<h2>Topline:</h2>



As the 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) for global business and political leaders in Davos, the Swiss alpine resort, continues, activists from the global organization, Fight Inequality Alliance, have released a statement calling for governments to “tax the rich”.



<h2>Key Facts</h2>



A report released by Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam and Patriotic Millionaires, reveals national wealth taxes on the richest people in 60 countries could raise $1.7 trillion in revenue.



“Activists protesting this week are asking a simple and pointed question of their governments – why won’t you tax the rich?” asks Jenny Ricks, Global Convenor of Fight Inequality Alliance, in a statement. “People are facing deepening crises from the cost of living to a lack of decent work, the impacts of the climate emergency to underfunded public services teetering on the brink, whilst the richest get richer.”



The figures in the report show that the $1.7 trillion could have been raised by wealth taxes on the ultra-rich in 2022 alone and used to tackle inequality in 60 countries across the world.



According to the Fight Inequality Alliance report, over the last decade, the inequality divide has grown sharply as a total number of people in the world with at least $5 million in net wealth has grown by 53% while ‘individuals with a net wealth of $50 million or more, have enjoyed similar growth levels’.



“Meanwhile, the global billionaire class has more than doubled and their wealth has skyrocketed at a similar rate – 99.6%,” read the statement. “This is a gain of more than $5.9 trillion – almost twice as much as the combined GDP of Africa – a continent with over 1.3 billion people.”



The sentiment for a call to tax the rich is reasonable, but is it realistic?



Don Griswold, a progressive tax and economic policy analyst, lawyer, columnist, and anticorruption activist, tells FORBES AFRICA why this ask may be difficult for governments to respond to.



“The super-rich globally are avoiding and evading massive amounts of all kinds of tax and have been for years now. And that is the cause of just massive problems globally. It&#8217;s undermining democracy everywhere.”



According to The Washington Post, governments around the world lose about $427 billion each year to tax avoidance and evasion, and this is having a ripple effect on other issues like the climate crisis.



<h2>Climate inaction</h2>



Since the start of WEF on Monday, Davos has seen activists staging protests against a number of issues. Some 1,500 business leaders, including global energy firms are in attendance, which has led to a majority of the protests in Davos centering around the climate crisis as activists demand stronger action.



However, this “horrific problem”, as Griswold says, of tax avoidance and tax evasion has misdirected the focus of world leaders.



“It&#8217;s a horrific problem, not only for the massive redirection of government resources into private pockets, or rather keeping those resources in private pockets when they belong to the people. But it&#8217;s also having a bigger ripple effect in terms of creating completely appropriate distrust of the system by everyone else. And misdirecting resources away from achieving climate resilience and the rest of the global goals, the UN Sustainable Development Goals [that we have].”



The climate crisis has attracted its fair share of news on the African continent, which hosted the COP27 conference late last year.



Julia Fish, South African climate activist and climate finance campaigner of Fund our Future, tells FORBES AFRICA that before taxing the rich can become a reality, governments would need to get their own houses in order first.



“Promises were made at the 2009 COP conference in Copenhagen to channel $100 billion a year to emerging nations to help them adapt and mitigate against climate change by 2020,” Fish says. “This figure has fallen significantly short year-on-year. Agreements on how to distribute the money or who can draw on it are also still unclear.”



Fish further says that trust is in “short supply” for countries as those responsible for the crisis are meant to keep up with their commitments while the “least responsible are on the frontlines already dealing with catastrophic climate change”.



“The effective tax on the world’s richest nations has been missing in action, never mind a tax on their largest political campaign contributors who will pay their way out of a tax instead of paying their fair share,” Fish says.



<h2>Examples of how much national wealth taxes could raise in Africa: </h2>



(Source: Fight Inequality Alliance)



In Kenya, a wealth tax of 2% on the millionaires and 3% on those with wealth above $50 million would raise $730 million annually.



In South Africa, a wealth tax of 2% on millionaires with wealth over $5 million, 3% on those with wealth above $50 million, and 5% on South African billionaires would raise $4.9 billion annually.



<h2 id="h-interesting-fact">Interesting Fact</h2>



South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, was scheduled to travel to Davos for the WEF summit but cancelled his visit to Switzerland to urgently attend to the country’s energy crisis, as South Africa faces multiple stages of rolling blackouts and looming hikes in electricity tariffs.

Activists in Davos stage a protest against World Economic Forum

From Davos To Africa, Analysts On Taxing The Rich And Achieving Climate Resilience

The multimillion-dollar circus called Davos rolled into the Swiss ski-resort yet again, in January, in all its big deal bombast and bean counting glory. This year, African debate was scant: the man who broke the Bank of England foretold of a broken world laden with fear and doom; there was scary talk of cyber terrorism; just another day, another Davos, for the World Economic Forum.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



If you want an example of how the dash of Davos can descend into self-parody, you should have taken a look at the huge banner draped across the posh Belvedere Hotel throughout the World Economic Forum in the mountain ski-resort. 



It was on the main street through Davos where thousands of delegates slip and slide to scores of functions – with at least one or two slipping over every day – along a line of shops taken over by big money corporate sponsors. 



Much more money is being made elsewhere in this ski-resort: the people who live here go away for the week and let out their homes for a king’s ransom; $30,000 for the week is nothing unusual.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



READ MORE |<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/economy/2018/12/31/world-will-improve-where-it-matters-most-in-2019/">World Will Improve Where It Matters Most In 2019</a>



Most people saw an irony in the banner, yet clearly the
people who spent a fortune on putting it up there couldn’t have. 



“Free trade is great,” says the banner on behalf of
Brexit-bound Great Britain. 



“Didn’t someone tell them they were about to leave one of
the greatest free trade zones in the world?” says one passer-by with a cynical
chuckle.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



The crack summed up some of the irony that swirls around when cohorts of bean counters, highly-paid administrators and bosses gather in an Alpine icebox to solve the problems of the world.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">The bigwigs weren’t there and this year, there was less buzz and fewer queues outside the briefing rooms. </blockquote>



Donald Trump, who made a big splash at Davos last year,
stayed at home trying to figure out his government shutdown. The four ‘Ms’ –
May, Modi, Macron and Mnangagwa weren’t there either; at least two of them tied
up with fighting fires, from Brexit to economic meltdown, in their own
backyards.



&nbsp;Empty hot seats, at
Davos, at a time when the world is crying out for the wisdom of sage leaders. 



Instead, it was left to business leaders, like the
Australian-born CEO of billion-dollar turnover infrastructure giant Arup, Greg
Hodkinson, to cut to the chase.



“We need clear political leadership in this fractured world… otherwise we are going to get easy political leadership preying on people’s fears,” says Hodkinson at one of the first panels of WEF 2019, on infrastructure.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2017/03/01/richest-powerful-go-davos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Why The Richest And Most Powerful Go To Davos (opens in a new tab)">Why The Richest And Most Powerful Go To Davos</a>



Hodkinson, who has worked in infrastructure for 40 years,
also said investment in infrastructure could no longer ignore the future, or
the deteriorating environment.



&nbsp;“Carbon should be
priced into infrastructure projects and that will act as an economic trigger
for private money to come in because not only will it mean more revenue, it
will help us put more money into saving the environment,” says Hodkinson.



According to the WEF Global Risks Report for 2018, some of
the top risks by impact are posed by the elements: floods and storms; water
crisis, plus earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanos and electric storms. 



“By 2040, the investment gap in global infrastructure is
forecast to reach $18 trillion against a projected requirement of $97 trillion.
Against this backdrop, we strongly recommend that businesses develop a climate
resilience adaptation strategy and act on it now,” warns Alison Martin, Group
Chief Risk Officer, Zurich Insurance Group, in the report.



