I’ve never been paid a salary; I became an entrepreneur straight after college,’’ says Jenny Miller, CEO and Creative Director of MIGLIO jewelry in Cape Town.
The self-taught designer entered the tough, challenging world of business at the age of 21, when most girls her age were still contemplating a career, whether to have one or not.
Born and bred in Somerset West in the Western Cape province of South Africa, Miller attended high school in Stellenbosch and completed her degree in English and Latin from the University of Cape Town.
In the early 80s, Miller partnered with her husband, an IT specialist at the time, to start a jewelry company. They both had creative genes in them, so they began handcrafting bracelets and selling them to people directly.
“Jewelry doesn’t sell itself if lying inside the store’s glass cupboard. It needs a woman’s personality to bring it to life,” says Miller.
Whilst setting up the company, Miller lived with her parents in Somerset West, as she did not have a paying job on the side.
“I was lucky because I had my parents and I could still get a plate of food,’’ says Miller.
Besides selling jewelry door-to-door, Miller used trunk shows or sale events for showcasing her products to targeted customers. The shows did well, and in a few months, the brand drew the attention of local retailers. Its first lease of life was when Miller landed an order to supply 350 pieces of jewelry to The Foschini Group.
Miller acknowledges this as one of her bravest business decisions; and believes you are never too young to start.
“If you’ve got a business idea, you’ve got to do it while you’re still young, before you’ve got the comfort and security of a salary.’’
A couple of years later, Miller managed to partner with more major retailers, such as Woolworths, Stuttafords, Truworths and Edgars, supplying them with her accessories while operating under their labels.
Clearly, Miller has had a lot to learn during the 30 years of her entrepreneurial journey. When MIGLIO expanded overseas, the environment, cultural differences and time zones were challenges in establishing the brand.
MIGLIO operates over 80 multi-jewelry stores overseas, including 11 in South Africa, 18 in Australia, 10 in New Zealand, 40 in Germany and a few in London and the United Kingdom.
At her factory in Somerset West, Miller employs over 150 skilled craftsmen.
When we meet her, in Sandton in Johannesburg, on the sidelines of the SA Fashion Week in October, she excitedly shares news about her daughter winning an award.
Clearly, creativity runs in the family for the Millers.

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‘I Have Never Been Paid A Salary’

<ol>
<li>
<h3>How long did it take to get to the top?</h3>
</li>
</ol>
Nearly two decades. I began my career at sea as a cadet in 1996. I then worked on cargo ships, shipping bananas between Ecuador and California, before starting my career in the cruise industry in 2001 as third mate. I worked my way up the ranks, from second officer, first officer navigation, first officer deck, first officer safety, chief officer safety to staff captain (deputy captain, second-in-command). I then joined Celebrity Cruises in July 2015 with my promotion to captain.
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<ol start="2">
<li>
<h3>You have made history as a female captain…</h3>
</li>
</ol>
I honestly did not expect the overwhelming response of support and sheer enthusiasm for my promotion, but I meet people on a daily basis who tell me how much it means to them to see me in this position. It is a very humbling experience, and I really enjoy sharing the story about where and how it all started – with my dad, who told me I could be anything I wanted in life. I meet fathers who let me know that they tell their daughters the same thing. I meet grandmothers who have so much faith in their granddaughters and want to share my story with them. I enjoy speaking to young women and watching their faces and reactions as they come to the realization that becoming a captain of a cruise ship is a possibility for them.
<ol start="3">
<li>
<h3>What is your greatest high on the high seas?</h3>
</li>
</ol>
The ability to actually maneuver the vessel – the arrivals and departures from ports are an adrenaline rush!
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<ol start="4">
<li>
<h3>What is the roughest weather you have encountered at sea?</h3>
</li>
</ol>
I have found that the term ‘rough’ is relative as everyone has a different definition, but one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is not only applicable to going to sea, but also on land: Mother Nature is to be respected. There are several things that we can control but Mother Nature is not one of them. However, we have great, expert means of being able to make predictions and plan accordingly. The safety of our guests and crew always comes first, and we do not take chances.
<ol start="5">
<li>
<h3>How is it like to be away from family for months?</h3>
</li>
</ol>
My contract is three months onboard and three months at home. I have the opportunity to invite my family to come sail with me when possible. Onboard, I have a family of 950 crew members. You can say we are a support system of our own. More than 65 different nationalities and backgrounds working together and supporting each other – they are truly special relationships.
When I am home, I can do anything I want, including travel, visit friends and family or learn a new hobby – there are plenty of those on my list! Also, communication has evolved so much since I began sailing; it is easier than ever to stay in touch with loved ones, they are only just a click or phone call away. Life onboard, doing what I love, is nice. Many things are taken care of, such as laundry, meals, cleaning, scheduling. When I go home, it takes a bit of time to adjust to making my own bed, sitting in traffic or going to the grocery store to buy ingredients to cook a meal.
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<ol start="6">
<li>
<h3>What’s your typical day aboard the ship?</h3>
</li>
</ol>
Days at sea are great for me to meet as many guests as possible. I like to walk throughout the ship, go where great events are taking place, talk to everyone and find out where they are from and how their cruise experience is going.
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<ol start="7">
<li>
<h3>Would you recommend this career for other women?</h3>
</li>
</ol>
Women are in the ranks. They have been since I began sailing. The opportunities are increasing for everyone, with more ships being built and positions opening up, and I believe you will see more female captains in the cruise industry soon. It is an incredible career, and I recommend it for anyone who has wanderlust in their veins, enjoys meeting new and interesting people, and experiencing the world by an awe-inspiring mode of transportation – cruising. Think about how you feel when you witness a perfect sunrise or sunset, now that is what it feels like to be at sea every day.

