry is run by agents who don&#8217;t understand career counseling; they essentially push students to universities, and make money.”



According to Craydel, more than 16 million African students spend $30 billion on higher education each year.



As a continent with the youngest population in the world, Africa presents tremendous opportunities in this regard, and Sardana was quick.



“We wanted to build a cradle for young students in Africa, for them to get all the nourishment in terms of the right advice, the career counseling, the psychometric assessment, and the right technology to get them off on their own feet.”



Whilst they were setting up the company, and during the pandemic, Sardana met Premji, the third co-founder, who is now Craydel’s CFO.



“Shayne is Canadian, but like me, stayed in Africa for 10 years. We stayed on the same street in Kenya but never knew each other. During the pandemic, he was changing houses, and walked into our apartment building. That&#8217;s how we met. He had a lot of experience in investment banking, and was doing extremely well in his career…



He is also impact-driven, so said he wanted to quit his job and join us full-time… he was extremely instrumental in raising our first round of a million dollars,” says Sardana.



For now, the trio is looking forward to what lies ahead. Their “vision and impact story” is shaping up.



“We&#8217;re in a good space now, and really excited about building this journey,” concludes Sardana, as he sets off to launch the company’s brand-new office, surely, one of many more to come.

Craydel co-founders John Nguru, Manish Sardana and Shayne Aman Premji; image supplied

‘We Can Build A Real Unicorn Out Of Africa, Creating Impact’: Kenya Co-Founder On Building An Edtech Startup 

Launch Africa, a leading early-stage pan-African venture capital fund has invested in 133 startups in 22 African countries closing over $36 million in its first round. Janade du Plessis, its co-founder, shares the crucial highlights of this journey into the continent and what Sol Kerzner taught him.



It is important for Janade du Plessis to start from the beginning, recounting the time, the imagery and the vibe of the vibrant, sandy, sprawling Cape Flats area to the east of Cape Town where he grew up in South Africa.



It is important for the co-founder of Launch Africa Ventures and Five35 Ventures – two companies prominent in the venture capital (VC) space in Africa today – to start with his mother.



Based in ‘Mother City’ Cape Town, he is close to the subject – and memories of a childhood that inescapably defined his future.



Those experiences have been invaluable, in traversing the continent and adding value to the lives of entrepreneurs – especially women – in Africa’s deepest pockets.



He has traveled to 50 of the 54 African countries, his bio states, but there are things you cannot include on your résumé – such as the beads of sweat and the tears of entrepreneurship that an itinerant life can bring.



But the 40-plus Du Plessis isn’t complaining, he is used to the hustling. It was in his past, and he sees it in his present, in the many people and startups he hopes to turn around on his travels.



“I come from a family of female entrepreneurs, so the first six years of my life before school, all I saw was hustle and women running businesses. They always went somewhere and came back really tired afterwards. My mom was hustling to feed the family, my aunt had a bakery…the women were doing things in their communities. This was stuff I learned from a young age,” he says.



Du Plessis taught himself to make things and sell them – baby steps for the future entrepreneur – and he also sold vegetables, peanuts and raisins to the community, learning the basics of cost management he still uses today.



“I always saw my mother struggle as an entrepreneur. Had the environment been ready, she would have been a fantastic leader in a big organization, but she never got the opportunity&#8230;That is why I am so deeply passionate about investing in women.”



For many, this sentiment is an afterthought, a token tick-mark or the tail end of any corporate narrative on success.



Not for Du Plessis. His Five35 Ventures is a pan-African female-focused VC fund investing in Africa’s female tech founders. Since its launch in April last year, it has completed 18 investments and is continuing to capital-raise, as currently, “only 1% of all VC funding goes to female founders”.



“I grew up under apartheid. Although they were hustling, my mom and aunts could not scale their businesses ever. It wasn’t allowed [at the time]…we don’t have those challenges anymore and yet, women still struggle. That’s my motivation to really provide capital to people left out or for some reason, marginalized…”



The “boring finance guy” that he calls himself did 18 years in the corporate world, including stints at the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Nigeria and Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) in South Africa, before founding Launch Africa. The corporate journey was an imperative rite of passage, especially in a country coming out of the apartheid era heralding the dawn of democracy and beckoning its educated youth to seize new opportunities.