The money is there, according to Hodkinson, but needs to be
channeled with foresight.



“Even if someone is building a car parking garage, I ask
what else can they do with it because they won’t need it one day,” says
Hodkinson.



“The money is there. Investors sank six trillion dollars
into United States junk bonds last year; if investors are prepared to roll the
dice on junk bonds, what about infrastructure investment?”



Investors, on this day at Davos, heard that 65% of world infrastructure projects are unbankable without government guarantees. Private money is needed to fill the gaping infrastructure gap, yet negotiations between investor and government officials can prove difficult.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/economy/2019/01/09/world-bank-sees-global-growth-slowing-in-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="World Bank Sees Global Growth Slowing In 2019 (opens in a new tab)">World Bank Sees Global Growth Slowing In 2019</a>



Just ask Heng Swee Keat, the Cambridge-educated finance
minister of Singapore, the former Parliamentary Private Secretary to the father
of infrastructure on the industrious little island who harnessed private money
for public good – the legendary late premier Lee Kuan Yew. 



The finance minister warned relationships between public and
private sectors could be “lumpy”. 



“I remember a man coming to me and saying he was never going
to invest in infrastructure in your country again, I asked him ‘why’ and he
said, because the last time we invested and made money the government came back
to us and asked ‘why are you making so much money’,’’ chuckled Swee Keat.







Another major issue in Davos was Artificial Intelligence.
This promises not only the development of new technology to take the backbreak
and tedium out of life, but also to replace workers with robots. Exciting times
for many, yet maybe worrying times for us all if one of the many briefings was
anything to go by – one man’s bank account can be another radical’s cash cow.
Experts painted a bleak picture of threats and radicalism lurking on the dark
web.



&nbsp;“I wouldn’t put my credit card into a machine today. This is happening right now,” exclaimed retired US Marine Corps’ four-star general, John Allen, a former commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. I had asked him about how far away we were from cyber-terrorism cleaning out bank accounts.



“A cyber terrorist can open a bank account on a Monday,
start cleaning people’s accounts out on a Tuesday and start supplying money to
their cause on a Wednesday. I saw a case of a bank in Bangladesh that was
cleaned out of $80 million in one day. We have to develop strong systems to
defend our financial systems.”



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Cyber- terrorists are becoming ever more clever and
ubiquitous, warns Karin von Hippel, a former senior advisor to the US
Department of State, who worked on security for the United Nations and European
Union in Somalia and Kosovo. The Islamic Isis movement, in Syria, attracted
40,000 volunteers from 120 countries and many used internet to further their
cause, she says.



“They are all out there in the cloud and the dark web doing
their work. They move so fast that it is very hard to keep up with,” says Von
Hippel.



“If we spent half as much money on easing the causes of this
terrorism, as we do fighting it, we would not drive so many youths into the
arms of the radicals,” says Allen.



Don’t panic, too much, cautions Von Hippel.



“Despite all of this, you’ve still got a bigger chance of
dying in the bathtub than you do in a terrorist attack,” she quips to ease the
tension at the end of a worrying, yet eye-opening, session.



If you listened to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
at Davos, on a cold Wednesday night, you would have bathed with abandon and
slept soundly in the snow afterwards. 



“We are casting our nets here and finding big fish,” says Ramaphosa,
the master of the metaphor, at the press briefing earlier in the day.



In Davos, Ramaphosa would have faced awkward questions from
investors over why his government is propping up loss-making state enterprises,
taking time to cut back government expenditure and the civil service, plus the
thorny issue of expropriation of land without compensation.



That night, at the customary presidential dinner, in Davos,
Ramaphosa, with microphone in hand, was as optimistic as a leader should be in
an election year.



“When we see people here, they ask us how we manage to get business, government and unions working together for the economy of our country,” says Ramaphosa.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“They say tell us what magic you have. What I tell them is that there is a renewal and determination to make South Africa work. ” </blockquote>



The most chilling view of the future was yet to come. It
came from the lips of grey-haired global investor George Soros, the man who
broke the Bank of England, who invited us to the plush Seehof Hotel, one icy
Thursday night, for an icier speech. 



The 88-year-old hedge fund tycoon, worth $8.3 billion
according to FORBES, reportedly made $1 billion in one day, in Britain’s
sterling crisis of 1992, by shorting the British pound.



&nbsp; “I want to use my
time tonight to warn the world about an unprecedented danger that’s threatening
the very survival of open societies,” were the dramatic opening words. 



Soros delivered a potted history of his early life in the shadow of oppression. When he was 13, in 1944, the Nazis invaded Hungary and deported Jews to concentration camps. His father, a lawyer, understood the system and arranged false papers and hiding places for the family. 



When the Soviets moved into post-war Bucharest, Soros took refuge in England where he put himself through the London School of Economics by working as a waiter and railway porter. He became a leading hedge fund manager by analysing the weaknesses of prevailing theories guiding investors.



&nbsp;“Running a hedge fund
was very stressful. When I had made more money than I needed for myself or my
family, I underwent a kind of midlife crisis. Why should I kill myself to make
more money?” he says.



Then, Soros began his philanthropic work, in 1979, by
supporting scholarships for black students at Cape Town University. To this day,
his Open Society Foundations aims to protect the human rights and freedom he
fears are under attack.



“An alliance is emerging between authoritarian states and
the large data-rich IT monopolies that bring together nascent systems of
corporate surveillance with an already developing system of state-sponsored
surveillance. This may well result in a web of totalitarian control the likes
of which not even George Orwell could have imagined. Tonight, I want to call
attention to the mortal danger facing open societies from the instruments of
control that machine-learning and artificial intelligence can put in the hands
of repressive regimes,” says Soros.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="700" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-1024x700.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-39625" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-1024x700.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-300x205.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-600x410.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182-768x525.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GettyImages-1087968182.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, speaks at an event on day three of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 49th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 22 &#8211; 25. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



“China isn’t the only authoritarian regime in the world, but
it’s undoubtedly the wealthiest, strongest and most developed in machine
learning and Artificial Intelligence. This makes Xi Jinping the most dangerous
opponent of those who believe in the concept of open society. But Xi isn’t
alone. Authoritarian regimes are proliferating all over the world and if they
succeed, they will become totalitarian.”



Soros also criticized US foreign policy on China. “My present view is that instead of waging a trade war with practically the whole world, the US should focus on China. Instead of letting ZTE and Huawei off lightly, it needs to crack down on them. 



If these companies came to dominate the 5G market, they would present an unacceptable security risk for the rest of the world. Regrettably, President Trump seems to be following a different course: make concessions to China and declare victory while renewing his attacks on US allies. This is liable to undermine the US policy objective of curbing China’s abuses and excesses.”



The final chilling words for anyone who loves freedom: “My
key point is that the combination of repressive regimes with IT monopolies
endows those regimes with a built-in advantage over open societies. The
instruments of control are useful tools in the hands of authoritarian regimes,
but they pose a mortal threat to open societies.”



Journalists at least closed a heavy night with a lighter
moment. They asked Soros whose side Facebook and Google were on.



“I think Facebook and the others are on the side of their
own profits,” says Soros to a gale of laughter.



All the time we were listening to these predictions of AI surveillance doom at Davos, in a warm lounge at the Seehof Hotel, we were surrounded by armed police, airport security, surveillance cameras and cell phones that tell the world where you are, who you are and what you are doing, or saying, maybe doomsday is already here.

Day Three Of World Economic Forum 2019

Chilling Words From The Man Who Broke The Bank Of England

Fancy a cup of coffee? How about a chocolate? Or a fresh
cream waffle with syrup?



These were some of the treats offered to delegates on the
Davos promenade, enroute the congress center of the World Economic Forum’s
(WEF) 31st annual meeting in January.