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7 Questions With…

In my travels, I have come to understand that as women of African descent, whether you are in England, Brazil, St. Maarten, South Africa or in the United States, we face many of the same challenges. Most of us are dealing with unrealistic European standards of beauty imposed upon us from the time we are born. This, combined with the expectations of our parents and community, leaves us feeling like we always have something to prove.
This used to be me. Born in Uganda, my upbringing as an African in America shaped my sense of identity and self-worth. My ‘Africanness’ in a world where light skin and long, straight hair were preferred, was almost taboo.
In elementary school, I detested my first name, Julian, because in America, it was considered a boy’s name. To add what I thought was insult to injury, my last name, Kiganda, was extremely difficult for Americans to pronounce. So it was butchered often. Because my mother kept mine and my four sisters’ hair short, I was asked more than once by students at school if I was a boy or a girl. Beauty and success to me were not synonymous with being African.
Two major turning points in my life happened to flip this erroneous belief on its head. The first was the opportunity to travel the United States (US) as a member of an all-women’s East African performing arts group called Kayaga of Africa. Showcasing our culture on stages where many in the audience still had a very backward view of Africa was both empowering and life-changing. As American audiences showed appreciation for the beauty and diversity of my culture, so did I.
But I still struggled to reconcile who I was to who I thought I was supposed to be. Then in 2006, my firm won a bid to design an African American slavery museum in Alexandria, Virginia, US. It was a project which would completely change my perspective of African Americans. In public school, very little is taught about slavery or African American history in general. So my real introduction to black history came as a result of designing this museum.
I began to understand how Africans were forced to give up their languages, their identities, and their names to take on that of their white slave owners. The atrocities Africans in America suffered were indescribable. That’s when I began to understand my role in bridging the divide between Africa and her diaspora.
Since designing that museum, my work as an artist, author, community activist, teacher and entrepreneur has revolved around bridging the two cultures which have played integral roles in shaping who I am today: a black woman who is proud of my African roots, and comfortable defining beauty and success for myself. I use every opportunity I can to educate my brothers and sisters on both sides of the Atlantic on the fact that we are more alike than we are different: history and current circumstances speak to that.
As an old African proverb states: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, gotogether.”
We need to build bridges that will bring greater collaboration, cultural exchange and opportunity. I believe women play a key role in building those bridges. Thankfully, I’m not the only one.
On a recent trip to Johannesburg in South Africa, while being driven around the city by a Malawian Uber driver, I asked him what he thought of Joyce Banda, his country&#8217;s immediate past president and second female head of state in Africa. His answer pleasantly surprised me:
“I think she did a good job. We would have a better world if we had more women as presidents. There is something that God put in women which we men don’t have. Women are multi-taskers and considerate. If you think about it, we live in the wombs of our mothers for nine months. If they can take care of an entire family, they can take care of an entire country.”
You may not aspire to be the next president of your country, but as a woman, you are uniquely equipped to succeed. Just remember, part of your success depends on your willingness to accept and embrace who you are: in all your Africanness. Understand your true value. Don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo. Instead, blaze your own trail and define success for yourself.
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– The writer is based in Washington DC and is founder and CEO of Bold &amp; Fearless, a lifestyle brand and online magazine for professional women of Africa and the diaspora.

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Bridging  The Divide  As An African In America

Champagne season is officially here. From now through the new year, you’ll likely be popping a few corks and spilling bubbly all over your carpet.
If you have been really nice (or really naughty) you might be lucky enough to spill some Krug. The LVMH-owned champagne from Reims, France, is regarded by many – including a few friends who work at competing liquor companies – to be the best champagne in the world. With that big a reputation comes a steep price, a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée costs around $145.
When you’re spending that kind of dough on a bottle, you want to make sure you are serving it right. But with champagne, most of us are doing it wrong. Luckily, the United States Director of Krug, Carl Heline, met up with me at The Fat Radish in New York to share advice on how to drink champagne like a professional. Here are the essential tips:
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<h5>1) Safety first:</h5>
After you rip off the foil, keep the cage (the small wire thing) on the cork – even after you untwist the wire. Once you loosen the cage, make sure you keep one hand over the cork so it won’t accidentally pop off.
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<h5>2) Spin the bottle:</h5>
Don’t twist the cork. Instead take a tight grip of the cork (cage loosened, but still on) and twist the base of the bottle, this gives you a much better hold, until you slowly remove the cork. Heline adds that there’s no shame in popping corks; after all champagne is about fun &#8211; just don’t aim at someone’s head.
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<h5>3) Chill out, just not too much:</h5>
The ideal temperate to serve champagne is 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10ºC). Most of our refrigerators run at about 45 degrees (7ºC), so once you open a bottle, let it sit out in the open. Don’t drown it in a bucket of ice, the freezing temperatures lock up flavors.
<h5>4) Grip and rip:</h5>
Grip your hand around the base of the bottle – if your hands are too small you can press your thumb on the indent on the bottom – for good balance and tilt the glass at a 45-degree angle to pour the wine along the side of the glass, this reduces the foam.
&nbsp;
<h5>5) Say no to flutes:</h5>
Most places serve champagne in flutes – the glasses have cache and show off the bubbles well. The trouble is flutes are terrible for tasting the wine, the shape prevents enough oxygen from getting into the glass to open up the champagne and blocks the aromas from reaching your nose, which in turn limits the flavor. Heline uses glasses custom made for Krug. If you can’t find those, a simple white wine glass will do the trick.
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<h5>6) Sniff and sip:</h5>
Don’t be afraid to bury your nose in the glass before your first sip, so much of our taste comes from smell. Have a taste and note the flavor. After that gently swirl your glass on the table and taste again, noting the subtle flavors the swirling has released.
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<h5>7) Don’t over-think it:</h5>
Champagne is meant for celebrations, so relax and have a blast.
&nbsp;
Champagne Facts: 
The longest recorded flight of a champagne cork is over 54 meters. 
There are approximately 49 million bubbles in a standard sized bottle of champagne. 
Florescent light changes the flavour of champagne. 
“Dosage” is a measured quantity of sugar, wine and sometimes brandy added in the final step of champagne production, before bottling.

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Champagne 101:  How To Drink It Like A Pro