With a post-graduate diploma in Actuarial Science from the University of Cape Town, Du Plessis’ first assignment was as a corporate finance analyst in Johannesburg for Standard Bank, on the trading desk and then in the mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A) team, moving on to Goldman Sachs as an M&amp;A analyst in New York for three years, where life only meant work. “People said, ‘oh, you lived in New York’ and I was like, ‘I did not see anything, I was working’. But obviously, the world opened up for me. And looking back now, Africa really opened up to me. Nobody knew my name. They would just call me ‘Africa’, because I was the only intake from the continent.



“They would walk up to my desk and say ‘Africa, there’s this guy in Nigeria, can you contact him’? I quickly learned that, ‘ah, there’s a whole opportunity for me to make a name for myself’. So I upskilled and really became passionate about the continent.”



An MBA degree from the London Business School followed and thereafter, the chance in London to learn from the best through his stint as Executive Assistant to South African business magnate and legend Sol Kerzner, the founder (now late) of Kerzner International.



“For two years, I absolutely loved it,” says Du Plessis. “I went from this very technical corporate to learning how business is actually done on the other side, and Sol Kerzner was an excellent businessman. He always told me, ‘never hire for personality, always hire for a role’. He taught me to always use other people’s money and make sure your stakeholders are happy.”



Back in Johannesburg, Du Plessis was offered a position as a director with hospitality group Tsogo Sun, and thereafter a role in corporate finance and M&amp;A at RMB, where he stayed seven years, before deciding the GPS on his personal radar was not just South Africa, but all of Africa.



This trajectory led to him moving to Nigeria and starting his own social impact fund, Abrazo Capital, in 2004, when he even raised money from the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation.



The mandate of the fund was to connect women in rural areas to peri-urban and urban areas and create a supply chain, but there weren’t enough sustainable businesses in those rural areas, so Abrazo created its own businesses, bringing in women, training them, making them managers, and eventually, shareholders.



“[In the end], we do a management buy-out of ourselves in those businesses. So we create our own exits, obviously pumping some debt into it, and then we take the money out&#8230;”



The fund created 19 businesses in 14 African countries, and Du Plessis got to live in some of the continent’s most rural and under- developed areas.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/vcrenu.png" alt="" class="wp-image-59315" style="width:288px;height:357px" width="288" height="357" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/vcrenu.png 349w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/vcrenu-242x300.png 242w" sizes="(max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Janade Du Plessis</figcaption></figure></div>


“I got to know these environments very well. And we had an exit IRR of 19%, where all impact funds back then were returning between 4% and 9% in dollar terms. So it was highly successful. It required me to be in those areas for three to nine months at a time. I am pretty much a city boy, but I loved it because you are building something, you’re seeing it emerge, and you’re seeing the impact it makes to other people’s lives,” smiles Du Plessis.



“Once you empower women, you know there is a shift. For me, that was not only an impact fund but a life-changing fund.”



The AfDB called to say they liked his model and appointed him their Chief Investment Officer (Private Sector) which Du Plessis was for four years but he yearned to return to the grassroots and work with entrepreneurs.



He wanted to come back to South Africa, and this was also when big tech was making waves.



An assignment with Nedbank as the Head of Venture Capital &amp; Alternative Investments in Johannesburg followed.



“We invested in Aerobotics, which was our first deal. It was a star performer. We came in at the pre-seed round, and funded it right up to Series A.”



Both at Abrazo and the AfDB, agriculture had been one of Du Plessis’ prime focus areas, so this was personally exciting.



“Through my Abrazo connections, overnight, after we did the investment, I introduced Aerobotics to about 40 co-operatives I previously worked with. Aerobotics have an amazing team, and [the company] is going to be a unicorn one day,” he predicts.



After his tenure at Nedbank, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, in October 2020, Du Plessis co-founded Launch Africa with Zachariah George.



“When I took the Nedbank job, one of the first things I did was sign up Startupbootcamp (a network of multi-corporate-backed accelerators helping startups scale internationally) as a service provider to provide us pipeline.” This is when he met George, a former Wall Street investment banker, now Launch Africa’s Managing Partner with Du Plessis. “Zach too has an amazing story, very different from mine and very interesting. He came to South Africa to watch the Soccer World Cup in 2010 and never left because he was like, ‘this is the land of opportunity’.