With temperatures plunging below -17° in Switzerland, it was
hard for many to say no to the delights. 



The promenade is a stretch of road where residents of the
town located in the Swiss Alps, go about their everyday activities of shopping,
banking and socializing. 



This would be the case any other time but not in the month
of January, when the high street is overhauled into one of the most important
and richest in the world.



Book stores and coffee shops are shut and hired out to
corporates with deep pockets. 



Multinational heavyweights like Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon
and Tata are intent on showcasing their products to the thousands of delegates
that attend the forum. 



WEF is regarded the most prestigious gathering of global
leaders in business, government and society, who meet each year to discuss the
world’s biggest threats and ways to neutralize them. 



This year’s theme was Globalisation 4.0: Shaping a New
Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.



What better way to tackle such a daunting task than with
some steaming hot chocolate to invigorate the mind?



Back to the promenade.



The long stretch is carpeted by ice that mirrors the thick
blanket of snow enveloping rooftops and walls.



Among the heavyweights battling it out to attract potential
new clients, I see an African company. 



It’s South Africa’s Absa bank; the only African company on
the high street.



Ironically, like the promenade, which has been overhauled
into a corporate marketing hunting ground, the African bank has completed its
own makeover.



It was formerly known as Barclays Africa, a subsidiary of
the London-based Barclays PLC.



“This year is the first time Absa comes to the World
Economic Forum as a standalone entity,” the bank’s outgoing CEO Maria Ramos
said. 



“We’ve had a lot of our own meetings here. We’ve been able,
I believe, to demonstrate that as a bank we are able to be at the cutting edge
of what global financial markets are about.



“We have also demonstrated that as an African continent, not
only do we have phenomenal sunshine, which we have been able to bring to Davos
with technology into this fantastic space, but we’ve also got great financial
institutions.”



It seemed Africa’s warmth followed relentlessly even in
sub-zero climes. 



Other action that took place on the sidelines of WEF
included bilateral engagements between business and government.



Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo told me of his private meeting
with Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube.



Ncube had to lead the Zimbabwe delegation after President
Emmerson Mnangagwa ditched plans to attend WEF at the eleventh hour to deal
with the latest crisis in Zimbabwe.



Videos of deadly protests in Zimbabwe over the doubling of
fuel prices overnight had gone viral.



“I was pleading with the Minister of Finance for him to take
us into his confidence so we can actually work together with them and see how
we deploy the capital that we have for the benefit of our customers and we
protect value for shareholders,” Moyo said. 



Old Mutual is the largest listed company on the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange.



For MTN CEO Rob Shuter, the sideline meetings at WEF
provided a platform to deal with a crisis in Uganda with speed.



News broke that three MTN Uganda managers had been deported
for allegedly compromising national security. 



Shuter told me he met with Ugandan President, Yoweri
Museveni, to address the matter. 



“We had a cordial meeting. We assured [President Museveni]
of MTN’s commitment to Uganda. We have been 20 years in the country and we are
in the process of renewing the license,” he said.



Shuter also met with Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock
Exchange. 



I asked if this was to discuss the much-anticipated listing
of MTN on Nigeria’s stock exchange but he declined to comment.



It was time for another cup of steaming hot coffee. 



– The writer is a presenter-producer on CNBC Africa.

Preparations Ahead Of The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2018

Africa In  The Alps

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged on Wednesday that his government would not interfere with the independence of the Reserve Bank, despite a proposal by the ruling party to broaden its focus to boost employment and economic growth.



“We do not seek to interfere with its independence,” Ramaphosa told a news conference at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.



The central bank’s mandate now focuses on price stability, but the African National Congress said in its 2019 election manifesto that monetary policy should also “take into account other objectives, such as employment creation and economic growth”.

South Africa’s President Ramaphosa Assures Central Bank Independence

As political and business leaders gather for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, a roster of the most sustainable companies is also enjoying a moment in the spotlight.



The list, the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/2019-global-100/2019-global-100-results-15481152/" target="_blank">Global 100</a>, ranks large corporations across the globe on their performance reducing carbon and waste, their gender diversity among leadership, revenues derived from clean products, and overall sustainability.



 In its 15th year, the ranking is compiled by a Canada-based sustainability-focused financial information company and magazine,&nbsp;Corporate Knights,&nbsp;beginning with a list of about 7,500 companies, all of which generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue.



Ranking number one this year on the Global 100 is Chr. Hansen Holding, a Danish bioscience firm that derives over 80% of its revenue developing natural solutions for preserving foods like yogurt and milk, protecting crops using natural bacteria instead of pesticides, and alternatives to antibiotics for animals.



Corporate Knights&nbsp;cofounder and president Toby Heaps told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that Chr. Hansen’s first-place standing was a bit of a surprise and that the company, founded in 1874, is a relative unknown to many. “It’s not a consumer-facing company,” he says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">But it probably impacts a lot of the calories of hundreds of millions of people every day and makes the food that they’re consuming safer.</blockquote>



Nearly 30% of the Danish billion-dollar-business’ board is made up of women, according to the&nbsp;Corporate Knights study, and its CEO salaries are about 24 times those of an average worker with the firm—a relatively low ratio for the ranking.



In second place on the roster is Kering SA, a French firm better known for the consumer-facing brands it owns: fashion houses Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, among others. 



The brand has shown it takes sustainability seriously by sourcing more than 40% of its products from certified sustainable sources, says Heaps, and is always scanning for ways to improve that percentage.



<figure><iframe loading="lazy" width="100%" height="400" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRoV95MCM_NFEDWsG2V-Ep8nclsVQ-q7FTO19t24gYH8PlKE2kJ2JIVnKgMURIu_jgjV6vGiq6XCeDh/pubhtml?gid=0&amp;single=true&amp;widget=true&amp;headers=false"></iframe></figure>