As a young girl, Karabo Mathang-Tshabuse would step beyond the confines of her Soweto home to kick around a soccer ball in the dusty streets of her neighborhood. She didn’t play really well, she admits, but in her mind, she heard the rousing cheers of her community, the cheers of a township brought together by sport.
Little did she know these cheers would one day come true – though not for playing the sport, but for getting others to play it.
Soweto, one of South Africa’s oldest and most historical townships, has produced political leaders and Nobel laureates, and some of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs and sportsmen. Among them, star soccer player Jomo Sono, who lived three houses away from Mathang-Tshabuse.
With sportsmen next door, and a father who was soccer-crazy himself, she didn’t have to look far for influences.
“I was a daddy’s girl and I wanted to score points with him, he would watch soccer and I would want to please him and would yell ‘offside, offside’ to show I understood the game,” she says.
When you meet her, Mathang-Tshabuse is petite but ambitious and feisty – she spent nearly a decade battling with club managers, bidding for the best contracts for her clients.
At the age of 21, Mathang-Tshabuse became the first woman in South Africa to be a SAFA (South African Soccer Federation) and FIFA-accredited soccer agent. Soccer was not by design, she says. It happened quite by chance.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-31006 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5053-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5053-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5053-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5053-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5053-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_5053.jpg 682w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“It was never a dream of mine to be an agent; the truth is I fell into it.”
Mathang-Tshabuse was always precocious. She was only 13 when she started working, doing small jobs in radio and retail, whilst figuring out the real purpose of her life.
She went on to do a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Media Studies, subjects she chose on account of her proximity to politics – her father Ruby Mathang is the MMC of Economic Development for the City of Johannesburg.
Her weekends at university were spent watching soccer games with friends, who would later help her start P Management – P for Player, Professional or pomotso, meaning comfort, she says.
“We wanted to do coaching clinics, accumulate money and then represent players,” she says.
Their first cue was media reports of the lifestyles and spending habits of soccer players. She thought it would be a good idea to approach them and say “let us look after your affairs”.
“You have people from a background where there is no education in terms of finance and addressing the media, no education in terms of how to live in the public domain,” she says.
Along with a trio of like-minded friends – one of them now her husband – she launched the company in 2007. Thankfully, the business received a favorable response.
“From getting booked every weekend, it kind of grew and we could accumulate the capital.”
The next step was looking at what representing a soccer player meant, especially in terms of capital.
It took them two years to move into an office and have enough money to manage players full-time, handling their contracts and protecting their interests.
“It was exciting, the terrain was unset, the landscape undefined, it was an area where we could go in and set the tone and there weren’t that many competitors and yet there was a lot of demand for representation.”
The early days, when she was merely in her 20s, were exciting, as she hobnobbed with the chairmen of soccer clubs, and represented those close to her age.
“To have them have confidence in me was the confidence-booster,” she says of her earlier clients.
Her reception from the club heads in this male-dominated industry was a “mixed bag”. Some were intrigued by her presence – “what is this young girl doing?” – whereas others just did not want her there, not because she was a woman, she believes, but because agents are not generally welcome.
The only difference between a male and female soccer agent, she reckons, is the men are more business-minded. As a female soccer agent, she feels it her responsibility to continue to promote female soccer players as most agents don’t do so – there is not a lot of money in their game.
“I’m inclined to find talent so I do approach players that are female but it does not make me inclined to them. I am aware of the limitations of where you can take women because our professional game is not at the same level as the guys.”
Mathang-Tshabuse and her husband Josy Tshabuse have two daughters who are already showing an interest in soccer but she secretly hopes they become anything but a soccer agent, unless it’s a “calling”.
“That is why I believe I fell into football, I wouldn’t have chosen this for myself,” she says, as it’s a taxing job.
From scouting out a player to traveling with them from club to club and marketing them, there may be no returns on expenses incurred in promoting an amateur player, especially if they do not get signed.
“It’s like flushing money down the drain.”
Another concern is the uncertainty in the sector at the moment with the threat of agent fees dropping from 10% to 3%, making it harder to break-even with entry-level players.
It took Mathang-Tshabuse three attempts to get accredited as a soccer agent and as someone who never experienced failure, she would not accept it – but that was the only way up.
“The agent exam that I failed the first time was my first test as to how I was going to respond, I knew what it meant to pass, I knew I wasn’t doing it for myself, I was doing it for the hundreds of other girls that would pioneer in areas that are uncharted.”
She set her mind on passing the exam.
“Once I set my mind on something, I had to get it, I was like, ‘who are you? How dare I fail you’?”
The second time she took the exam, she failed again but by then, she knew she would keep trying until she passed.
Once licenced, another challenge lay ahead: she had to get access into the clubs.
“It was challenging in that you weren’t given the space, you had to create the space for yourself but I must say it was the time of my life, I was making an impact, living for a purpose.”
One story Mathang-Tshabuse relates often is of taking a third division player and getting him into a premier league. She had to negotiate hard for the player and decided to walk away.
The club called back because they realized he was good and offered more than triple the amount they had initially put on the table for him.
He didn’t disappoint, with about 18 appearances in his first season, he was then in demand by other pro teams.
“Taking someone from a third division, to premier, to being demanded is why I do the work I do,” she beams.
South African football club Orlando Pirates’ Mbongeni Gumede and Banyana Banyana’s Amanda Dlamini are a couple of players Mathang-Tshabuse represents.
The future for her company is sports law. Mathang-Tshabuse believes there are areas in football and sports law that are not really addressed; for instance, she says many sportsmen don’t know much about anti-doping regulations.
“This is the one thing that I’m actually more excited about, being able to represent players and not only market them. The legal side fascinates me so much.”
She is now studying for a law degree at the University of the Witwatersrand and eventually hopes to represent athletes in other sports, for example cricket.
Her game has only just begun.

IMG_5101

Dribbling Through The Barriers

A handful of times over the past century a watch brand has been able to claim rights to building the most complicated timepiece in the world.
In September, Vacheron Constantin unveiled the Reference 57260 pocket watch, which took a team of three master watchmakers (as well as hand and dial specialists) eight years to build.
Estimated at $8 million, the Reference 57260 (named for its 57 complications and Vacheron Constantin’s 260th anniversary) was commissioned by a collector in the Americas who wishes to remain anonymous.
He challenged Vacheron Constantin’s Atelier Cabinotiers division to create the world’s most complicated watch, with some specifc functions, includ- ing a Hebraic perpetual calendar and an unusual split-seconds chronograph (to time multiple events at once). Such technically advanced feats have never been incorporated into a watch before. Approximately two inches in diameter and crafted in an 18-karat white gold case that weighs about two pounds, the Vacheron watch nearly doubles the previous record for most complications in a timepiece: 33. Inside the gleaming hull reside more than 2,800 tiny mechanical components that make up the all-new movement (which took nearly two of the eight years spent to assemble). All told the timepiece claimed 10 new patents.
And while the Reference 57260 is undeniably an incredible feat of precision, technology and craftsmanship, its creation prompts the question: “Why would anyone want to wait eight years for a watch to be built?”
The answer has roots dating back to the 1920s and 1930s, when two of the richest and most competitive men in the world, automotive mogul James Ward Packard and banker Henry Graves, commissioned top watch brands to create the most complicated watch in the world.
Those timepieces (created by Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe, respectively) took years to build and resulted in what have become record-breaking works of art. (In November 2014 the Henry Graves Supercomplication pocket watch, which Patek Philippe made in 1932, sold at Sotheby’s Geneva for a record $24 million.)
“This challenge links back to those great collectors who are credited with pushing brands to create the unimaginable and produce some of the greatest watches in the world,” says Juan Carlos Torres, CEO of Vacheron Constantin. “And the fact that it is an American who commissioned this watch is fascinating.”
As was the pressure to build the world’s most complicated timepiece. “Because the most complicated watch before this one had 33 complications, we set a goal of 36 complications,” says Dominique Bernaz, head of the Atelier Cabinotiers division. “As we worked together, I would regularly ask my team if they thought we could do it, and they would smile and nod yes. We were halfway through the project before we knew just how many complications the watch would have, because the project kept evolving.
“Each complication is a special accomplishment,” adds Bernaz, “but putting them all together into one watch, that was the real challenge.”
So will this pocket watch spark a new rivalry in watchmaking among 21st-century collectors? Time will tell.

