Budding African entrepreneurs can now apply for the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI), founded by the Jack Ma Foundation, for a $10 million prize.



The application process which is
in partnership with Nailab was officially opened by Jason Pau, Senior Director
and Chief of Staff International to Jack Ma, Alibaba Group Executive Chairman.



“<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Africa Netpreneur Prize (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.netpreneur.africa/" target="_blank">Africa Netpreneur Prize</a> is about looking for heroes. We are looking to shine the spotlight on existing African entrepreneurs’ whether they are in the traditional sector or tech sector or men or women who come from any of the 54 countries that are part of this continent” said Pau.  



Pau says for the next ten years the foundation will host a pitch competition in Africa where ten finalists from across the continent will compete for $1 million in total prize money. 



“Jack Ma will personally commit one million dollars in grant money. The trick to the part is for ten finalists to compete every year for the next ten years.  He wants to turn it into something like a show. A million dollars for entrepreneurs’ is not a lot of money but what we think we could do is to have their stories remembered and watched across the continent,” says Pau. 



The prospective entrepreneurs will get assistance from experts. 



On the advisory board is Jack Ma,
Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Graca Machel,
Chair of the Graca Machel Trust Board. 



Pau says he believes having the
Graca Machel Trust will expose the potential of women across Africa. He says
their aim is to uplift the confidence in women of ‘you can and you should’.



“Through their networks, I believe they can reach a million or more women across Africa. I believe it is two things, one is confidence building. I think a lot of times women don’t really believe they could compete with men for whatever reasons,” said Pau. 



Pau added that because the
majority of women in the continent are single parents and breadwinners, they
need all the support they can receive. 



“We need to find those breadwinners and a lot of them are women… we are not only looking for tech-entrepreneurs we want to include the traditional sector because a lot of women are active in sectors such as agriculture. So if we could include a prize in industries that women in Africa are strong at, then that is the prize,” said Pau. 



Shungu Gwarinda, Director of Programmes for Graca Machel Trust, says their mission is to connect women and put them at the center of Africa’s development.   



“We strongly believe that the social and economic transformation that we seek to see towards building the Africa that we want, that nascent potential lies with women. Seventy percent of production on your lower level is driven by women, but at a lower level,” she said. 



Gwarinda says she believes that
through the partnership with Jack Ma Foundation they will better amplify the
voices of women across the continent and build on their networks.

Jack Ma Attends Hupan University Opening Ceremony In Hangzhou

$10 million for Africa’s next great entrepreneurs

“When it comes to history and memory … it’s easy to remember Nelson Mandela, because he is Nelson Mandela. Who determines whose story we value above others?” 



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



This was a question asked by Cathy Mohlahlana, the facilitator of a panel discussion at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MdgBjVvy8Y#action=share">Nelson Mandela Tribute</a> to mark the fifth anniversary of his passing.  



Celebrated author and notable feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was the keynote speaker at the event hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation at the UNISA Ormonde campus in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 12, 2018. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="929" height="611" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture91.png" alt="" data-id="37857" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37857" class="wp-image-37857" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture91.png 929w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture91-300x197.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture91-600x395.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture91-768x505.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 929px) 100vw, 929px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="932" height="612" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture4.png" alt="" data-id="37858" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37858" class="wp-image-37858" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture4.png 932w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture4-300x197.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture4-600x394.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture4-768x504.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 932px) 100vw, 932px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="608" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture71.png" alt="" data-id="37855" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37855" class="wp-image-37855" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture71.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture71-300x197.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture71-600x394.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture71-768x504.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="925" height="614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-3.png" alt="" data-id="37856" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37856" class="wp-image-37856" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-3.png 925w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-3-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-3-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-3-768x510.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 925px) 100vw, 925px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



Before Adichie’s address, the audience was regaled by the sounds of the Soweto Gospel Choir who sang songs such as Thina Sizwe, Lizalise Idinga Lakho, and Brenda Fassie’s Vul’indlela.&nbsp;



In paying homage to other anti-apartheid activists, the choir concluded their performance with the Peter Gabriel song Biko.&nbsp;The song is named after Bantu Stephen Biko who died in police detention in 1977, and was at the forefront of the anti-apartheid campaign the Black Consciousness Movement.



Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive Sello Hatang also acknowledged Pan Africanist liberation hero Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, who he says was a “towering figure in our history and a man who the apartheid regime tried to erase from memory”. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="932" height="613" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture17.png" alt="" data-id="37859" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37859" class="wp-image-37859" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture17.png 932w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture17-300x197.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture17-600x395.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture17-768x505.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 932px) 100vw, 932px" /><figcaption> Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave the keynote address  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="925" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture12.png" alt="" data-id="37860" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37860" class="wp-image-37860" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture12.png 925w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture12-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture12-600x399.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture12-768x511.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 925px) 100vw, 925px" /><figcaption>  Sebabatso Moneli  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="613" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-10.png" alt="" data-id="37861" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37861" class="wp-image-37861" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-10.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-10-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-10-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture-10-768x508.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive Sello Hatang  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="617" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture18.png" alt="" data-id="37862" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37862" class="wp-image-37862" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture18.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture18-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture18-600x399.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture18-768x511.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> UNISA Principal and Vice-Chancellor Mandla Makhanya at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



In recognizing the role played by women in the struggle for South Africa’s liberation Hatang said, “we should also remember that this year is about mme (mother) Albertina Sisulu, and those women whose stories and contributions were distorted an minimized by the structures of patriarchy … We should also remember that this is the year we lost mama Winnie Madikizela Mandela.” 



Activist and wife of late former President Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, was also in attendance and listened attentively as Adichie spoke about the power of memory and public imagination. “When I first came to South African ten years after the fall of apartheid, it felt to me as though the past was not yet passed, but that there was a concerted collective resolve to turn away from this truth. South Africans of all races spoke to me of the rainbow nation, and I did not entirely trust this optimism. Well-choreographed as it was.” &nbsp;&nbsp;



“It felt to me a little too easy … It cannot be so unbearably, terribly tidy this process of peace-making,” Adichie said. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="924" height="612" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture23.png" alt="" data-id="37863" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37863" class="wp-image-37863" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture23.png 924w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture23-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture23-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture23-768x509.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px" /><figcaption> Cathy Mohlahlana,  Neo Muyanga, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and   Sebabatso Moneli  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera﻿ </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="930" height="613" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture35.png" alt="" data-id="37864" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37864" class="wp-image-37864" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture35.png 930w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture35-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture35-600x395.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture35-768x506.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 930px) 100vw, 930px" /><figcaption> Cathy Mohlahlana facilitates panel discussion at  the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-6 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="925" height="600" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture241.png" alt="" data-id="37866" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37866" class="wp-image-37866" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture241.png 925w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture241-300x195.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture241-600x389.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture241-768x498.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 925px) 100vw, 925px" /><figcaption> Njabulo Ndebele, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and  Graça Machel  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="616" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture27.png" alt="" data-id="37867" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37867" class="wp-image-37867" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture27.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture27-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture27-600x399.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture27-768x511.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> Graça Machel  receives a plaque  at the Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



&nbsp;Sebabatso Moneli and Neo Muyanga were part of the panel discussion facilitated by Mohlahlana. 



“We are entitled to rage. We are entitled to anger &#8211; to the grief of a painful history. But, we are also invited by history to a breath of stories that expand beyond the stereotypes of slavery and colonialism. 



“African history is vast and I believe that part of the freedom that we are looking for, that our true liberation will not be found in the absence of tension, but in embracing the tension of history,” Moneli said.



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-7 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="613" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture8.png" alt="" data-id="37868" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37868" class="wp-image-37868" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture8.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture8-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture8-600x396.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture8-768x507.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="927" height="612" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture29.png" alt="" data-id="37869" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37869" class="wp-image-37869" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture29.png 927w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture29-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture29-600x396.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture29-768x507.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 927px) 100vw, 927px" /><figcaption> Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-8 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="931" height="618" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture30.png" alt="" data-id="37871" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37871" class="wp-image-37871" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture30.png 931w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture30-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture30-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture30-768x510.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 931px) 100vw, 931px" /><figcaption> Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="930" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture201.png" alt="" data-id="37872" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=37872" class="wp-image-37872" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture201.png 930w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture201-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture201-600x397.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Capture201-768x508.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 930px) 100vw, 930px" /><figcaption> Nelson Mandela Tribute on  December 12, 2018. Picture: Karen Mwendera </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



While interrogating the idea of telling the facts and the truth, Muyanga added, “the responsibility is all of ours … The process of colonization which is premised on the idea of erasing the original memory and replacing it with the colonists’ memory. So history begins with the arrival of the colony as opposed to the stories we tell of ourselves before.”