gettyimages-119545242-170667a

The Most Sustainable Companies In 2019

Many of the thousands of delegates at Davos, Switzerland, wonder how long this gathering of the world’s elite can go on in its present form, in what must be one of the world’s strangest locations for an economic conference. It must have looked a great venue, albeit from left field, when it was planned here back in 1971, but then again gas guzzling cars and Richard Nixon also seemed a good idea at the time. The face of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos is changing. In the last decade, the number of delegates from countries like Germany and Britain has fallen, while those from China have increased by 283% and Russia by 57%.
One of the big hitters at this year’s Davos was Narendra Modi, who became the first Indian prime minister to attend in 20 years. He made a stentorian speech defending globalization, criticizing protectionism and urging swift action over climate change. Surely, it is only a matter of time before WEF will be hosted by emerging markets like India, Russia and China.
Davos, a small village in the Alps of eastern Switzerland, is perfect for skiing and even better for taking photographs for a Christmas card – the snow-topped forests cascading down the steep mountainsides are a wonder to behold; the crisp air is as refreshing as a cool drink on a hot day. It is a place where you can clear your head, in seconds, with a lung full of Alpine air.
Yet, as the years wear on, it looks ill-suited for the gathering of the clans of globalization. Thousands of delegates and heads of state from 70 countries, plus more billionaires and business owners than you can poke a stick at, packed out the village this year. Throughout the day, you could see European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and his cohorts picking through the snow, or highly-paid executives slipping on the ice, or Bill Gates sliding through the sludge as the long, cold Alpine night gripped the streets.
Most of the people who live in Davos threw their hands up years ago in the face of the annual invasion by the suited elite. They rent out their homes and flee to better climes. It is a good job that they do because in WEF week Davos is bursting at the seams. This year the traffic jammed around the conference; security was as high as the mountains, with soldiers and police everywhere; there were more snipers on the roof than there were golf carts on the ground transporting delegates over the packed snow the like of which many people in Davos said they hadn’t seen for years. The heavy snow was a reminder that extreme weather and natural disasters were the top concern among delegates this year, according to a WEF survey, followed by cyberattacks and data theft.
One of the reasons for the tight security, in this crowded village, was the visit of the controversial leader of the free world Donald Trump. It was a surprise visit to say the least; for years Trump derided the intellectual globalists of WEF. Now he wanted to come and sell his “America First” policy as the first US president to set foot in Davos since Bill Clinton in 2000. Along with an 827-strong US delegation – out of 3,000 delegates – he came to laud his tax cuts and reforms that delivered growth, forecast at 2.7%, this year, a fillip for the world economy after a decade of torpid growth.
It is a bright spot, on a brighter horizon, unveiled by the great and the good at Davos. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts global growth of 3.9% this year and next; 0.2% higher than expected thanks to US tax cuts and a sterling performance from emerging economies like Russia and Brazil. Better, but no time for complacency says IMF head Christine Lagarde, who wants to push growth harder by cracking down on tax evasion and corruption.
“When the sun is shining it is time to fix the roof,” says Lagarde. “Or when the snow stops it is time to clear the road. That is how it seems to work in Davos.”
Despite this glimmer of hope you get the feeling optimism is running out at WEF. For a start, you could argue that Trump’s strident one-nation populism – that appears to have spread to a score of other countries – is one reason why the liberal WEF ethos of working together to ease investment and fix the world is struggling to stay afloat.
“It is America First meets We are the World,” quipped the Wall Street Journal on the eve of the visit.
<div id="attachment_35580" style="width: 391px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35580" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-35580" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Donald-Trump-WEF-e1520928622889-300x194.jpg" alt="" width="381" height="246" />US President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (Photo by Getty Images)</div>
Before Trump set foot in Davos, he ruffled feathers with disparaging remarks about Africa. Many of the African delegates told me they were going to boycott his speech in protest.
“There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest and to grow in the United States,” says Trump in his speech that this time took a swipe at the press instead of Africa.
“It wasn’t until I became a politician, that I realized how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the press can be.”
If you want to get an idea of how far Africa is under the US radar right now, you should have been at the press briefing held by the urbane US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. I asked about the future of Power Africa under the Trump administration; a fair question given the America First policy and the power plan’s origins. It is a legacy of Barack Obama and aims to blend US aid with private investment to create 30,000MW of electricity, enough to power an industrialized nation like South Africa. The fast-talking US lobby correspondents whipped around to look at me as if I had asked the source of the Zambezi.
“It is still going. We have created about 400MW in Ghana, which it not even 1%. But we are going to visit in the second quarter,” says the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross without much interest.
I was encouraged by Nigerian multi-millionaire Tony Elumelu who later assured me African investors would see Power Africa through.
Contrast that with the fire and enthusiasm of one of Africa’s future leaders who saw WEF as a stage to launch his campaign to clean up his country and bring back investors. Cyril Ramaphosa, the man set to be the next president of South Africa if the African National Congress wins the 2019 elections, is already behaving with that statesmanlike assurance of power. In many ways he was Africa’s man of the moment at Davos.
It was not always so. For more than a quarter of a century the lawyer-activist, who founded the biggest union in Africa, the National Union of Mineworkers, was the nearly man of South African politics. He nearly became deputy to Nelson Mandela in 1994 and went off to business instead. Now he is on the cusp of real political power and appears to respect this.
With a ready, beaming smile that could melt the Davos snow, Ramaphosa has a deft common touch. On the cold night we sat for dinner in Davos, Ramaphosa staged a charm offensive for the gathering of millionaires and a number of South Africa’s most powerful CEOs. These are among the people he needs to win over if the country’s economy is to slip back into gear. The sad story of the last year has been downgrades to junk status by the ratings agencies and minuscule growth from the once cooking, commodity-rich South African economy.
Avuncular and cracking jokes, the future president changed seats over and over again until he had spoken to everyone on the long table. It was more like a South African wedding than a formal dinner at which he hammered home his anti-corruption message.
“There are no holy cows. Anyone who is caught doing wrong things will end up behind the bars of a jail,” says Ramaphosa.
Most of the business types agreed that this was what they wanted to hear after years of economic struggle and a host of corruption scandals. Ramaphosa has been busy since his ascent, prompting corruption investigations and the freezing of assets. It was enough to send the rand soaring above 12 to the dollar, which warmed many South African delegates in the snow.
Ramaphosa helped the rand further by telling the world that the nuclear power deal – that the present incumbent is pushing – is off the table for now because it is too expensive. He also promised to sort out the disputed Mining Charter – the document that guides efforts to increase black ownership of the mines; uncertainty and court challenges over rushed amendments to the document have choked investment.
<div id="attachment_35581" style="width: 392px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35581" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-35581" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Cyril-Ramaphosa-WEF-e1520928824721-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="382" height="254" />South Africa&#8217;s President Cyril Ramaphosa at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland (Photo by Getty Images)</div>
In all, according to Ramaphosa and finance minister Malusi Gigaba, their utterances at Davos had unlocked hundreds of millions of dollars from investors in South Africa who were holding back because of concern about corruption and political uncertainty. Ramaphosa believes the ratings agencies are likely to give South Africa a better score when he meets with them.
“We are going home happy with bags full of millions of dollars of promises from investors,” says Ramaphosa with a smile before he flew home.
Most around the dinner table in Davos agreed that Ramaphosa’s words were fine as a starter, but wanted to see the main course.
Elsewhere in Africa, Nigerian entrepreneur and former FORBES AFRICA cover Tonye Cole, the co-founder of the Sahara Group, was as optimistic as ever.
“Africa will play a role. The world has to look at Africa as the last place to make a difference and they will do that,” says Cole.
Rwanda was in fine fettle, according to its finance minister Claver Gatete in Davos, with 8% growth expected this year on the back of increasing exports – a rate that most countries in the world would do anything for right now.
“We are trying to remain an open and attractive economy,” says Gatete.
Nigeria, after years of suffering under falling oil prices and the decline of the naira, is looking up at long last. Growth is expected to be 1.4% this year, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Also expected is a 40% increase in exports, and better revenues from oil.
“It is a bullish period for us in terms of attracting business and we are excited,” says Osinbajo.
The words of hope that said it all for Africa on one cold Swiss afternoon came from South Africa’s Reserve Bank Governor, the tall and enthusiastic Lesetja Kganyago.
“This time last year I was pleading with investors to keep confidence in South Africa and keep their money in the country. This year I do not have enough time in the day to meet people who want to put their money into the country,” says a smiling Kganyago.
Bring on the main course – we’re hungry.