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The $8-Million Pocket Watch

The tiger has always played a part in our collective consciousness, often interpreted as a symbol of power, strength and beauty. In Hindu culture, the tiger is revered as the sacred vehicle of Durga, the warrior goddess.
And I had the opportunity to come face-to-face with this mighty animal on a recent trip through the forests of central India where a majority of them still roam.
I arrived at the Bandhavgarh National Park (BNP), in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, by plane from New Delhi, landing in Jabalpur and then by car to the park; a journey of 600 miles to visit the home of an animal that has existed for two million years.
Known to have evolved from the saber-toothed cat that lived 32 million years ago, tigers have spread from their original home in China and evolved into many subspecies including the Royal Bengal Tiger of India. The BNP was the hunting preserve of the rulers of the state in the 1800s and has hosted many hunters from the British Raj; it has documented killings of over 350 cats by one particular hunter during his five-year posting in India. At the close of the 19th century, when Rudyard Kipling penned The Jungle Book, some 50,000 to 100,000 tigers were thought to roam the Indian subcontinent.
The tiger once ranged widely across Asia, from Anatolian Turkey in the west to Kamchatka, in the eastern coast of Russia; over the past 100 years tigers have disappeared from southwest and central Asia. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), tigers inhabit less than 6% of their historic range with a 42% decline since 2006. Breeding populations of tigers are currently found in eight range states: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, and Thailand.
Since 1900, the number of tigers in the wild has shrunk from an estimated 100,000 to as few as 3,200. WWF is working toward a bold but achievable goal to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger. A 2015 news report reveals healthy population increases in all ranges in south and central India.
Strictly-managed and controlled jeep safaris are the only way one can encounter these magnificent animals in their natural habitat. My first encounter on my trip was with a mother and her three grown cubs that paced majestically through the sal tree forest, disappearing often into the high grass that grows after the monsoons.
This was the beginning of a four-day, 32-hour photographic ‘hunt’ for these animals. Sighting and photographing seven of them was not easy since they are primarily active in the wee hours, returning after a hunt, or during dusk before a hunt. Being solitary animals and effectively camouflaged, tracking them is one of the great joys and challenges of wildlife photography.
BNP allows a maximum of 32 jeeps per day in two four-hour windows. This capacity control was established by Project Tiger, an Indian initiative to protect the tigers. The park has a huge variety of mammals such as black bears, antelopes, deer, reptiles including crocodiles and snakes, and over 350 species of birds.
At 6AM on a cold morning, I was filled with excitement when I spotted a young male tiger, looking tired and hungry after an unsuccessful night of hunting. He approached my jeep from 600 feet away, oblivious to my presence and walked within a few feet marking his territory along the way.
Tigers need to kill 60-75 large prey animals per year. They are opportunistic predators, however, their diet includes birds, fish, rodents, insects, amphibians and reptiles in addition to other mammals such as primates and porcupines. Tigers can also take ungulate prey much larger than themselves, including the water buffalo, Indian bison, small elephants and on occasion even rhinos. Bandhavgarh boasts all of the above animals except the rhino and elephant which are distributed further north in Chitwan Park near the border with Nepal, another known tiger range.
On my last evening, after patiently waiting near a waterhole for two hours, I was rewarded with a large male tiger emerging from the bamboo thicket to drink water barely 15 feet away. His majesty made for some amazing pictures. I left Bandhavgarh and my lovely lodge with a heavy heart knowing that this tiger could be the victim of poachers any time.
National Geographic reports that it is rarely poor locals who are poaching the tigers – it’s organized gangs.
“Tigers are part of a massive wildlife trade that’s run by sophisticated international crime syndicates, the same trade that’s wiping out elephants, rhinos and so many other species. It’s a $19-billion-a-year business,” quotes the magazine.
These majestic cats are being slaughtered across India and the entire Southeast Asian range, mostly for their bones and magnificent pelts. Smuggled into China for use in expensive traditional tonics, tiger bones are thought to impart the animal’s great energy and strength. In addition, across their entire distribution, tigers face unrelenting pressure from retaliatory killings by farmers and habitat loss. They are forced to compete for space with an ever-growing human population.
Alas, in the end, it would seem their fate is no different from their fierce, feline and equally-famous cousin – the African lion.