Chima-1

IN PICTURES | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gives Nelson Mandela public lecture

She was destined to be a teacher but fate had grander plans for the young Graça Simbine. Born in 1945 in rural Mozambique, the youngest of six children, she survived the dismal conditions of Portuguese colonial rule, and rose to being one of the most influential women on the continent.
However, ambition distinguished her early on. A prodigy, Simbine consistently found herself at the top of her class at the missionary schools she attended. Her academic talent led her to become one of the first Mozambican women to win a scholarship to study at the University of Lisbon in 1968 where she focused on German Philosophy and Linguistics.
Moved by the plight of those she left behind during her time in Europe, she became increasingly politicized and began campaigning for the independence movement back in Mozambique. Courting the attention of Portuguese authorities and facing arrest, she eventually abandoned her studies to join FRELIMO [Frente de Libertação de Moçambique or the Mozambique Liberation Front], a political movement that retains substantial popular support to date. Her first posting was as teacher at a school run by the movement in Tanzania where she taught languages and served as deputy headmistress.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-31841 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2016/04/DSC04281-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DSC04281.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DSC04281-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DSC04281-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DSC04281-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Respected by her peers and senior officers, as a courageous and articulate member of the movement, Simbine found herself taking on greater responsibility within the movement. On one of those assignments, stationed in Mozambique in 1973, she met Samora Machel, then commander with FRELIMO. They married a year later.
Her standing within the movement earned her an appointment as the country’s first post-independence Education Minister. She held the post for over a decade. During that time, she put in place the foundations of Mozambique’s education system. One of her achievements was pushing primary school enrolment rates from 40% to over 90% for boys and 75% for girls, an absolute increase of 1.5 million pupils nationwide. Today, she remains deeply passionate about ensuring universal access to education for every child, not only in Mozambique but across the globe.
For Machel, education is not merely a right, it is the means to a greater end; political and economic liberation.
“I believe that education is freedom, and it must provide our children with the skills they need to become who they want to be,” she said at a press conference announcing the launch of the African Leadership University (ALU) in Mauritius last month.
Machel believes education for every child is within reach and, despite resource constraints, Africa is capable of providing world-class education to its professional and leadership cadres.
As an experienced policy-maker, Machel understands the importance of strong institutions in addressing intractable social challenges. Social institutions, Machel believes, must be designed to evenly empower citizens to achieve their individual and collective conditions. The challenges within the higher education system in Africa are only symptoms of a system that needs to be rethought.
“There is something quite courageous in interrogating the kind of education we’ve been providing our young people. Our children today are learning the same things that I was taught when I was in school in the 1950s. We never took the time to reimagine our education,” she says.
Commenting on the recent turbulence in South African universities, Machel points out that it is evidence of a systemic rather than a philosophical problem.
“This is not an emotional issue, it’s an issue of economics, it’s an issue of social justice. It is not only about higher education, but all the way down to early childhood development. This is the only reasonable way to look at it. There is a danger of #FeesMustFall playing against the students themselves. There is an issue on deciding who gets the benefits of the new system. We have not yet done the math.”
Machel’s voice on the issue matters.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-31838 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2016/04/DSC05662-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DSC05662.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DSC05662-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DSC05662-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/DSC05662-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
She has served as a Chancellor at the University of Cape Town and as President of the prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Her argument also makes sense. For an education system to fully play its social role, it must also be accessible to as many people as possible at every stage. The trick is to strike a balance.
“There are only about 100,000 [South Africans] in university today. What about the millions who need to go to secondary school, primary school or kindergarten? We haven’t navigated the mathematics of such a system. You can’t give to tertiary education without taking away from something else.”
Machel is confident transformative solutions exist and only need to be developed. She is currently focusing her energies on the newly-established ALU that is seeking to position itself as the premier leadership education institution in Africa.
“It’s important to look at the future of our continent in the eyes of the human capability that we have. Take the faces and voices of the young people who will come through these doors, we have to present them to Africa and then to the rest of the world,” she says.
ALU is built on “a resource efficient model that pioneers technology and innovative learning to provide high-quality tertiary education at scale”. The university plans to build 25 campuses that would each host 250,000 students each.
But even at those numbers, Machel argues that the university will only address a small portion of the continent’s education needs.
If the challenge today is to provide a solution at scale, Machel reflects, the long-term challenge is to develop institutions that are distinctively African, designed to solve the problems of today but constructed to stand the test of time.

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‘Education Is Freedom’

You may not recognize his face but you may know the voice.
Liberian-born Max Bankole Jarrett spent more than a decade as a radio program producer and presenter covering major political events during the tumultuous 1990s for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Africa service. Now, the self-styled pan-Africanist is playing a leading role in a bold organization that is at the forefront of policy debate on the continent and its future.
Earlier this year, Jarrett was appointed as deputy executive director of the Africa Progress Panel (APP) headed by former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and housed in Geneva. With an all-star cast of panel members, among them Bob Geldof and Graca Machel, the wife of the late Nelson Mandela, the panel is focused on promoting equitable development in Africa. It is also not afraid to point fingers at Western governments for their role in capital flight and underdevelopment in a continent rich in natural resources. The panel’s hard-hitting report last year explored why the continent’s resource-rich nations had failed to reap the benefits of their natural wealth and how this can be changed.
“In many countries, for example, natural resource revenues are widening the gap between rich and poor. Although much has been achieved, a decade of highly impressive growth has not brought comparable improvements in health, education and nutrition,” wrote Annan in the report.
“[A]cting alone, African governments cannot resolve the most intractable natural resource governance challenges. The international community must also shoulder responsibility.”
The report also found that African countries lost $38 billion a year through offshore tax havens and the Democratic Republic of Congo lost $1.36 billion through dubious mining deals between 2010 and 2012 alone.
This year’s report, set to be released in May, will focus on fishing and agriculture, industries that many economists believe could fuel economic growth and large-scale employment throughout the continent. In particular, it will address how African farmers and fishing communities can access the money they need to create so-called green and blue revolutions in Africa.
While efforts in countries like France, Britain and the United States have been made to prosecute companies for corrupt practices committed on foreign shores, Jarrett argues more needs to be done to curb bribery and illicit outflows.
“Western countries and banks should do a lot more to make sure that money that is coming from Africa is legitimately being deposited,” he tells FORBES AFRICA.
Jarrett is skeptical about much of the current ‘Africa Rising’ narrative that he says is overly bullish and doesn’t resonate with many Africans. He argues that political vision can transform the continent. The APP hopes to play a role in this.
“We are moving forward, but this pace as of late, from 2000 has not been as consistently progressive as I would have hoped when I was a young man starting my professional life with the BBC in 1990,” says Jarrett.
“Africa is in a better position now to seize its opportunities; it has more freedom to act and the commodity super-cycle is playing to our benefit. But the ball is in our hands to be dropped.”
The 44-year-old started his career in broadcast journalism. He is no stranger to the world of policy and African diplomacy. He spent 10 years in Addis Ababa working as a communication expert and speechwriter, policy analyst, and a coordinator of a groundbreaking initiative to strengthen media in Africa for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa before joining the APP.
Jarrett says that the antagonism between some African leaders and Western powers that peaked during the Cold War and continued throughout the second wave of African liberation in the 1990s, has eased and opened up valuable space for debate about governance, transparency and accountability.
“There is no longer a fear of discussing governance and corruption… It is really refreshing for someone who covered this all as a journalist earlier, nearly a quarter of a century ago, to now be able to contribute to, read and reflect on the discussion about governance, where people don’t just get locked up by mentioning it,” says Jarrett.
Jarrett says he hasn’t spent more than eight weeks at a time in Liberia since he left as a child for boarding school in England. Due to the long conflict, and his family’s displacement from his home, he did not return to the country at all between 1989 and 2008.  However, during his years at the BBC he monitored and reported on a civil war in his homeland that he thought would never end. For Jarrett, 10 years after the war, Liberia’s prospects are positive if it can overcome the mistakes, divisions and inequalities of the past that led to the political crisis and civil war.
“It could become a beacon of hope for other African nations, just as it was when it became the first black African republic in 1847,” he says.
If Liberia, a country of under 4 million, managed its resources and political conflicts it could become a nation where all of its children were well educated and well fed.
“Liberia could really set the pace for the continent. We’ve already set the pace in terms of electing the first female president; there are so many other firsts we can continue to make,” says Jarrett.
Africa’s ball seems to be in safe hands.

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