“He and I were always talking but from different perspectives, like his startups were great, but they were just not investment-ready for where all the capital actually sits, which is Series A and beyond. So we quickly realized that there is a massive gap at the seed stage; companies coming out of accelerators were doing whatever they could to raise Series A; but what they actually needed was 18 months of enough runway so they could get market traction, build a team; they don’t actually need that much capital, but they need time to build out the capacity of the team and get clients. This was the thesis of Launch Africa [based on the environment in 2019-2020],” says Du Plessis.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="800" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1679918960663.png" alt="" class="wp-image-59336" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1679918960663.png 800w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1679918960663-300x300.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1679918960663-150x150.png 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1679918960663-768x768.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Zachariah George</figcaption></figure>



George attests that it has been a great journey so far but hard work: “People ask me, ‘Zach, how did you build the biggest VC fund in Africa with Janade in just two years?’ I tell people that if you are looking for shortcuts, don’t work in the VC industry.”



In April last year, they closed the first fund raising $36.2 million from 258 high-net-worth-individuals, family offices and funds; investors further invested an additional $16 million over and above into 44 of their startups.



They are invested in 133 startups across 22 African countries.



Seed Fund 2 was launched recently targeting $75 million to continue the work they did in Fund 1.



These are numbers Du Plessis is very proud of as he breathlessly reels off the facts: “We wanted to also change who we raised from. All the VCs in Africa are funded by the same people at the end of the day. I worked with a DFI and knew the restrictions they put on you and we wanted to have a high-value, quick decision-making fund. We targeted C-suite executives of global organizations to say, ‘your organization doesn’t have to invest, but why don’t you give us a minimum of $100,000’. In return, you get to see a high-volume fund, you can learn as much as possible, and you get co-investment rights without any fees&#8230;So what that means is ‘we will manage these deals on your behalf, and we don’t charge anything for it’. And that resulted in us raising $36.2 million.”



Next up was going beyond the big economies of Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya, looking for more countries with an ecosystem that builds tech platforms – such as incubators and accelerators – where they could build relationships with them as with the corporates – such as banks and retailers – in these countries.



As examples, Du Plessis says they were the first institutional investor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo into a fintech called MaxiCash that’s “doing phenomenally well”; they were also the first in Sudan with an Uber-like ride-hailing service called Tirhal.



“As we understand these markets more, we are now actually more optimistic about Francophone Africa because of seeing early signs of these great startups being built. We come in very early, but the upside in terms of returns is obviously much higher. So I’ll tell you our star investment is a company called Gozem, the Uber equivalent in Togo and Benin.”



With a team of 14 spread across the continent, and an advisory board, there have been many challenges to overcome.



“VCs in Africa have to do so much more than anywhere in the world,” acknowledges Du Plessis.



But it’s all worth it.



“Being a fund manager is 60% admin, and 40% pure joy,” he laughs.



Du Plessis also runs the Abrazo Foundation in Cape Town, for refugee LGBTQ youth. It’s his “side hustle”, rehabilitating homeless young African people, who have escaped their countries looking for freedom, “because they can’t be who they are in their own country”. He manages to find them jobs or place them in companies.



“They come to South Africa where there are no employment opportunities and end up on the streets. They are skilled people who can value-add in society.”



It’s how Du Plessis defines impact. “For me, it’s all this, doing something that lives beyond your time.”

Entrepreneur businessman standing on lightbulb shaking hands with VC on money coins stack. Successful business negotiation, partnership. Selling startup business or merger agreement

Venture Forward: How This VC Fund Got To 133 Startups In 22 African Countries

Gaurav Dhar, a tech investor and second generation fintech entrepreneur in Dubai, has a keen eye on the sector in Africa, saying the continent will see larger and larger funds coming into enabling environments–and there are also some key lessons from the Middle East.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center">
“THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA HAS ITS OWN PATH OF ADOPTION FOR TECHNOLOGY, INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE DIFFERENT ECONOMIES… THERE IS HUGE POTENTIAL BUT THE UNLOCKING OF IT HAS TAKEN DIFFERENT TRAJECTORIES…”
</blockquote>



At the Dubai Fintech Summit in May, Gaurav Dhar is outside the lavish Madinat Jumeirah hotel where the event is being held, walking out of the venue into the afternoon sun in a dapper blue suit. Like the weather by this chic coastal property, he is warm and welcoming, referring to our chat a few weeks earlier.



As the Group CEO of Marshal Fintech Partners, these are the events you will typically find him at in the spiffy Middle Eastern emirate, those that focus on investments, fintechs, startups, venture capital, entrepreneurship and innovation.



Just like Dubai, the city he was born and raised in, his specialties too are as dynamic and diverse. 



Like any third generation expatriate, Dhar says he has a great sense of pride locating his activities out of the glistening emirate, yet doing business for the world, even for Africa.