Africa Left In The Cold

For years, I’ve been a silent observer of the World Economic Forum (WEF), reading about it on the internet, editing reams of copy on it or watching it on TV. But one question has always remained in my mind. What drives thousands of people each year to a small alpine town in Switzerland to live out Professor Klaus Schwab’s dream, who founded the forum in 1971?
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After traveling almost 13,000 kilometers from the tip of Africa to Davos, a semblance of an answer began to emerge.
The answer was not to be found in the sub-zero temperatures that left the entire body numb with cold nor in Responsive and Responsible Leadership, the theme driving the WEF Annual Meeting 2017. Instead it was to be found in the Congress Centre, or on the streets and hotels of Davos-Klosters.
It was to be found among the people – the 3,000 delegates that gathered for the event and the thousands of support staff.
The draw card – the opportunity to mingle and be seen with the most influential and powerful people in the world. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, crossed my path several times at Davos. Mauritius President Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, after sharing her plans for attracting investors to her country on a cold winter’s night, agreed to a photo with me.
Singer and songwriter Shakira shared her passion for early child development advising us that “today’s babies will drive tomorrow’s business. Their capacity to contribute will shape tomorrow’s societies, will solve tomorrow’s problems”.
Anne-Sophie Mutter, one of the world’s most famous violinists, entertained the crowds. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister of Nigeria and Board Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, discussed plans to immunize up to 300 million more children all over the world by 2020.
The allure of Davos is that it gives delegates a platform to discuss the most pressing issues of our time, such as the refugee crisis, climate change and can-women-have-it-all?
It offers an arena to do business deals with the richest, to form new contacts and exchange business cards. It provides purveyors a glimpse into where the world stands, shifts in geopolitics and the ironies and contradictions of the world. It allows those present to see who controls the vast majority of wealth and intellectual capital and how this has changed.
WEF 2017 was a world in which the largest bankers, infamous for the financial crisis, such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, could be heard offering their views on Trump making America and stock markets great again, while Ugandan-born Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director at Oxfam, was decrying that eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a new report published by the agency.
It was an arena that brought into stark contrast the plight of Africa, and the developed world when simultaneously it hosted a panel discussion with CNBC Africa on Powering Africa, while meters away, some of the leading minds in technology were debating what role artificial intelligence should play in our futures; and that the 48 countries that make up sub-Saharan Africa generate almost the same amount of electricity as Spain.
Davos 2017 was a gathering where UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May declared that Britain’s decision to leave the European Union was not a rejection of its friends in Europe but simply a vote to restore its “parliamentary democracy and national self-determination. A vote to take control and make decisions for ourselves”. Juxtapose this with Xi Jinping’s attendance. Jinping, the first Chinese president to attend WEF, led the country’s largest-ever delegation to the ski-resort town to make a statement that China wants to assume a global leadership role as the world struggles with isolationism, populism and polarization. In a speech at the event, he stated: “It is true that economic globalization has created new problems, but this is no justification to write economic globalization off completely. Rather, we should adapt to and guide economic globalization, cushion its negative impact, and deliver its benefits to all countries and all nations.”
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– Vanek is news editor of CNBC Africa and CNBCAfrica.com; she lives and breathes business and financial news, and is now slowly developing a passion for artificial intelligence.

Why The Richest And Most Powerful Go To Davos

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I recall from my first venture to the World Economic Forum in Davos, in 2014, the brightly colored scarves hanging from the necks of political leaders and captains of industry as they spoke on television. These scarves were in the colors of the national flags of two of Africa’s powerhouse economies – Nigeria and South Africa.
They performed two functions – much needed warmth and a sign that Africa was firmly on the international stage.  Africa was open for business; that was the message that rang clearly and loudly from the peaks of the snow-capped mountains.
Fast forward to January 2016; where the beautiful ski resort, nestled in the Alps, once more played host to more than 2,500 delegates from around the world as global markets saw a rickety start to the year.
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China was changing its growth model and posted a slowdown in GDP. The United States increased interest rates in December 2015, despite its marginal economic growth. Then there was the slump in commodity prices, with oil reaching 12 year lows. Gold, platinum, iron ore and copper were also weaker. Emerging and frontier markets bore the brunt with no end in sight.
How was Africa going to see increased investment in its economies when it was in the eye of a perfect storm? Well that’s where charity begins at home. This seen in the launch of a new deal on energy, focused on power, potential and partnership to secure universal access to electricity on the continent by 2025.
“More than a century after Edison invented the light bulb, half of Africa is still in the dark,” said Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and FORBES AFRICA Person of the Year in 2013.
This new move to power up the continent was in line with the theme for this year’s gathering &#8211; the fourth  industrial revolution, which focused on robotics, artificial intelligence and how electricity can grow economies.
“We talk about the fourth industrial revolution, but it all starts with the need for electricity, which is like blood in the system. If we don’t have it, we can’t live,” says Adesina.
To help keep Africa on the world economic map, strong delegations came from a number of states. Several African leaders were in Davos:  Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Nigeria’s  Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma &#8211; despite several questions about his low profile at the Forum.
Members of the private sector too were there to allay fears that Africa may no longer be rising.
Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, remains confident that Africa plays home to equity markets which continue to see interest from investors, regardless of the global market conditions.
“We just have to ride the cycles,” he says.
Feeling the same was Nicky Newton-King, CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the largest bourse on the continent that has won awards for the way it runs.
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“We have got to understand that there is a new normal out there, low growth in an uncertain global world, good investment opportunities will come, but we still have a chance to compete with our global peers,” said Newton-King.
Fellow members of the private sector with a strong focus on the continent, add that they too are concerned, but not shaken, by the headlines.
“I think it depends really on your time profile for your investments, I think there’s a growing interest from people who have a five to ten year view of what they want to be investing in to actually go to Africa,” said Geoffrey White, CEO of Agility Africa.
Ralph Mupita, CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets says: “We are long term investors, with our roots in Africa – South Africa to be exact. Despite the challenges at a macro level, we see the needs of the consumer and we are providing them with the service, we will roll out capital prudently.”
While the challenges are clear. Africa is still on the agenda for many &#8211; albeit with reservations. Power, partnerships, and certain regulatory frameworks are the sturdy lifeboats we need to ride out the economic storm.
And whilst many do agree that the short to medium term will be worrisome our future is not dim… perhaps we need to cast our eyes slightly further out on the horizon. After all Rome wasn’t built in day; neither will Africa be.

Brrr…its cold for African optimists in the Alps this year

Cold. Expensive. Concerning. These words have been the top three words I have used to describe our most recent visit to the 47th edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The beautiful snow laden ski-town, nestled in the Alps, played host to over 2,500 delegates from across the globe. Present were heads of state, political leaders, business executives, members of civil society and the like, who braved sub-zero temperatures to explore the theme for this year – the 4th Industrial Revolution and its impact on economies.
But this year, the conversation on robotics and artificial intelligence was over-shadowed by a myriad of concerns – the global market environment and its negative impact on the “Africa rising narrative” and of course the minimal attendance of women at the meeting.
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Where are the women?
Over the last few decades, the participation of women at the forum has improved, albeit at a slow pace. This year, only 18% of contributors were women, a slight improvement from the 17% attendees in 2015. But are our voices being heard? Yes. Several panel discussions and side events were held at the meeting to truly understand the economic impact of empowering the fairer sex.
Bea Perez, Global Chief Sustainability officer at Coca-Cola, reminded us why corporates like the soft drink manufacturer continue their focus and investment in women.
“We know women drive the economy. When they participate, they also give 96 cents of the dollar they earn back to strengthen their communities,” said Perez.
Also in attendance at the forum was a woman who holds the purse strings to Africa’s largest economy – Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Finance Minister. So too, was Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors.
They join Davos veterans Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, and Christine Lagarde, IMF head, among over 500 outstanding female leaders from every part of public life.
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Global market concerns
The global market environment got off to a rickety start in 2016. The world’s attention remains fixed on the change in growth models in China – away from infrastructure to a consumption-led economy, the United States, which has managed to show signs of marginal strength in its economy and begun to raise interest rates in December 2015, and the commodity price cycle. With the price of oil at 12-year lows and the prices of base metal commodities like gold, platinum, iron ore and copper significantly weaker, emerging markets are bearing the brunt of these pressures.
Such pressure was evidently felt in our exchange rate. With one Swiss Franc (CHF) at R16.74 at the time of our visit, a simple meal of a burger and coke set me back CHF21.50 or around R370 – enough money to provide a meal for a family of four back home.
Despite the market volatility, Oscar Onyema, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, remains confident that Africa plays home to equity markets which continue to see interest from investors, regardless of the global market conditions. “We just have to ride the cycles,” he said.
These sentiments were echoed by Nicky Newton-King, CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
“We have got to understand that there is a new normal out there, low growth in an uncertain global world, good investment opportunities will come, but we still have a chance to compete with our global peers,” said Newton-King.
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Give us hope!
With all the negative sentiment, one would think this would deter investors. While the leaders of these global companies continue to monitor the headlines, they are concerned but not discouraged by the current economic cycle.
“I think it depends really on your time profile for your investments, I think there’s a growing interest from people who have a five to ten year view of what they want to be investing in to actually go to Africa,” said Geoffrey White, CEO of Agility Africa.
“We are long-term investors, with our roots in Africa – South Africa to be exact. Despite the challenges at a macro level, we see the needs of the consumer and we are providing them with the service, we will roll out capital prudently,” added Ralph Mupita, CEO of Old Mutual Emerging Markets.
While the challenges are clear, Africa is still on the agenda.
And, perhaps, as the conversation continues to evolve and the participation of women increases, the message about our continent from Davos will be warm, inclusive and exciting.
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– The writer is a financial journalist and senior anchor with CNBC Africa.