DSC_4935

Tracking India’s Feisty Feline

If you don’t know where you’re from, you can’t know where you’re going. This phrase has never rung truer for thousands of African Americans who have embarked on personal journeys to trace their lineage beyond the shores of the United States (US), back to Africa.
Not since Alex Haley, the American-born Pulitzer Prize winning author of Roots, traced his genealogy to The Gambia in the late 1970s has there been such a thirst for this knowledge. The release of the movie 12 Years a Slave two years ago renewed the interest. Today, science elevates the searches according to Gina Paige, the CEO of African Ancestry, the company pioneering the tracing of ancestry in the US using DNA.
“Other companies can only determine whether an ancestry is African. [Our company] is the first to use the science of DNA to trace maternal and/or paternal ancestry, not just to Africa but to a specific present day African country of origin and ethnic group,” says Paige.
Celebrating its tenth year, the African American-owned firm Paige co-founded with geneticist, Rick Kittles, utilizes its DNA database of more than 25,000 indigenous African samples from nearly 400 African ethnic groups representing 35 African countries. This allows for a high level of detail, accuracy and confidence in its assessments.
The tests use cheek swabs and results are delivered electronically in around six weeks.
“We successfully determine ancestry over 99 percent of the time,” says Paige.
“We find identical matches for approximately 85 percent of the people we test. For the remaining people, we find closely related lineages with greater than 95 percent confidence.”
The firm’s results have impacted the lives of more than 150,000 African American families, individuals, and global icons including Oprah Winfrey, US Ambassador Andrew Young, Condoleezza Rice, Martin Luther King, Jr., posthumously; Oscar-winning actors Louis Gossett, Jr., and Whoopi Goldberg; and Grey’s Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington, who became the first African American to receive dual citizenship as a result of DNA confirmation.
Not only do the DNA results change the lives of African Americans connecting with their past, they also boost the economies of the newfound African homelands through philanthropic and investment efforts from their long lost citizens.
Security specialist, Brian Williams, used African Ancestry to trace his lineage to the Ga tribe of Ghana. Six months later, he traveled to the West African nation in search of his people.
“During my first visit, I saw an elder who looked identical to my aunt who raised me. I saw her in a marketplace and couldn’t take my eyes off her. The guide brought me to her and she explained in her native language that I looked like her grandfather who was sent to the States and never came back,” he says.
“She introduced me to a group of elders and a linguist who started asking me questions. They accepted me into their group and put me through a traditional naming ceremony. Before long, I was enstooled as Chief Nii Arde Anum I, the Noa Mantse (development chief) of three Ghanaian villages.”
Still living in the US, Williams visits Ghana every three to four months to fulfill his chiefly duties of building up the visibility of the villages and collecting much-needed education supplies.
“On my second trip to Ghana, a man who sat one seat away from me on the plane told me he purchased a hotel in Cape Coast, located about two hours outside of the capital city of Accra. Three months later, I invested in the hotel and became head of security,” says Williams.
He is now CEO of the oceanfront Sanaa Lodge hotel. He has also created a business venture and school that trains security professionals throughout the country.
Randy Williams, who is unrelated to Brian, decided to not just go back but to give back after tracing his lineage to the Fula people of Guinea-Bissau. A truck driver by trade, Williams started the non-profit organization, From Your Heart to the World, using his own money and donations.
“Taking the ancestry test was initially all about finding my purpose. Then, after I visited, I said, ‘I gotta do more,’” he says.
He collects clothing, educational supplies, toys and medical supplies and ships it to the needy parts of the country.
“Our clients have built schools, created businesses and invested not just in their African brothers and sisters, but also Africa’s economy. It’s why we are serious about helping people better understand who they are,” says Paige.
African Ancestry is not restricted to tracing lineages from Africa. It also introduced myDNAmix, a product that determines ancestries from Native Americans, East Asia, Europe and India.
For 10 years and counting, African Ancestry is filling in the holes in people’s history and reconnecting them to the continent.

tinseltown-2

Brother From Another Motherland

Two 11-year-olds, one from Madagascar, the other from Angola, go to class together in a French school in Niger. That may have been their first lesson in diversity.
But if their paths crossed then, in the years following their respective departures to Paris and Montreal, they crossed again, before they finally settled in Brussels and formed a company together.
Urban and culturally-aware, Andrianina Sidibé and Cláudia Pita-Grós, both 36 today, can best be described as ‘Afropolitans’, a word first used by West African writer Taiye Selasi who explained it as “Africans of the world”.
It is to this world that Sidibé and Pita-Grós want to commit Africa, doing what they both know best: fashion. Their clothing company MeyNö, born out of the contraction of Niamey, Niger’s capital city, where they first met, and Noah, Sidibé’s son and Pita-Grós’ godchild, was founded to promote African print and home-grown talent, in the process sharing a rich tapestry of cross-cultural experiences. The handmade clutches and accessories they fashion are testament to their ethos.
“We grew up in Africa; our wish is to make our continent shine by its know-how and richness,” they chorus.
Their company is based in France and they have an online store. Sidibé and Pita-Grós share more thoughts on Africa and its future in fashion:
How did the partnership come about?
Since we were young we were both passionate about fashion; and as we grew up, we both knew that one day we would have to make our contribution, in our own way, to make Africa famous all over the world for its greatness and know-how in different fields.
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Why African print?
We believe that our fabrics and prints are one of the riches we have in common all over the continent. Each country and region has its fabric (wax, bogolan, bazin, kente, capulana) and we wanted to glorify this part of our culture.
While African fabrics often serve as inspiration for foreign fashion collections, we wanted to create our own brand with a mix of these fabrics together with other materials mostly coming from different African countries and, most of all, 100% made in Africa.
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What is the current state of Africa’s fashion industry?
South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria certainly play the leading role. There’s a fashion industry for sure. Locally-known, most of this industry is still composed of tailors that do custom-made rather than prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear), whereas on the international level, so many designers are nowadays well-known all over the world, such as Marianne Fassler (South African) and Shade Thomas-Fahm (Nigerian). We also have strong fashion actors such as first Dr Precious [Motsepe] and also Adama Paris (from Senegal) who have created famous events in Africa like the Dakar Fashion Week, Johannesburg and Cape Town fashion weeks, Fashion Africa, and we also have Brazza Fashion Night, that have widely contributed in building African fashion’s worldwide fame.
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There has been a lot of push, particularly from South Africa&#8217;s fashion industry, to break into the international markets, such as the United States. Is this attainable?
It is true that particularly since Dr Precious has created the fashion weeks in South Africa, the push to break into the international markets have been obvious. We can say the goal was undoubtedly attained when we see worldwide famous artistes such as Solange Knowles and Beyoncé or Rihanna wear clothes with African prints. We don’t think it is vital, but of course we cannot deny that it helps us make people aware that we have a lot of richness in our countries: raw materials, know-how and overall our people.
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What type of investments will boost the industry?
We think that investments in training, mechanization and processing of raw material such as cotton should be reinforced.
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How can policy help?
Africa faces political challenges such as market integrations and infrastructure [transport fees are incredibly high whether by air or by sea, because of the taxes and the lack of proactive policies that would favor employment]. In consequence, some companies would rather buy material from China than from a neighbor. In our case, the materials used to manufacture our products come mainly from African countries (DRC, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast) and routing between those different countries is not always easy. Transportation between Burkina Faso and DRC, for instance, must pass through France, which generates significant costs and lengthening delays.
Government funding for fashion students to start their collections, travel to fashion shows and exhibit their collections is one of the ways in which new policies could help accelerate the growth. We have also noticed that some local craftsmen find difficulties in buying their engines and other equipment. As a result, despite their obvious talent, they struggle to live off their know-how and passion.
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What is the role of young people in this trade?
Creativity! The ‘inventivité’ (ingenuity) of some young artistes, designers or musicians has no boundaries. Just by looking at people’s style in the streets of cities like Kinshasa or Luanda, you realize how creative younger generations may be; and demanding too. It forces the industry to renew itself over and over again.