“I consider myself an ambassador of the UAE. I have Indian roots, but for all intents and purposes, I consider myself an honorary Emirati. Because there is this pride when you [have been] part of the story of building this country in some way, shape or form.” Dhar’s grandfather came to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the early 1970s to become the General Manager of General Motors, when the country had just been carved out as seven emirates from its hitherto existence as the Trucial States.



Dubai was still a dusty city being developed around a port, bringing in tidings and tidy profits from the sea.



“The UAE was its own little paradise, and now is this behemoth global player… Our business evolved along with the country–it was a very side-by-side story,” says Dhar about how after his grandfather, his father, Anil, too followed in the late 1970s and took to “the landscape that was fresh, exciting, mixed and new”.



He worked at Unilever and Texas Instruments before “manifesting his own destiny” and deciding to go his own, turning around an office furniture and supplies company, slowly implementing it also as a technology-focused enterprise, incorporating typewriters, photocopiers and fax machines, as more and more businesses in the region started looking for ways to formalize and store work.



“My father wanted to follow the next trend…and understand the space where again, he could control his own destiny, as opposed to waiting for Xerox or Microsoft to tell him what to do, how to build or what his revenue could be,” recalls Dhar. Called Marshal Equipment and Trading LLC, the company started in the UAE, expanding across the Gulf Cooperation Council states and Africa. “It has been profit-generating for over 35 years and consistently growing,” says Dhar, speaking from his new office on Dubai’s ritzy Sheikh Zayed Road, also home to the almost-kilometer-long Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. When his father started his business, it was in a small office in Deira–a historic district bursting with character, old forts, wind towers, the legendary Clock Tower and the shimmering waters of the creek.



As a curious child growing up in this space, watching the business evolve, Dhar’s answer to questions while studying at Doon School in India was always that the family was in “payments technology”. His mind was already on the job.



The business grew from one country to another and so did the public penchant for payments technology slowly gaining currency in the boardrooms and bourses of Dubai as “people also started understanding the blocks that make up the fintech system”.



When Dhar–who studied law at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and calls himself “a second generation fintech entrepreneur”–first started exploring fintech, it also took a little convincing to get Dhar’s dad, who is 70 this year, to get on board.



“When we started talking in 2015 about the concept of nonprofit generating companies that are pure valuation-based, you can imagine his reaction, as a businessman, it was initially to say this is not going to fly, this is not going to work as a concept, because it’s very easy to spend money, but it’s very difficult to make money.”



Dhar started spending time in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India and other places to understand more of what was happening in the “high-risk, high-return, high-failure-rate” venture capital space in this regard.



About seven years ago, Dhar, in his personal capacity, started investing in fintech in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the United States, and three years ago, the company’s name changed to Marshal Fintech Partners–as it got acquired by a sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East.



With over 19 years of experience under his belt in various aspects of business, Dhar now has a well entrenched interest in fintech ecosystems and solutions.



“It’s very exciting to be a part of this evolution, where the ecosystem from a startup or investing point of view has started maturing and we were part of that as it started again…



“If I were to have an intellectual conversation in detail about payments technology with my father, he is extremely wellequipped, because he was there as it was being written, assembled, and literally adopted by all parts of the ecosystem in the Middle East, so he’s extremely capable,” smiles Dhar.



The business growth has been organic, as the entire ecosystem works mutually on codependency and reciprocal relationships from a technology, landscape, business and venture capital perspective. Along the evolution journey, through these collaborative interactions, Dhar says he has also formed networks and friends with “tangible value exchange” and “a genuine desire” to drive economic growth and create job opportunities in the Middle East and Africa.



The Middle East has historical ties with Africa, and Dhar continues to build connections on the continent, often featuring founders of African fintechs and Web3 startups on the podcast series (on Spotify, Apple, YouTube) he hosts every week. “The continent of Africa has its own path of adoption for technology, infrastructure and the different economies… there is huge potential but the unlocking of it has taken different trajectories…



“Let’s not forget that the Middle East has a lot of sovereign wealth, and they have been engaging in investing internationally for decades…So along with that wealth comes access to knowledge, learning, and exposure, so it has been much faster.



“I think the African continent again has it in pockets, but it’s not been [able to] move that timeline faster to have the whole continent benefiting from the influx of capital. So these are very separate ecosystems with different outcomes,” he says.



But there is no doubt there are massive opportunities and synergies between both regions.



“What you’re going to see is larger and larger funds in Africa, either pooled from Europe, or within Africa itself. Entrepreneurship still needs funding and fueling.”