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Is The Africa Rising Story In Jeopardy?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is the gold standard for every financial journalist. A long-haul flight from Johannesburg to Zurich and a short trainride later, we arrived in Davos, Switzerland, to the world’s biggest summit, ready to wire the views of influential business leaders to the world.
The big players of the global economy – from the deal-makers to the political powerhouses and movers and shakers – arrived in their smart suits to the summit’s alpine reaches, to discuss this year’s theme, A New Global Context. Here are some of the key takeaways from the Davos debates:
The European Central Bank’s bold announcement to pump in €60 billion in bonds every month to reignite growth took center stage. The world was officially in a new phase of global monetary policy divergence. The withdrawal of stimulus in the United States as the economy staggered back to its feet and this new development in Europe created interesting times for emerging markets.
In all our conversations with African leaders, what emerged was that despite the Ebola outbreak and terror attacks in some parts of the continent, Africa should still be every investor’s high-growth high-return destination. In fact, with the exception of the President of Guinea, African leaders dismissed both crises as inconsequential to Africa’s growth narrative. Displaying genius, the President of Guinea used his interview to bring the world in on the request he had made to Christine Lagarde, President of the International Monetary Fund: “Clear our debt so that we may have a fighting chance against Ebola.”
The small delegation from Nigeria, the continent’s biggest economy, did not go unnoticed. With an upcoming presidential election (mid-February), and in the midst of a tense domestic environment, this was somewhat understandable. What the forum lacked in Nigeria’s presence, South Africa more than made up for with a seven-member strong ministerial delegation. They were easily spotted in their long black coats and colorful flag-scarves. From the Finance Minister to the Governor of the Reserve Bank, the delegation put on a brave front tackling the energy crisis and lackluster take-off of the National Development Plan. The country’s public relations machine was spot on and it was evident members had clearly been put through their paces.
I couldn’t help but acknowledge that some of the delegates in attendance at Davos challenged my conventional definition of ‘world leaders’.
Also present were titans from the music world – from the legendary Andrea Bocelli to African songstress Angelique Kidjo and world-renowned hip hop producer Pharrel Williams. It was clear they were being recognized for their pulling power at such a forum.
Kidjo is credited with putting the African country of Benin on the map.
“If we want Africa to be top of mind for the world leaders here, Africans need to make Africa their priority,” she told me. Her passion for Africa’s development agenda pushed me to stretch my own perception of what leadership really is.
The small representation of women was difficult to ignore. One of this year’s co-chairs was Winfred Binyama, Executive Director, Oxfam. In an unapologetic, straight-talking style, she spoke about the world’s continued exclusion of women in positions of influence and power.
Binyama shared some of the highlights of Oxfam’s latest report saying it would take 80 years for women to balance the scales professionally with their male counterparts without the intervention of platforms like WEF.
I hope to return to Davos many more times. One can surely track at least this one indicator over a few years, but I certainly hope it’s not 80 years before we see that happening.