INNA

Cut  From The Same Cloth

We meet Ofuakuor Ofuatey-Kodjoe, popular as Ofie Kodjoe, in her beautiful home in Tesano, a suburb in Accra famous for one of the country’s first sports clubs. A person with multiple talents deserves multiple adjectives to describe her. Suffice to say she is one of the most pleasant, inspirational, witty, intelligent and down-to-earth personalities you will meet in Ghana.
Kodjoe has had a multifaceted career, from being a corporate executive at the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Networks in New York and an award-winning singer to launching three successful businesses and her own radio show in Accra.
Kodjoe, along with her brother and sister, were raised in New York; her dad was a professor of political science and her mother a nurse. The family’s plan was for Kodjoe to attend law school but she changed her mind half-way and switched to medicine. She finally ended up studying political science and African studies.
That was not the end of her academic ambitions. Her real aim was to study music.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30978 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Ofie2-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ofie2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ofie2-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ofie2.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“When I was 19, I went to my dad and told him I wanted to go to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he looked at me like I had six heads and said ‘no’,” says Kodjoe, who was too scared to fight, and instead settled for her dad’s career choice – political science and African studies – a decision she regrets.
She went to the City University of New York; her dad ensured she excelled in all subjects. She would rehearse with a band after class while still achieving 18 credits in school. After graduation, the logical progression was corporate America because music was not as lucrative as she had hoped. She managed to get into BET, one of the biggest media houses in America, rising to the position of Director of Corporate Travel and Corporate Services.
Alongside, Kodjoe still maintained her love for music.
“I was with a band and I was singing so I had this corporate parallel to my creative side and I loved it.”
But tragedy struck, and it changed her life. The first setback was when Kodjoe’s brother died of cardiomegaly (an enlarged heart condition) in his sleep. Two years later, her father underwent heart surgery to fix a broken valve; he also suffered from a kidney condition.
“I realized we didn’t have that much time left with him, maybe two years, so we decided to come back home,” says Kodjoe.
It was her father’s wish for the children to relocate to Ghana to give back to the country he so loved. It was a traumatic period. The loss of the two men in her life took a toll on her.
In Ghana, Kodjoe set up a management consulting business with her business partner to teach young Ghanaians to become successful in the workplace and also advice organizations on getting the best out of their workforce.
She set up another company, Moka Entertainment, which got its big break when BET came to Ghana to do a reality show. Its success led to various production contracts. Kodjoe was falling in love with music again. Her sound is a cross between Afro Jazz and Neo Soul. The highlight of her career was opening for the BET Celebration of Gospel event in Los Angeles and also for BET Walk Of Fame, which was celebrating American icons like Smokey Robinson.
She has also performed for the President of Liberia. In her weekly radio show on the hit ‘adult alternative station’, Atlantis Radio, in Accra, she spends her time covering inspirational topics that encourage listeners to look at the upside no matter their ordeal. She spends her time mentoring young talent through her management label, which has a roster of top R&amp;B singers from across Africa. Her biggest regret though is the lack of support for music.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30979 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/unnamed2-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/unnamed2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/unnamed2-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/unnamed2-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/unnamed2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/unnamed2-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/unnamed2.jpg 682w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“I didn’t have the guts to say I don’t care what you think, I am going to do it anyway,” she says of her journey into it.
This regret led her to found yet another company, Onyx Management, geared towards helping young people understand their purpose and passion – even if they have to fight to make it happen. Her motto is live life, love life and live love.
Accra’s youth stay tuned.

Ofie1

The Corporate Creative

What would you call a person who makes a living teaching women 50 different ways to wrap their heads? A headwrap artiste? Or savvy entrepreneur?
This is serious business, it seems. There are in fact ‘headwrap parties’ and ‘headwrap expos’ around the world exploring the art of headwrapping and the cultures that promote them. We have seen A-listers such as Jennifer Lopez endorsing this trend. Needless to say, the headwrap, worn as a crown or symbol of power and beauty, is currently enjoying its fashion moment.
And where else but Africa to monetize this style, where headwraps are already entrenched in tradition? Known as tuku, originating from the Tswana tribe (one of the major ethnic groups in South Africa), these accessories are made of colorful two-meter long shweshwe fabric, and artfully twisted and layered on in head-turning styles.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30975 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Olga-090-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Olga-090-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Olga-090-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Olga-090-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Olga-090.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Thirty-year-old Olga Mtshweni, the headwrap artiste in question, seems to have mastered this craft. Raised in Soshanguve, a small township north of South African capital Pretoria, Mtshweni was always surrounded by older women who donned these accessories. But her greatest influence was herself. She never opted for braids or weaves, but chose to go ‘natural’, adorning herself with headwraps, meant both to protect (in cooler months) and be a fashion statement. She started experimenting with various looks and devised her own wrapping styles. The exercise was her “creative outlet” beyond a lackluster nine-to-five office job.
After high school, Mtshweni enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in Information Science at the University of Pretoria. A corporate job was the likely outcome, as she worked for big corporations Microsoft and Standard Bank. It was only a matter of time before she gave it all up to start her own company, Wrapsody, in December 2014.
“I got very frustrated of the corporate world, I had no life outside of work and I wasn’t very happy with that because I do have other interests and other passions outside of work,’’ says Mtshweni.
She had been toying with the concept in her head for a while. A social media campaign, consisting of YouTube tutorials, also helped measure the demand for her skills. She claims Wrapsody soon received orders from clients, including celebrities and corporate companies.
From the R30,000 ($2,100) she had saved before she left her corporate job, she used R4,000 ($290) for her first bulk purchase of the shweshwe fabric.
Headwraps to her are not mere pieces of fabric, but are regal and an art form that promotes culture and revives the spirit of African beauty. Mtshweni’s styles include what she calls Giant Flower, Bow With An Attitude, The Badu, Front Swirl, Twisties and Tower of Power.
She hopes to one day work with such names as American singer-songwriter Erykah Badu, who wore mesmerizing headwraps even before they were even considered cool. African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is also on her wish-list, who she says exudes African beauty and pride – “You will never catch her without a headwrap”.
Mtshweni oversees a team of four – a seamstress, two models and a part-time photographer. Her online store sells headscarves made of African fabric, and she offers her services for headwrap parties, tutorials and workshops.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30977 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Olga-061-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Olga-061-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Olga-061-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Olga-061-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Olga-061.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
She is currently looking to open her own boutique, and continues to use her IT skills to do freelance work to support her start-up business.
Her enterprise seems to be based on a simple premise, as she says: “Do what you can with what you have.”
What keeps Mtshweni driven? It’s believing in her idea, more than anyone else.
“The hustling can be quite draining, but I know that it will eventually take off.”
When that happens, it will be her crowning glory.