“Whoever is going to be the most-friendly regulator is going to win, then the most-friendly telco operator is going to gain massively; and then the third is with the government allowing people to understand subsidized ecosystems to spark long-term talent staying in those ecosystems, and the understanding of educating properly what is happening in that ecosystem.” Effective partnerships between the government and the private sector is one thing the Middle East has done extremely well, he adds. 



“They have written the playbook for this essentially–the marriage between the government or the federal ecosystem and the private sector has been very close. They talk to each other and push each other to do bigger and better things. And one of these things in the UAE is the venture capital space. And that perhaps is something that needs to happen more in Africa.”



Also a board member of the MENA FinTech Association, a trip to Africa is on the cards soon, but when Dhar is not spending his time on advisory boards and “giving back” to the entrepreneurial community, he dabbles in his other interests: F&amp;B, collecting vintage cars and hosting vintage car rallies every year, where all roads eventually lead to Dubai.

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Guru Of Fintech: The Dubai Entrepreneur With An Eye On Africa

The East African country of Rwanda is deepening its economic and investment ties with the UAE, its leading trade partner that it has now signed five new deals with.



Anyone who has visited both Rwanda and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) long enough will be able to testify to the striking similarities between the two countries – pro-progress leadership, a readiness for innovation, an enabling investment environment, the important status accorded to women in nation-building, and the safety, stability and security they offer investors, citizens and tourists.



The two nations may be over 4,000km apart, but all of these common nuances and traits converged at the Rwanda-UAE Business Forum that toured the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Dubai in February.



The delegation from Rwanda’s private sector, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the Rwandan Embassy in the UAE held roadshows to explore investment and trade opportunities between the Middle Eastern hub and the surging East African nation, known as “the land of a thousand hills”.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Emmanuel-Hategeka-the-the-Ambassador-of-Rwanda-to-the-UAE-pic-supplied-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57916" width="461" height="308" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Emmanuel-Hategeka-the-the-Ambassador-of-Rwanda-to-the-UAE-pic-supplied-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Emmanuel-Hategeka-the-the-Ambassador-of-Rwanda-to-the-UAE-pic-supplied-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Emmanuel-Hategeka-the-the-Ambassador-of-Rwanda-to-the-UAE-pic-supplied-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Emmanuel-Hategeka-the-the-Ambassador-of-Rwanda-to-the-UAE-pic-supplied-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Emmanuel-Hategeka-the-the-Ambassador-of-Rwanda-to-the-UAE-pic-supplied-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Emmanuel Hategeka, the the Ambassador of Rwanda to the UAE, photo supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


“The UAE is currently Rwanda’s leading trade partner,” said RDB CEO Clare Akamanzi in her opening address in Sharjah on February 22 (interview on next page).



“Over the last ten years, trade has grown ten-fold to reach $1.09 billion in 2022 from $100.4 million in 2012. In 2022, exports accounted for 53% and investments have equally grown at a tune of $248 million and more are in the pipeline.”



What is in the pipeline for the hilly East African country with a population of 13 million (about 65% under the age of 30) and as the sixth fastest-growing economy on the continent, is a vision to transform itself into a globally-competitive knowledge-based economy. The UAE is a strategic market. Emmanuel Hategeka, the Ambassador of Rwanda to the UAE, tells FORBES AFRICA the objective of the forum was to provide “a match-making platform” for business partnerships between Rwandan and UAE business executives in various sectors.



The key areas of investment, business and trade between the two regions include agriculture, mineral processing, hospitality, logistics, financial services as well as energy.



As for commodities, major exported goods and merchandise from Rwanda include precious or semi-precious stones and precious metals through Dubai as a hub, horticulture products, and products of the milling industry. Rwanda imports from the UAE mainly include petroleum oils, motor vehicles including used cars, machines, wires, telephone sets, recording machines, furniture and other equipment.



The February forum witnessed the signing of five key MoUs including the establishment of the UAE-Rwanda Joint Business Council and a collaboration between the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Private Sector Federation – Rwanda (PSF).



“The value of such MoUs is beyond mathematical calculation… These MoUs are significant instruments that have created a conducive business environment for the two countries,” says Hategeka. The five-day event culminated on February 25 with a tourismdriven golf tournament connecting both communities socially.



There are over a 1,000 Rwandans resident in the UAE, mainly in the global trade hub of Dubai. Attracting high-end tourists from the UAE to Rwanda is also a top priority.