EBOLA. TERRORISM. SO WHAT? COME TO AFRICA

Royal visits are a big deal in Africa, whether lions to a waterhole or a crowned head of Europe to the southern tip. This particular tale of royalty visiting South Africa starts, strangely enough, in the snows of Davos at a lunch on obsession.
‘Is obsession always a good thing, or can it be bad’ was the title of a lunchtime session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Steffi Graf was one of seven scheduled speakers.
<div id="attachment_3292" style="width: 209px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3292" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-3292" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/000_Par3359784-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" />Princess Mathilde (L) and Crownprince Philippe of Belgium (R) attend the military parade in Brussels on July 21, 2010, as part of the Belgian National Day. AFP PHOTO / BELGA PHOTO / ERIC LALMAND &#8211; BELGIUM OUT</div>
A tall, rather refined looking chap politely asked if he could occupy the chair next to mine.
“Of course, you needn&#8217;t ask, people can sit where they like,” I said.
“Ah, but you are important. Your name is writ large on the table, next to Ms Graf so I did need to ask.”
I chuckled. “Just the moderator of the session, not important at all,” I said.
“And who are you?” I asked, squinting at his large white card hanging from the participant ribbon everyone wears.
“Philippe,” he said.
“And what do you do, Philippe? I need to put you in a pigeonhole.”
“I&#8217;m a prince.”
“Oh? So what do you do?”
Slightly taken aback, he said, “I&#8217;m the Crown Prince of Belgium.”
“Yes, but what do you actually do? What is a Crown Prince&#8217;s job?”
“I help the government, I suppose. Actually I work pretty hard,” he reassured me, but now slightly aloof, I thought, realizing I’d been rather rude to royalty.
We were joined by the tennis wunderkind, lunch was underway, she spoke movingly of how she became obsessed with tennis, which brought her some happiness but also a lot of sadness as a child.
“When I was an unhappy girl because of fighting in the family, I would get over it by going out and hitting a ball against a wall,” said the tennis champion, world number one for 187 consecutive weeks.
“So when I made my first Wimbledon final, I told my coach I needed to hit against a wall. This is bad for your tennis, he said, and so he would not allow it. In fact there are no walls to hit against at Wimbledon anyway.”
“So I fired my coach the morning of my final and the officials found a wall against which I could hit a ball at a nearby school. I am not sure that kind of obsession is a good thing,” shy Steffi said with a smile.
She was world number one, for a total of 377 weeks and has 22 grand slam singles titles. “If I&#8217;d been world number one for just one week I&#8217;d have died a happy man,” I told the audience, and the Prince.
“By the way, I&#8217;m coming to South Africa in about six months,” he said.
“Great! Give me a call and you can come have lunch,” I said, and promptly forgot about it.
Seven months later, my rather bemused secretary said, “The Palace is on the line for you.”
A very plummy, terribly British voice said: “His Royal Highness Prince Philippe says you invited him to lunch and he’d like to take up the offer&#8230;”
“Certainly,” I spluttered.
“He is coming with an entourage, and asks if he may&#8230;”
“Of course, they are all welcome.”
“Good,” said plummy voice. “There are 124 of them.”
Astounded silence from me, laughter from him.
“No, he just wants to bring the five or six cabinet ministers traveling with him.”
And so, sometime in Africa, it came to pass that Prince Philippe dined at The Star with assorted ministers of state.
Soon after our function, Belgium’s government failed spectacularly, leaving the country without any government for months.
On July 21 last year, my prince became King Philippe. He did say, in thanking me after our modest repast, that if I ever found myself in Belgium I should visit him at the palace. I have never taken up the offer. He was only the Crown Prince then.
Perhaps I&#8217;ll pop in one day just to ask him impertinently: “So, what does a King actually do?”
Royal visits are a big deal in Africa, whether lions to a waterhole or a crowned head of Europe to the southern tip. This particular tale of royalty visiting South Africa starts, strangely enough, in the snows of Davos at a lunch on obsession.
‘Is obsession always a good thing, or can it be bad’ was the title of a lunchtime session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Steffi Graf was one of seven scheduled speakers.
A tall, rather refined looking chap politely asked if he could occupy the chair next to mine.
“Of course, you needn&#8217;t ask, people can sit where they like,” I said.
“Ah, but you are important. Your name is writ large on the table, next to Ms Graf so I did need to ask.”
I chuckled. “Just the moderator of the session, not important at all,” I said.
“And who are you?” I asked, squinting at his large white card hanging from the participant ribbon everyone wears.
“Philippe,” he said.
“And what do you do, Philippe? I need to put you in a pigeonhole.”
“I&#8217;m a prince.”
“Oh? So what do you do?”
Slightly taken aback, he said, “I&#8217;m the Crown Prince of Belgium.”
“Yes, but what do you actually do? What is a Crown Prince&#8217;s job?”
“I help the government, I suppose. Actually I work pretty hard,” he reassured me, but now slightly aloof, I thought, realizing I’d been rather rude to royalty.
We were joined by the tennis wunderkind, lunch was underway, she spoke movingly of how she became obsessed with tennis, which brought her some happiness but also a lot of sadness as a child.
“When I was an unhappy girl because of fighting in the family, I would get over it by going out and hitting a ball against a wall,” said the tennis champion, world number one for 187 consecutive weeks.
“So when I made my first Wimbledon final, I told my coach I needed to hit against a wall. This is bad for your tennis, he said, and so he would not allow it. In fact there are no walls to hit against at Wimbledon anyway.”
“So I fired my coach the morning of my final and the officials found a wall against which I could hit a ball at a nearby school. I am not sure that kind of obsession is a good thing,” shy Steffi said with a smile.
She was world number one, for a total of 377 weeks and has 22 grand slam singles titles. “If I&#8217;d been world number one for just one week I&#8217;d have died a happy man,” I told the audience, and the Prince.
“By the way, I&#8217;m coming to South Africa in about six months,” he said.
“Great! Give me a call and you can come have lunch,” I said, and promptly forgot about it.
Seven months later, my rather bemused secretary said, “The Palace is on the line for you.”
A very plummy, terribly British voice said: “His Royal Highness Prince Philippe says you invited him to lunch and he’d like to take up the offer&#8230;”
“Certainly,” I spluttered.
“He is coming with an entourage, and asks if he may&#8230;”
“Of course, they are all welcome.”
“Good,” said plummy voice. “There are 124 of them.”
Astounded silence from me, laughter from him.
“No, he just wants to bring the five or six cabinet ministers traveling with him.”
And so, sometime in Africa, it came to pass that Prince Philippe dined at The Star with assorted ministers of state.
Soon after our function, Belgium’s government failed spectacularly, leaving the country without any government for months.
On July 21 last year, my prince became King Philippe. He did say, in thanking me after our modest repast, that if I ever found myself in Belgium I should visit him at the palace. I have never taken up the offer. He was only the Crown Prince then.
Perhaps I&#8217;ll pop in one day just to ask him impertinently: “So, what does a King actually do?”
Royal visits are a big deal in Africa, whether lions to a waterhole or a crowned head of Europe to the southern tip. This particular tale of royalty visiting South Africa starts, strangely enough, in the snows of Davos at a lunch on obsession.
‘Is obsession always a good thing, or can it be bad’ was the title of a lunchtime session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Steffi Graf was one of seven scheduled speakers.
A tall, rather refined looking chap politely asked if he could occupy the chair next to mine.
“Of course, you needn&#8217;t ask, people can sit where they like,” I said.
“Ah, but you are important. Your name is writ large on the table, next to Ms Graf so I did need to ask.”
I chuckled. “Just the moderator of the session, not important at all,” I said.
“And who are you?” I asked, squinting at his large white card hanging from the participant ribbon everyone wears.
“Philippe,” he said.
“And what do you do, Philippe? I need to put you in a pigeonhole.”
“I&#8217;m a prince.”
“Oh? So what do you do?”
Slightly taken aback, he said, “I&#8217;m the Crown Prince of Belgium.”
“Yes, but what do you actually do? What is a Crown Prince&#8217;s job?”
“I help the government, I suppose. Actually I work pretty hard,” he reassured me, but now slightly aloof, I thought, realizing I’d been rather rude to royalty.
We were joined by the tennis wunderkind, lunch was underway, she spoke movingly of how she became obsessed with tennis, which brought her some happiness but also a lot of sadness as a child.
“When I was an unhappy girl because of fighting in the family, I would get over it by going out and hitting a ball against a wall,” said the tennis champion, world number one for 187 consecutive weeks.
“So when I made my first Wimbledon final, I told my coach I needed to hit against a wall. This is bad for your tennis, he said, and so he would not allow it. In fact there are no walls to hit against at Wimbledon anyway.”
“So I fired my coach the morning of my final and the officials found a wall against which I could hit a ball at a nearby school. I am not sure that kind of obsession is a good thing,” shy Steffi said with a smile.
She was world number one, for a total of 377 weeks and has 22 grand slam singles titles. “If I&#8217;d been world number one for just one week I&#8217;d have died a happy man,” I told the audience, and the Prince.
“By the way, I&#8217;m coming to South Africa in about six months,” he said.
“Great! Give me a call and you can come have lunch,” I said, and promptly forgot about it.
Seven months later, my rather bemused secretary said, “The Palace is on the line for you.”
A very plummy, terribly British voice said: “His Royal Highness Prince Philippe says you invited him to lunch and he’d like to take up the offer&#8230;”
“Certainly,” I spluttered.
“He is coming with an entourage, and asks if he may&#8230;”
“Of course, they are all welcome.”
“Good,” said plummy voice. “There are 124 of them.”
Astounded silence from me, laughter from him.
“No, he just wants to bring the five or six cabinet ministers traveling with him.”
And so, sometime in Africa, it came to pass that Prince Philippe dined at The Star with assorted ministers of state.
Soon after our function, Belgium’s government failed spectacularly, leaving the country without any government for months.
On July 21 last year, my prince became King Philippe. He did say, in thanking me after our modest repast, that if I ever found myself in Belgium I should visit him at the palace. I have never taken up the offer. He was only the Crown Prince then.
Perhaps I&#8217;ll pop in one day just to ask him impertinently: “So, what does a King actually do?”
Royal visits are a big deal in Africa, whether lions to a waterhole or a crowned head of Europe to the southern tip. This particular tale of royalty visiting South Africa starts, strangely enough, in the snows of Davos at a lunch on obsession.
‘Is obsession always a good thing, or can it be bad’ was the title of a lunchtime session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and Steffi Graf was one of seven scheduled speakers.
A tall, rather refined looking chap politely asked if he could occupy the chair next to mine.
“Of course, you needn&#8217;t ask, people can sit where they like,” I said.
“Ah, but you are important. Your name is writ large on the table, next to Ms Graf so I did need to ask.”
I chuckled. “Just the moderator of the session, not important at all,” I said.
“And who are you?” I asked, squinting at his large white card hanging from the participant ribbon everyone wears.
“Philippe,” he said.
“And what do you do, Philippe? I need to put you in a pigeonhole.”
“I&#8217;m a prince.”
“Oh? So what do you do?”
Slightly taken aback, he said, “I&#8217;m the Crown Prince of Belgium.”
“Yes, but what do you actually do? What is a Crown Prince&#8217;s job?”
“I help the government, I suppose. Actually I work pretty hard,” he reassured me, but now slightly aloof, I thought, realizing I’d been rather rude to royalty.
We were joined by the tennis wunderkind, lunch was underway, she spoke movingly of how she became obsessed with tennis, which brought her some happiness but also a lot of sadness as a child.
“When I was an unhappy girl because of fighting in the family, I would get over it by going out and hitting a ball against a wall,” said the tennis champion, world number one for 187 consecutive weeks.
“So when I made my first Wimbledon final, I told my coach I needed to hit against a wall. This is bad for your tennis, he said, and so he would not allow it. In fact there are no walls to hit against at Wimbledon anyway.”
“So I fired my coach the morning of my final and the officials found a wall against which I could hit a ball at a nearby school. I am not sure that kind of obsession is a good thing,” shy Steffi said with a smile.
She was world number one, for a total of 377 weeks and has 22 grand slam singles titles. “If I&#8217;d been world number one for just one week I&#8217;d have died a happy man,” I told the audience, and the Prince.
“By the way, I&#8217;m coming to South Africa in about six months,” he said.
“Great! Give me a call and you can come have lunch,” I said, and promptly forgot about it.
Seven months later, my rather bemused secretary said, “The Palace is on the line for you.”
A very plummy, terribly British voice said: “His Royal Highness Prince Philippe says you invited him to lunch and he’d like to take up the offer&#8230;”
“Certainly,” I spluttered.
“He is coming with an entourage, and asks if he may&#8230;”
“Of course, they are all welcome.”
“Good,” said plummy voice. “There are 124 of them.”
Astounded silence from me, laughter from him.
“No, he just wants to bring the five or six cabinet ministers traveling with him.”
And so, sometime in Africa, it came to pass that Prince Philippe dined at The Star with assorted ministers of state.
Soon after our function, Belgium’s government failed spectacularly, leaving the country without any government for months.
On July 21 last year, my prince became King Philippe. He did say, in thanking me after our modest repast, that if I ever found myself in Belgium I should visit him at the palace. I have never taken up the offer. He was only the Crown Prince then.
Perhaps I&#8217;ll pop in one day just to ask him impertinently: “So, what does a King actually do?”

‘So, What Does A King Actually Do?’

“Prepare to get cold. Very cold. Take your worst experience in the cold and multiply that by 10!” This is how my colleagues at CNBC Africa briefed me on what would be my first visit to the small ski town of Davos in Switzerland to attend the 44th World Economic Forum (WEF).
After that advice, it’s only natural that I prepared for the worst. It resulted in two suitcases being packed with winter thermal goodies. In hindsight, I should have skipped the extra suitcase as it added logistical stress, but my biceps got a lot firmer.
While preparing for the trip, many questions filled my mind—who to speak to, how to address the global agenda, would I ask the right questions if I were to speak to Christine Lagarde, or better yet, Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of WEF. In response to the anxiety, the journalist in me searched the internet for archived pieces on previous forums, in preparation for future interviews.
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And then came the moment of bidding farewell to family, friends and the South African summer as I, together with my colleagues, prepared to brave the sub-zero temperatures in Davos for a week.
After a little more than 10 hours in the air, we touched down at Zurich Airport, where we would catch three trains in two-and-a-half hours to reach Davos.
So, after hauling my suitcases on and off the trains, I was hot, flustered, hungry and most of all mesmerized. Mesmerized by the beauty of the Swiss Alps. The mountain tops were reminiscent of soft cocoa peaks that had been drizzled in a thick layer of pure white icing sugar. Trust me to compare such a wonderful sight to food. After more than 12 hours in transit, hunger pangs were tormenting my stomach.
This tiny ski town was about to host around 2,500 delegates comprising business leaders, politicians, academia and media from across the globe.
The theme for this year’s forum was ‘Reshaping the world: consequences for business, politics and society’. It’s a broad theme that leaves you questioning where to begin and where to end?
Africa began by reshaping its image and its level of participation. Most WEF delegates are familiar with the multi-colored scarf, representing the South African flag, being adorned by both South African and international representatives, however, this year, green and white scarfs were the order of the day. The Nigerian delegation made a bold and clear statement by pronouncing their presence at WEF through this accessory that kept the cold at bay. Whatever their objective was, it worked as the world and its African peers sat up and paid attention to the West African state that will play host to the World Economic Forum On Africa in May this year. Following nations like Tanzania, Ethiopia and South Africa, Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja will welcome the 24th annual forum that will seek to find African solutions to African challenges. Coupled with the strong attendance of Nigerian delegates was that of fellow African leaders as a whole. Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete, Ghanaian president John Mahama and Guinean president Alpha Condé were just a few that made their voices heard.
With Africa making up roughly 4% of the world’s economic activity, 15% of the global population and 20% of the world’s land mass, it was evident that it is no longer a continent looking for aid, but rather trade.
“Africa is very much on the agenda, (it’s) on the minds of policy makers and corporate leaders,” said Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
After a recent visit to Kenya and Malawi, Lagarde noted that strong economic growth is projected for the continent going forward, especially sub-Saharan Africa.
Key concerns on the African agenda include boosting investment on the continent for the mutual gain of all other African markets; fighting security threats such as the Nigerian terrorist group, Boko Haram; and most of all, stimulating inter-African trade.
Bisi Onasanya, the CEO of First Bank of Nigeria, echoed these sentiments.
“I believe businesses need to pay attention to Nigeria and Africa, if they want to move away from saturated developed markets, the yields in this part of the world are a lot more superior to what you get in other parts of the world and sometimes I think the risks are overhyped to the extent that we scare away some of those investors.”
Onasanya also alluded to the unity that was displayed by both African government and business leaders in Davos, which is not always a common sight.
“Aliko (Dangote) is here, President (Goodluck) Jonathan is here… we are telling the world that we are here and ready to do business.”
Trade with no limits is thought to be the new solution to working towards economic inclusion for all African states and dispelling the stereotypes that we have regarding our peers on the continent. Trade between African nations currently stands at 11% of total trade, compared to Europe&#8217;s level of around 70%.
Peter Staude, the CEO of Tongaat Hulett, however, cautioned that we need to highlight what products can be used for trade.
“Inter-African trade is needed, however we need to ensure that there is no duplication of goods,” said Staude.
Condé is also an African optimist. He too called for more co-operation and assistance to take place between African leaders to bolster economic growth. My interview with him was a slightly tense moment as he had an entourage of at least 20 people, all asking French questions. Who were we? Where were we from? What is the interview about and when would they see it? After recognizing that our team was based in South Africa, Conde smiled and said: ‘Ah Mandela… good friend of mine. And Miriam. Miriam Makeba, good friend of Guinea.”
This light moment brought about some relief from the cold, the Guinean crowd and the French conversation.
Slowly but surely, Africa is making progress. Some states are even learning from each other. Ghana has made oil companies provide transparency around their dealings with government, with the likes of Nigeria, Angola and Uganda potentially following suit.
With Africa’s population geared to reach two billion by 2050, government and business is eager to drive for economic inclusion by creating the right business platforms and addressing infrastructural and educational backlogs, which in the long term will address the issue of youth unemployment.
As a first timer at the event, I was amazed at the united front that was exhibited by African business and government leaders. My only question is: How united are we when the conversations die down and the real work begins and we are faced with the realities of our unique every day African struggles?
Despite the challenges, I am forever a believer in the rise of Africa. The African economic outlook is also optimistic with a projected growth of 5.3%.
While on the icy slopes of Davos, I learnt something: the power of association. It’s the reason why WEF attracts so many delegates each year. It’s also the reason why Africa was so prominent on the agenda this year. Only by having relations can we engage. Only by engaging can we work together to finding solutions to the challenges Africa faces.

Tag: Davos

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