Olga-117

A Head For Business

South African lingerie entrepreneur Penny Parolis was 61 when she was dealt one of life’s greatest ironies.
In the lingerie industry for over 20 years, she sold bras and innerwear, and when handed the diagnosis – while on holiday in Greece – that she had breast cancer, the first thought that crossed her mind was: “Why me? I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me, especially since the bra industry was close to my heart.”
She underwent surgery and thereafter radiotherapy back home in South Africa, whilst also handling the adverse challenges at work.
With her son Dimitri, Parolis had started her business in 1993 initially selling Italian pantyhose. Slowly, the business grew as they diversified to lingerie, swimwear and shapewear.
Parolis is the co-owner of PDL Distributors – importers and distributors of lingerie and swimwear brands – and also owns three Cape Town boutiques operating under their brand, Inner Secrets Lingerie, the retail arm of the business she is now looking to expand. She tells us more:
What inspired your business?
I knew it was important for a woman to wear beautiful garments that fit well and are well-made. Our ethos has always been about uplifting women.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-30970 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/0041-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0041-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0041-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0041-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0041-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0041-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/0041.jpg 682w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
How was your cancer diagnosis a turning point for you?
On a personal level, I got to realize how important health is and not to ever take it for granted; to find a good balance in life and to always take care of myself. It also reaffirmed how important family and close friendships are, and at a time like this, I was reminded how very blessed I was. From a business point of view, I got to view my industry from the point of view of a woman who had suffered breast cancer and whilst in her recovery process still wanted to feel feminine and most importantly be comfortable.
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How did you build your business?
Luckily when I started my business, my children were all out of school and pursuing their own paths in life. My husband was very adamant about me being a stay-at-home mom and I am very fortunate I had this opportunity and then could start my business; what’s more with one of my children. In the beginning, I spent a lot of time on the road, long hours in the office and numerous overseas trips to meet suppliers. I have a very supportive husband and a great support structure at home and at certain stages one just needs to put in the time.
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How did you balance health, work and family?
This can always be tricky to get completely spot-on and I think it is very personal for each woman at different stages of her life. You get to figure it out as you go along and you learn to prioritize what is important at any given time. Working in a family business surrounds me with my family daily, which I enjoy and now my biggest focus is juggling work and me-time. I am getting better at this.
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Your advice to other women who might have a similar story…?
Never lose faith. Keep believing in yourself no matter what the circumstances present and always be kind to yourself. You are the only person who can set the example of how you want to be treated.

Interaction Dimitri and Penny

From Selling  Bras To  Beating  Breast Cancer

That Africa is the new mecca of international luxury brands is constantly reiterated by the number of new players in the market. The development of home-grown luxury brands is also more topical. And with these brands have come experts, such as Lola Emeruwa, who has worked for big global brands such as Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney and Net a Porter in mega cities like London, Milan, Paris, New York, and more recently, with Ermenegildo Zegna in Lagos. As the founder of Le Retail Operations Management, a luxury retail consultancy firm in Nigeria, Emeruwa’s work spans retail operation analysis to buying and merchandizing. One of her key projects is a co-venture with WISH publishing to create a new retail avenue for high-end hotels in Nigeria. We caught up with Emeruwa mid-2015 to discuss the growing luxury market in Africa’s biggest economy.
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Given your extensive background in international luxury fashion, what challenges does the African market face in this regard? How receptive are consumers to luxury in Africa?
Consumers are certainly very receptive to luxury in Nigeria and it is reflective of what I like to refer to as ‘The Nigerian Dream – the pursuit of finer things’. In a superficial assessment, you can see this desire fully expressed in a city like Lagos – in the abundance of luxury cars, upsurge of upmarket hotels, increased development of luxury retail spaces and surprisingly frequent conversations about the charter of private jets.
This is a reflection of great improvements in sub-Saharan Africa’s economic performance since the turn of the century, which grew at an average rate of 5.5% per annum in real terms between 2000 to 2012, compared to 2.54% per annum during the previous 13-year period.
Significantly, this growth has been despite factors such as limited infrastructure, little investment and lack of formal organization. Whilst on other continents this would pose as challenges, these are in fact just accepted here as the norm. In terms of the luxury retail industry, I believe the challenges are the same as in Europe or America: implementing effective marketing, new customer acquisition, logistical problems etc. However, for those trying to enter the Nigerian market and who are used to a more structured means of operating, it will be advisable to partner with a local expert.
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What is your company’s vision for the Nigerian market?
Our vision is to develop a productive synergy for international brands looking to enter the Nigerian market. In addition, Le Retail intends to be the reference point for support and integration of local brands into the global market by ensuring international industry practice standards are met.
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What areas will improve the viability of the Nigerian luxury retail space?
In the long term, improvement of infrastructure and power supply and in the short term, more sector deregulation of restrictions which would encourage capital inflow and increased investment.
Whilst infrastructure and energy projects are already ongoing (our election promise), I believe establishing a more formalized industry will give investors the confidence to diversify into the Nigerian luxury retail space.

MG_0940-copy

Private Jets, Hip Hotels And Deep Pockets

In the heart of Accra lies East Legon, a cosmopolitan suburb with some of the most prestigious real estate in Ghana. One such Victorian style house, on a private road, is home to Delphine Brew-Hammond, otherwise known as Miss Tourism.
One of the leading lights of Ghanaian tourism, Brew-Hammond’s story has been a journey most people thought she was “insane” to set off on. She is the founder of Miss Tourism Ghana, a beauty pageant with the aim of boosting the country’s tourism, both locally and internationally. The girls that take part in the contest get a shot at a brighter future and are given the opportunity to promote tourism and the economic benefits that come with it.
Twenty years ago, Brew-Hammond was living in the United States with her husband and three children earning a six-figure salary.
She began her career as a marketing executive in New York. On weekends, the family visited other states in America to see how the rich and famous lived. However, her love for tourism was born from a chance encounter. Part of the school curriculum in New York required children to visit key monuments in America. They had to get a parent to join them on the trip and Brew-Hammond was nominated by her then 12-year-old son to be their tourist guide.
“I was really annoyed when I had to go because I had work and I really did not want to take the time off,” says Brew-Hammond.
To her surprise, Brew-Hammond loved the experience. When she returned to Ghana in 2000, she researched tourism in Ghana. She started small by forming clubs that would take students to the country’s tourist spots. They visited national parks and nature reserves across the country. Brew-Hammond was encouraged by how the experience enriched the children’s lives, most of whom had never left their local towns. It was then that she decided to create a pageant – Miss Tourism Ghana.
“When we first decided to do it, everybody told us it wouldn’t work,” she says.
It was a difficult sell. Other competitive pageants, like Miss Ghana, meant that a tourism-focused beauty pageant was unlikely to garner major sponsorship. Brew-Hammond incorporated Miss Tourism Ghana in the country’s National Tourism Development Plan in 2009.
“They called me Miss Tourism in the ministries because I was always walking up and down the stairs almost every other week with a new letter which needed approval,” says Brew-Hammond.
The Minister of Tourism at the time bought into her dream and signed all the paperwork. The next difficult task was selecting the entrants for the pageant.
“In the beginning, we had to beg most of the girls to take part in our pageant. Everyone wanted to be Miss Ghana because it was much more prestigious.”
The idea was to have each girl representing a different region in Ghana. They did everything themselves in the beginning because they simply could not afford to pay anyone else for services.
Brew-Hammond’s plan was to get the queen of Miss Tourism Ghana to take part in international tourism pageants. Unfortunately, none of the girls were granted visas to the United Kingdom.
She decided to take matters into her own hands and arranged to sit down with the British High Commissioner. The problem was solved.
The pageant has been running for six years and has paved the way for several young girls to achieve their dreams. Brew-Hammond’s vision is to find raw talent and turn them into leaders of the future, and in the process, turn her country into a tourist’s paradise.

IMG_0299

‘Everybody Told Us It Wouldn’t Work’

Watching Allegro Dinkwanyane irrevocably hooked to the internet, one would be encouraged to say that the world of the millennial, really, is the World Wide Web. And for the enterprising amongst them, this is where the heart – and all the money – is.
You could call her a poster child of social media; Dinkwanyane makes a living off it offering PR services for the rich and famous.
Her entrepreneurial journey started not in an MBA classroom, but in journalism school, when she was given an assignment to start an online blog. Impressed, her lecturer encouraged her to keep at it.
After diligent research, planning and a lot of soul-searching, Orgella Media was born out of her university dorm in 2011. Orgella? It’s her name spelt backwards.
“I was inspired by Oprah’s Harpo because it’s her name spelt backwards. From the time I saw it, I started writing my name backwards and realized there is a good ring to it,” says Dinkwanyane.
Orgella Media started as an entertainment blog and has now diversified to include public relations (PR), charity and property divisions.
The world of PR today is no longer merely handing out paper press releases in five-star summit rooms. PR strategies are aggressively built around blogs, tweets, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Google+. And this world Dinkwanyane most understands as she aspires to be one of the online world’s greatest PR mavens.
“The world of online never stops. You need to know what is happening in the world and most importantly sharing some news with the world,” she says.
Dinkwanyane’s public profile increased in 2015 representing the likes of South Africa’s hip hop sensation Anatii, news anchor Thabile Ngwato and Nigeria’s singer Saeon and hip hop artiste Yung6ix.
The 25-year-old runs her business in Johannesburg; a long way from home. She was raised in Limpopo, South Africa’s northern province. Life was not easy. Her parents divorced when she was 12.
“I knew my parents were going to divorce. As a kid, you can always sense these things. It was hard for my mum moving from being a housewife and now left alone with four children. My dad basically decided he didn’t want to be a father anymore. I haven’t seen him since I was 12. He didn’t want us. He woke up one day and decided he didn’t want to be a father anymore,” says Dinkwanyane.
After her parents’ divorce, being daddy’s girl, Dinkwanyane often called him on the phone, even though he never returned the gesture.
“I knew his number by heart and always called but after two years I asked myself ‘I am the kid here and why I am the one making all the effort’, and I stopped. I haven’t spoken or seen him since.”
Watching her mother transition from housewife to bread winner inspired her.
“Our standard of living changed. We went from having everything we needed while staying with my father in Pretoria to moving back to Limpopo. My mother is a qualified teacher but had been a housewife for years so she didn’t have a job. I didn’t let that put me down. I worked hard in school and everything I did.”
Time came for Dinkwanyane to enrol into university, but there wasn’t enough money for it.
“I knew I wanted to study at the University of Johannesburg but my mother didn’t have money to pay for student residence accommodation on campus for me. I had to travel from my sister’s house in Kempton Park to class every day which is in the east of Johannesburg yet the University is towards the north.”
Dinkwanyane’s mother worked hard to give her a university education. When the opportunity presented itself for her to start Orgella Media, she knocked on all doors to find mentors – and experience – in the media industry.
“TV personality Carol Manana mentored me for about two years. I got to see how TV is made and I enjoyed it,” says Dinkwanyane.
But success was still elusive. Money began flowing in with Orgella Media, but Dinkwanyane realized she could not fund it fully. Clout was important in the impenetrable corridors of business, so her contacts referred her to people with deep pockets willing to invest.
“I went to them but all the people did not believe or understand social media or what a blog was. I knew the blog will run with or without them. I had to find other means.”
She taught herself graphic design and learnt to make business cards. As she endeavored to grow her business, Dinkwanyane received an offer to work for TRACE MUSIC as a journalist. She worked here for two years whilst running her business on the side.
In November 2014, she quit.
“There comes a point when you see that in whatever job you are in there is no longer any opportunity for growth. I needed to concentrate on growing my brand than helping the success of someone else’s,” she says.
From then, she fully committed to her business. The sacrifice paid off, as it has grown “tremendously”, she says. Her website gets five million hits on average every month, and she has had 50 clients since inception.
Her advice to start-up entrepreneurs? “Love what you do, ask questions, be patient, find a mentor and engage with your target market.”
Cyberspace – Dinkwanyane has found her niche in it, and looks like she is here to stay.

Tag: December 2015

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