“In 2022, RwandAir operated its maiden cargo flight to UAE and currently operates two flights weekly carrying mainly fresh produce inbound and electronics on the outbound leg. DP World’s (the Emirati logistics company) inland port in Kigali and the regular RwandAir Kigali-Dubai flights provide flexible maritime and air transport means.



“The daily Kigali-Dubai flights by RwandAir provide a convenient mode of transport for travelers from the UAE and GCC,” adds Hategeka.



Reuben Mbonye, the airline’s Country Manager in the UAE, concurs: “We are now looking at upgrading the route with wide-body aircraft and also increasing the cargo flights out of the UAE… The airline plays a very central role, there is no way you can discuss development without it.”



The road ahead also includes collaboration in new areas including sustainability, space, the fourth industrial revolution and artificial intelligence.



This is something the UAE, home to more than 200 nationalities and one of the safest and most investor-friendly countries in the world, is equally looking forward to. Abdul Aziz Shattaf, the Assistant Director-General for the Communications and Business Sector at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, affirms to FORBES AFRICA: “We are very excited and hope our bilateral trade will increase!”



<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-shared-ambition-and-vision">‘Shared Ambition And Vision’</h2>



WHERE DO YOU SEE BILATERAL TRADE IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS?



It will be accelerated by working together. I think with these kind of meetings, people come and we hope to do even better. And as I said, if we could do 10 times growth over the last 10 years, why not have the ambition to do 10 times more in the next 10 years?


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/RDB-CEO-Clare-Akamanzi-pic-supplied-1-985x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-57915" width="362" height="376" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/RDB-CEO-Clare-Akamanzi-pic-supplied-1-985x1024.png 985w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/RDB-CEO-Clare-Akamanzi-pic-supplied-1-288x300.png 288w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/RDB-CEO-Clare-Akamanzi-pic-supplied-1-768x799.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/RDB-CEO-Clare-Akamanzi-pic-supplied-1-1477x1536.png 1477w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/RDB-CEO-Clare-Akamanzi-pic-supplied-1-1969x2048.png 1969w" sizes="(max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">RDB CEO Clare Akamanzi, pic supplied </figcaption></figure></div>


THE OTHER COMMONALITY YOU HAVE IS THE GENDER AGENDA. PSF RWANDA AND THE EMIRATES BUSINESSWOMEN COUNCIL HAVE SIGNED A PACT. DO ELABORATE.



There&#8217;s no way you can prosper without fully including 52% of the population that women constitute in Rwanda. For us, that has been the logic of bringing them to the forefront, and politically, we have done so well in terms of number of women in Parliament (61.4%) and cabinet (52%). 



Businesses are also catching up. The more women do business, the more inclusive society becomes and the more prosperous because they have a lot to contribute.



WHAT ARE THE NEW OPPORTUNITIES THE SIGNING OF THESE DEALS WILL ACTUALLY BRING FOR BOTH REGIONS?



I am very pleased that the Private Sector Federation Rwanda and Sharjah Chamber of Commerce are going to collaborate even more. It&#8217;s really important for us because Dubai and the UAE in general are important partners… Every country grows because of trade and being able to source products from reliable markets, but also to sell products is really what helps countries prosper. Dubai has a lot of experience; it trades in billions and billions of dollars, is one of the top five export markets in the world… But we want them to do more than trading. We also want them to invest… We share a lot in common, values really, the first is clean governance and clean processes. And I think the second is this whole concept of ambition, vision, excellence and the commitment to those things. The third is the commitment to innovate, and do things in new ways. And also digital infrastructure supporting businesses. So I think innovation, excellence, ambition, vision, as well as governance are what make it easy for businesses to do what they do here in the UAE, but also in Rwanda. Put all that together and we&#8217;re committed to making our people more prosperous, and making businesses thrive. Let&#8217;s work together because we share those values… we&#8217;re investing a lot of resources to build relations with the Middle East.



WHAT’S YOUR MOST FAVORITE PART OF THE UAE?



You know, that&#8217;s a very tough question. I just enjoy seeing the real estate and housing. The innovation and digitalization here are out of this world. And also the entertainment and the restaurants.

The Kigali Convention Centre adorns the night in Rwanda; image by Renuka Methil

From The Land Of A Thousand Ideas To A Global Trading Hub: New Rwanda-UAE Ties

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):


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" 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.

IMG_0057

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.

Screenshot 2022-06-22 at 16.14.24

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.

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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>

Author: Renuka Methil

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA