Isaac Oladipupo, the CEO of Afrilearn, co-founded the edtech startup with Gabriel Olatunji-Legend in 2019 with a bold vision: to provide affordable, world-class education for Africans anywhere.



For millions of children and young people in Africa, access to quality education is often limited by factors such as poverty, conflict, distance, and lack of infrastructure. To address this challenge, Afrilearn CEO, Isaac Oladipupo and co-founder Gabriel Olatunji-Legend drew inspiration from their own experiences to create something innovative.



According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 98 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are out of school, and many more are enrolled in schools that fail to provide them with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life.



Revolutionizing education in Africa with a gamified learn-and-earn feature, Afrilearn provides curriculum-relevant class notes, exam practice, animated video lessons, and a personalized learning dashboard that enable elementary and high school students (ages 6-18) to study easily and “achieve exam success in a single sitting”.



The inspiration behind Afrilearn came from the founders’ personal experiences of the educational challenges faced by students in Nigeria and across Africa.



“Imagine a world where every child, no matter their background or location, has full access to quality education and the tools to prepare them for lifelong success. That vision is what inspired the birth of Afrilearn,” Oladipupo tells FORBES AFRICA.



“When my exceptional co-founder Gabriel Olatunji-Legend and I struck out to build Afrilearn in 2019, we observed that for most young Africans, quality education is largely unaffordable, inaccessible and boring. Having personally witnessed the severe educational challenges faced by students in Nigeria and across Africa, resulting in high level of illiteracy, poor school grades, and failed dreams – we recognized the need for an urgent solution. We realized that technology offered the best opportunity to solve this challenge for generations to come, and Afrilearn was created to bridge this gap,&#8221; says Oladipupo.



One of the unique features of Afrilearn is that it offers both free and subscription-based accounts for its users. This means that students can access most of the platform’s content without paying anything.



However, if they want to enjoy exclusive benefits such as downloadable class notes, instant homework help with detailed explanations, coding lessons, live classes, personalized learning plans and much more, they can opt for a paid subscription.



“Our commitment to inclusivity led us to introduce free accounts, ensuring that no child is left behind due to financial constraints. Today, Afrilearn is widely renowned as the free, fun and effective app for the best school grades, uniting learners from top private schools, public schools, underserved communities, and even homeschoolers. We have evolved into a driving force for educational equity, turning learning into a joyful journey and transforming lives one lesson at a time.



“Revenue generated from subscriptions helps us continuously improve and expand our offerings, ensuring that Afrilearn remains a sustainable and impactful platform,” says Oladipupo.



Support from notable organizations, including United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the African Union (AU) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, has enabled Afrilearn to further develop its content library, ensuring that it aligns with the national curricula and meets the highest educational standards globally.



“It has facilitated partnerships with schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), enabling us to reach even more students in need,” says Oladipupo.



He adds: “Beyond financial assistance, the backing of these organizations has also bolstered our credibility and reputation, attracting more educators and experts to collaborate with us. This network effect has elevated Afrilearn’s influence in the education sector, amplifying our mission to provide free, world-class education for Africans, anywhere.”



However, more support is needed to introduce more advanced courses and specialized subjects to cater to the diverse interests and career aspirations of students globally.



Oladipupo envisions the platform’s role in shaping the future of learning: “Every child deserves the opportunity to experience Afrilearn and our ultimate goal is to serve the world. We will continue to expand our content library, covering a broader range of subjects and topics.



“To this end, we are actively seeking collaborations and partnerships with educational institutions, governments, and organizations. Through strategic alliances, we aim to reach more students and expand our impact on the education sector. We envision a future where access to quality education is no longer a privilege but a fundamental right for every child.”



Oladipupo recalls with fond memories, some success stories of users, including students, teachers and parents: “I remember Adeola, who cleared her West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in one sitting and is now pursuing her dream of becoming a software developer. A teacher, Abdullahi, shared with us how he experienced improved classroom engagement and student performance after using Afrilearn’s resources. The Osagie family, homeschooling their children, consider our platform a valuable educational partner tailored to each child’s learning needs,” he says.



“The joy and transformation we witness in the lives of students, teachers, and parents motivate us to push the boundaries of educational innovation further. Afrilearn’s impact extends beyond the classroom, empowering individuals to realize their full potential and become agents of positive change in their communities.”

Isaac Oladipupo; image credit Afrilearn 1

Beyond The Classroom: Nigerian Edtech Entrepreneur’s Aim ‘To Serve The World’

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Nigeria confirmed its first cases of the omicron coronavirus variant Wednesday, according to a statement from the country’s public health institute, including one case in a sample dating back to October, suggesting the variant had been circulating for weeks before being reported in South Africa last week.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The omicron variant of coronavirus was detected in three test samples taken from travellers, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) <a href="https://ncdc.gov.ng/news/347/ncdc-confirms-first-case-of-omicron-variant-in-nigeria?fbclid=IwAR3r60PYf6VfMrVlzsN126zsp-D9hRVx5_h9T3hjY1X4KpjvheIXPb3aqCc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> in a statement. 



One case was detected in a sample taken from a traveller coming to Nigeria in October, according to Nigeria CDC director-general Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-nigeria-west-africa-2962094cd55c7cff53c6216ebfe9fe32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a>.  



The NCDC did not provide any other details on the traveller and said the other two cases were from travellers arriving from South Africa last week. 



The NCDC called on the country’s states for improved testing and urged the public to be on high alert.&nbsp;



Ghana, South Korea and Norway also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/dec/01/covid-news-live-who-advises-vulnerable-against-travel-over-omicron-greece-to-fine-those-over-60-who-refuse-vaccine?filterKeyEvents=false&amp;page=with:block-61a767118f08037679173983#block-61a767118f08037679173983" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;their first omicron cases Wednesday.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, with 206 million people, and was the third country on the continent’s mainland to report the variant after South Africa and Botswana (Ghana has since reported cases of the variant). The discovery of omicron in samples dating back to October underscores how little is yet <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/omicron-coronavirus-variant.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">known</a> about the new coronavirus variant after researchers in South Africa sounded the alarm last week. 



Experts say it could be weeks before we know whether the variant—which has a high number of mutations—is more resistant to vaccines, more transmissible or causes different kinds of disease. It is not known whether omicron emerged in South Africa—which has an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-southern-africa-detected-omicron-variant-so-quickly-2021-11?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">advanced</a> genomic surveillance system—or was merely detected thereafter having emerged and spread from an area with <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/omicron-is-here-a-lack-of-covid-vaccines-is-partly-why1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">poorer</a> surveillance. 



Despite this uncertainty, governments worldwide moved <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberleespeakman/2021/11/27/israel-bans-foreigners-from-entering-for-two-weeks-over-threat-of-omicron-variant/?sh=4d53c742635b">swiftly</a> to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/11/26/travel-restrictions-stocks-down-heres-what-to-know-about-omicron-the-new-highly-mutated-covid-variant/?sh=28f4127419a8">close</a> off travel to South Africa and the surrounding region, something officials and the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/11/29/covid-19-is-not-done-with-us-who-leader-urges-vaccine-equity-over-boosters-amid-very-high-risk-of-omicron-spreading-internationally/?sh=49eee67444db">World Health Organization</a> have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/safrica-says-it-is-being-punished-early-covid-variant-detection-2021-11-27/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">complained</a> unfairly punishes the country for being transparent and alerting the world to the threat of the new variant. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Four fully-vaccinated people in southern Germany have tested&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/german-state-reports-four-fully-vaccinated-people-infected-with-omicron-2021-12-01/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">positive</a>&nbsp;for the omicron variant, officials said, three having returned from South Africa in late November (the fourth being a relative of one of the returnees). The country is currently fighting one of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks and on Wednesday reported its highest number of deaths since mid-February.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-nigeria-west-africa-2962094cd55c7cff53c6216ebfe9fe32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nigeria detects first case of omicron variant from October</a>&nbsp;(AP News)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/11/26/travel-restrictions-stocks-down-heres-what-to-know-about-omicron-the-new-highly-mutated-covid-variant/?sh=6dfcfcd419a8">Travel Restrictions, Stocks Down: Here’s What To Know About Omicron, The New Highly Mutated Covid Variant</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/omicron-variant-highlights-risks-of-low-vaccination-rates-in-poor-countries-11637960558" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Omicron Variant Highlights Risks of Low Vaccination Rates in Poor Countries</a>&nbsp;(WSJ)



<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heavily mutated Omicron variant puts scientists on alert</a>&nbsp;(Nature)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/11/29/covid-19-is-not-done-with-us-who-leader-urges-vaccine-equity-over-boosters-amid-very-high-risk-of-omicron-spreading-internationally/?sh=e4fd3c744db5">Covid-19 ‘Is Not Done With Us’: WHO Leader Urges Vaccine Equity Over Boosters Amid ‘Very High’ Risk Of Omicron Spreading Internationally</a> (Forbes)



By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

NIGERIA-HEALTH-VIRUS-VACCINE

Omicron Case In Nigeria Dates Back To October, Weeks Before It Was First Reported In South Africa

The killing of innocent Nigerians and the agitations on the streets and social media see the world appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to put an end to the police brutality in Africa’s biggest economy.



After nearly two weeks of protests calling for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Unit (SARS) by the youth in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari finally addressed the nation last night in a televised statement, which many Nigerians find disappointing and lacking empathy.



He urged protestors to stop demonstrating and advised the international community to be mindful of fake news. To the surprise of the country’s 200 million inhabitants, President Buhari did not mention anything about the killing of peaceful protestors in Lagos. According to a report by Amnesty International, at least 12 protestors at Alausa and Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos were massacred during peaceful protests by the Nigerian military.



This latest development happened as the state government in Lagos on Tuesday, October 20, imposed an indefinite round-the-clock curfew which led to military forces converging at the melting point of the protests at the Lekki Toll Gate, where shots were fired directly into the crowd of peaceful protestors.



“I cannot believe this is Nigeria. There is no reason why peaceful protestors should lose their lives. This is completely unacceptable and we need the soldiers responsible for this heinous attack arrested and brought to justice immediately. The fight is not over and we will not be intimidated,” says Tobi Bello, one of the protestors who was at the Lekki Toll Gate during the unfortunate incident.



In an Instagram live, which had more than 150,000 people watching, Obianuju Catherine Udeh, known popularly as DJ Switch, could be seen with other protestors shouting and trying to save the life of a victim of the gun violence that ensued at the tollgate.



Amnesty published a report which highlighted at least 82 cases of torture and ill-treatment and extra-judicial execution between January 2017 and May this year against members of SARS. In response to the protests, President Buhari disbanded SARS on October 11 but protests continued amidst a call for greater reform.



The killing of innocent Nigerians has sparked an international appeal for justice and for President Buhari to put an end to the police brutality and killings in the country.

NIGERIA-CRIME-POLICE-DEMO

#EndSARS: The Protests And Cries That Have Paralyzed A Nation

After two weeks of massive demonstrations against police brutality brought Nigeria’s financial hub, Lagos, to a virtual standstill, government security forces using live ammunition opened fire Tuesday on hundreds of protestors rallying against a government-mandated 24-hour curfew.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



At least seven people were killed during the melee, according to a&nbsp;Guardian&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/20/nigeria-protests-lead-to-24-hour-lagos-curfew" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>&nbsp;citing a popular African disc jockey, DJ Switch, who was live-streaming the demonstration on Instagram.



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielcassady/2020/10/21/nigerian-security-forces-open-fire-on-protesters-in-lagos-24-hour-statewide-curfew-imposed/#25fb23a52360" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Also read: Nigerian Security Forces Open Fire On Protesters In Lagos, 24-Hour Statewide Curfew Imposed</a>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48560" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229172440-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /><figcaption>(Photo by BENSON IBEABUCHI/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



The protests began on October 7 with calls to disband an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/20/end-sars-24-hour-curfew-imposed-in-lagos-as-protests-continue#:~:text=Nationwide%20protests%20have%20continued%20since,(SARS)%2C%20which%20has%20long" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">infamous police unit</a>&nbsp;that had long been accused of extortion, torture and extra-juditial killings, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).



SARS was dissolved on October 11, but quickly replaced by the Special Weapons and Tactics team, and demonstrations continued, only to be met with “<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/nigeria-authorities-must-initiate-genuine-reform-of-the-police/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">excessive force</a>” by government security forces, according to Amnesty International, including the use of tear gas, water cannons and live ammunition against protesters.



Almost 2,000 prison inmates escaped after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-police-police-brutality-lagos-robbery-1dabdf270ca2f6937b0ddc49fa0ad84f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">crowds</a>&nbsp;stormed two prisons Monday in Benin City in southern Nigeria, according the Associated Press.



On Tuesday, state officials&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/lagos-imposes-indefinite-curfew-curb-nigeria-protests-police-deploy-anti-n1244030" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">deployed</a>&nbsp;anti-riot forces to protect police and correctional facilities which some demonstrators had begun targeting, and announced a nationwide 24-hour curfew in response to the unrest.



At least 15 people have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/10/nigeria-authorities-must-initiate-genuine-reform-of-the-police/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">died</a>&nbsp;during the demonstrations, according to Amnesty International.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



What began as mostly peaceful protests have turned increasingly violent in recent days. Groups of armed young men who are reportedly being paid to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/20/nigeria-protests-lead-to-24-hour-lagos-curfew" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">discredit</a>&nbsp;the anti-police movement by powerful interests in Nigeria have allegedly been attacking the demonstrators, fueling the unrest, and provoking the government&#8217;s response. Tens of thousands of people have joined in the demonstrations across the country, but as they grow more violent, government security forces have responded in kind. The Nigerian Army said it was standing by in case “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/oct/15/army-standby-police-brutality-protests-nigeria" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subversive</a>&nbsp;elements and troublemakers” continue to cause problems for the police.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h4>



21 Million.&nbsp;That’s how many people&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/home-over-half-population-nigerias-cities-continue-boom" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">live</a>&nbsp;in the state of Lagos, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, all of whom are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/lagos-imposes-indefinite-curfew-curb-nigeria-protests-police-deploy-anti-n1244030" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">supposed</a>&nbsp;to adhere to the curfew. That’s more people than live in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/NY" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York State</a>.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



I have watched with shock how what began as a peaceful #EndSARS protest has degenerated into a <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/jidesanwoolu/status/1318504576937578497?s=20" target="_blank">monster</a> that is threatening the well-being of our society. Lives and limbs have been lost as criminals and miscreants are now hiding under the umbrella of these protests to unleash mayhem on our state.” said Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48564" width="615" height="410" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1281525122-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px" /><figcaption> People protest against recent violence at demonstrations in Nigeria on October 21, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48562" width="628" height="418" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229199549-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px" /><figcaption>Protestors attend a demonstration outside the Nigerian High Commission against police brutality in Lagos in London on October 21, 2020. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48563" width="646" height="430" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229214931-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px" /><figcaption>Activists protesting police brutality by the Nigerian Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) march along Whitehall in London, England, on October 21, 2020. (Photo by David Cliff/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48561" width="637" height="424" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229197906-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px" /><figcaption>Nigerians based in South Africa protest outside their embassy in Pretoria on October 21, 2020 in solidarity with Nigerian youth. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-police-police-brutality-lagos-robbery-1dabdf270ca2f6937b0ddc49fa0ad84f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nearly 2,000 inmates escape in attacks on Nigeria prisons</a>&nbsp;(Associated Press)



<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/20/end-sars-24-hour-curfew-imposed-in-lagos-as-protests-continue#:~:text=Nationwide%20protests%20have%20continued%20since,(SARS)%2C%20which%20has%20long" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nigeria deploying anti-riot police as curfew imposed in Lagos</a>&nbsp;(Al Jazzera)



<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/17/nigerias-anti-police-brutality-protests-bring-lagos-to-standstill" target="_blank">Nigeria&#8217;s anti-police brutality protests bring Lagos to standstill</a>&nbsp;(The Guardian)



&#8211;by Daniel Cassady, Forbes Staff

Nigeria 1

Here’s Why Thousands Of Nigerians Are Protesting In Lagos

A British citizen of Nigerian origin is providing a voice for Africa in Brussels where few are heard.
Uzo Madu left her consultancy job to launch a program called What’s in it for Africa (WIIFA) in 2015.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-4442" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/UZO-Madu-3-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
“What really spurred me to create WIIFA was that there were communication gaps when it came to talking about African interests in the EU context,” she says.
Madu says that managing the European Union (EU)-Africa relationship effectively will shape how foreign direct investments are made on the continent, the extent of trade preference for African countries to enter the EU and the protection African states may get in terms of competitiveness.
WIIFA is a useful information resource for Africans to gain a better grasp of the opportunities and challenges posed by EU policies.
“The central focus of the online program and blog is to produce an African narrative around what is occurring around the EU. Not only to feed into debates taking place in Brussels, but to inform an African audience about the policy landscape playing out in that city which can have economic and political implications for them.”
However, Madu’s rewards come with challenges.
“The biggest issue I have faced was getting the buy-in from potential interviewees. If you are not a big media outfit, people tend to approach you or react to you with a fair amount of caution.”
“Because WIIFA is still building a name for itself, it made it difficult to push the boundaries in approaching a topic, for fear of alienating a potential interlocutor or partner in the future.”
Although the project has received positive feedback, it operates without any external funding. This limits her content to one or two videos a month.
This hasn’t diminished Madu’s belief in the project.
“I am very excited about what is yet to come, which is much more in-depth policy analysis, upfront debates tackling the tough questions and events.”
Madu might be the only person who presents Africa’s concerns in the EU environment. This is one of the reasons she is becoming a recognized figure in the heart of Europe. Will WIIFA become known in Africa? Time will tell.

A Voice For Africa In The EU

Africa’s Billionaires

Nigerian domination, presidents under fire, a controversial voting system, a prophecy foretold, tension over a last-minute switch. The African Union? No, the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) 2016, at the Dome in Johannesburg, heavy with the heaviest music in Africa and laden with controversy.
Before a note was played, the first controversy struck. Rising African star Trevor Noah – who is tripping the light fantastic on The Daily Show in New York – pulled out from fronting this shimmering night in the country of his birth. He was ill.
In stepped Bonang Matheba, for a whispered R500,000 (about $36,000), with just 24 hours to go, to become the first African woman to present the event in its nine-year history. Founder of the MAMAs, Nigerian Alex Okosi, claimed it was “exciting” and “it’s girl power tomorrow”. You can only imagine how chuffed he was to lose his host 24 hours before the awards and how stressful the last-minute rehearsals must have been.
Women took center stage on the night and were outspoken. Co-host Nigerian Yemi Alade retorted to her President Muhammadu Buhari over his comments on a visit to Germany recently along the lines that a woman’s place was in the kitchen and the so-called “other room”.
“Women, don’t forget! We are not only good in the kitchen and good in the living room and good in the other room; we are also good anywhere we want to be,” snapped back Alade from the stage.
This drew rapturous applause from the thousands in the crowd.
When the awards came, it was women again to the fore. One touching moment amid the glitz was the awarding of the Africa Re-Imagined Award to Mary Taedzerwa who is fighting in Zimbabwe against the marriage of children. She was married off at the age of 15. Her efforts helped persuade Zimbabwe to increase the legal age for marriage to 18 in January. According to UNICEF, 34% of girls in Zimbabwe, aged 20 to 24, were married by the time they were 18.
<div id="attachment_5555" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5555" class="wp-image-5555 size-medium" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-617684068-300x230.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="230" />Wizkid (L) and Emtee perform during the 2016 MTV Africa Music Awards</div>
As the awards were handed out, there were questions in the audience about the Google voting system. Many claimed it didn’t reflect Africa. The system allows every person five online votes a day and they can return to the system the next day. This means people can easily pile up the votes, making it more of a popularity contest than an appreciation of music on the continent.
On top of this, a mere 28% of the population are on the internet meaning most Africans can’t vote.
More than half of Nigerians are on the internet – about 100 million users, 60 million more than anyone else – and that could explain why, yet again, the West African nation did well.
It also may be that Nigeria has the second-fastest growing music industry in the world, after Indonesia, and is getting stronger every year. According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, it will be worth $86 million by 2020.
Maybe the self-proclaimed South African Prince of Hip-Hop, from the other end of the continent, knew what he was talking about. Love him or loathe him, AKA made a sidewalk prophecy in FORBES AFRICA (December/January 2015) saying Nigerians have attitude to burn.
“Nigerians are told to be great,” he says. “In South Africa we are told to be humble.”
On this night he was right. Nigerian artists stole the show winning both Male and Female of the Year awards, Best Song as well as the outright Artist of the Year. The big winner of the night was 26-year-old Wizkid who released his first album at the age of 11, under the name Lil Prinz, at a time of life when most of us were learning how to ride a bike. He is taking the continent by storm, making music with Drake, Chris Brown and Tinie Tempah.
As the crowds melted away into a night full of insects and summer rain, they reflected on the band of talented Nigerians who came to South Africa’s city of gold and shone.

No Humility As Nigerians Prove They’re Great

The dearth of peace in one corner of a nation usually brings economic disequilibrium and global scorn to the entire country. In Nigeria’s case, its lingering crises with the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, is an investors’ nightmare, an additional dilemma for a nation struggling to climb out of an economic recession.
Boko Haram has reportedly killed over 10,000 Nigerians since 2009, snatched at least 20,000 people (mostly young women and children) from their homes, recruited hundreds of men into its fold and dislocated over 2 million people in the country’s north east.
The sect’s abduction of 276 girls from their Chibok town boarding school on April 14, 2014, however, opened a horrid chapter in the annals of Africa’s most populated nation. Initial reactions to the incident ranged from disbelief, official denial and disgust.
The opening lines of this sad chapter began with many questions: Are certain sacred cows responsible for the heist? Why is the Boko Haram menace predominantly a northern Nigeria phenomenon? Who are the silent sponsors of the militants? Is it a quasi-political movement or are they just a ragtag army of delinquent rogues and rebels? Who is leveraging the threat for economic and political gains?
Some of these questions still remain unanswered.
<div id="attachment_5506" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5506" class="size-medium wp-image-5506" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-614598810-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />Some of the 21 Chibok school girls release gathered during a meeting with the Nigeria Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja, Nigeria 13 October 2016 (Photo by next24online/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</div>
Protest marches in many capitals fueled by the #BringBackOurGirls campaign may have focused global attention on the plight of the kidnapped Chibok girls and their parents. They, however, have not galvanized freedom for the girls. Well over 900 days after the Chibok incident, most of the girls are still missing.
Treated as human loot and bargaining chips by Boko Haram, there is palpable fear many of the girls have either been sold as slaves, married off to Boko Haram chieftains and supporters across West and Central Africa, or lost their lives in the wilderness of the Sambisa Forest bordering Cameroon and the Lake Chad region. Boko Haram has become a nasty national migraine, compounding government’s laundry list of unfinished business.
On that dreadful night, some of the girls managed to escape within hours of their kidnapping, jumping off lorries and running into the bush. In total, records show that the insurgents made away with 219 girls.
In October, after several reported sightings of the teenage girls around Sambisa forests by locals, 21 of the remaining students in captivity were freed. The Nigerian authorities attributed their release to successful negotiations brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Swiss officials acting as intermediaries with Boko Haram.
For Nigerians and parents of the girls, this is good news but minor progress. Security experts say the multi-national effort to free the girls from captivity may gain momentum with this minuscule result. Was this a swap deal? Possibly. But no one is talking. The Abuja rumor mill has it that four or five Boko Haram commanders in government custody were freed as part of a swap. Government officials deny that any such “political transaction” took place. But Nigerians do not believe their government on this matter. Information Minister Lai Mohammed says the release of the 21 girls is “the first step” towards the liberation of all the remaining girls.
Recent military offensive against Boko Haram has achieved some success. In July 2015, the regional force tasked with obliterating the insurgents was boosted with 8,700 troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. Up until early 2016, Boko Haram was practically the de facto government controlling huge swathes of the northern Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Recently recovered territory across these states is now home to about 2.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs. Borno State alone has 13 official IDP camps, each with at least 10,000 people, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has reported incidences of camp leaders, vigilante groups, policemen and soldiers raping and sexually exploiting women and girls in the camps.
“It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Mausi Segun, senior Nigeria researcher at HRW. “It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them.”
President Muhammadu Buhari acknowledges the smoldering humanitarian issues, reportedly saying his government was taking the ‘IDP headache’ seriously. “About 60 percent of the children in the camps don’t know their parents, or where they come from,” he says.
Receiving the 21 girls, and their parents, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, he promised to rehabilitate them, urging them to return to the normalcy of their respective communities. Government will provide comprehensive medical, nutritional and psychological care and support, and also “assume responsibility for their personal, educational and professional goals and ambitions in life.”
“These dear daughters of ours have seen the worst that the world has to offer. It is now time for them to experience the best that the world can do for them. The government and all Nigerians must encourage them to achieve their desired ambitions,” the president said.
The same presidential attention, medical and academic scholarships and special care obviously await the other 197 girls when and if they ever come out of captivity.
In a meeting with Peter Maurer, President of the ICRC, a few days after the release of the 21 girls, Buhari welcomed the support of the G7 group of nations in the rebuilding of the decrepit infrastructure of northern Nigeria. He told Maurer he would only continue negotiations with Boko Haram if “they agree to involve international agencies like the Red Cross.”
Maurer informed the Nigerian leader the ICRC operation in northern Nigeria and the Lake Chad region is the second largest in the world, after Syria.
Two weeks after the release of the ‘Chibok 21’, the Nigerian Senate passed a bill to establish the North-East Development Commission. It will rebuild the troubled and impoverished region. For the girls taken by Boko Haram, it might be too little, too late.

Good News  But Little Progress

Tolu Erogbobo is the latest sensation in the Nigerian gourmet scene, famed for creating delectable pastries, cookies and signature dishes for those who crave quality food in Lagos. He is popularly known as Chef Eros, named after the Greek god of love. His love for food means the 28-year-old chef counts billionaire tycoons Mike Adenuga and Aliko Dangote, as well as international stars like Lauren Hill, among his clients. It has also led to him being labelled as the next big thing to watch by CNN.
For Erogbobo it is surreal; he never planned to become a chef.
“When I started business I didn’t want to be a chef, I just wanted to be a restaurateur. I loved the restaurant business; I had worked on a few restaurant projects in my younger days. In the UK I worked with Oceania (Hotels )Group where they had set up a few restaurants in my university and just seeing the delivery of the equipment, putting them in place, making them work and designing a place to make it feel nice, was so exciting for me,” says Erogbobo, the Founder of Cookie Jar, a gourmet bakery.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5330" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Chef-etch-242x300.jpg" alt="" width="242" height="300" />
That was before Erogbobo had an unlikely experience in the kitchen.
“All of that switched in a year of me finding my true love, which is food. I found that through chicken; just seasoning chicken, putting the spices together, and then different cooking processes giving you different textures. I found the love for food in university then I combined that with the love for interior spaces, which is what drove the passion for the restaurant.”
After graduating in 2008 with a business degree from the University of Wolverhampton, in England, Erogbobo moved back to Nigeria with the plan to help his mother set up a restaurant.
It cost N60 million ($190,000) to start the first restaurant. Erogbobo was 21 years old at the time. His mother and sister put up a significant amount of the start-up capital.
“The funds for the restaurant were raised predominantly by my mother who sold one of her properties to invest. My sister supported with some her saving and so did I,” he says.
Erogbobo knew that location was key, however all the best locations in town came at a steep price. As luck would have it, he found a restaurant in Victoria Island whose owner was looking to sell and agreed to let the cash-strapped Erogbobo pay in monthly instalments.
“The owner said to me he didn’t want to sell the restaurant anymore because I didn’t have the money to buy it all at once, so he offered to be partners instead. So I came in, used the money I had to revamp the place from just a café to a café restaurant and that is how the journey actually started,” says Erogbobo.
The restaurant later failed because Erogbobo did not keep his eye on the numbers, according to the young entrepreneur. After a brief stint in real estate and energy, the calling of the kitchen could no longer be ignored.
“I started having dreams about cookies and they continued every other night. They were so vivid and I would wake up sometimes and I would be so emotional. In 2012, I got all the ingredients needed, went online, found the recipe I wanted and came back to bake. The first batch of cookies I made fell flat but they tasted really good. I went back and did more homework and I tried it out again, and it worked out. I went downstairs and gave my friends some to try and they all loved it. One of my friends offered to pay me and I didn’t know how much to charge so I said N500 ($1.50) per cookie and he didn’t object, so he bought four.”
Erogbobo realized he was onto something and needed to spread the word quickly.
“I started baking everyday and started posting pictures on [messaging app] BBM and I found out that BBM was working. So every time I would go out, I would get a lot of BBM contacts because I wanted them to see my updates and I used to update like every five minutes. It was annoying for a lot of people because you were always seeing me on your timeline but the moment you think of nibbling on something, the first thing you think of is me,” says Erogbobo.
Business soon took off. Aptly for someone called Chef Eros, Valentine’s Day came and Erogbobo sold over $2,500 worth of cookies over the love season and he has been on a trajectory ever since. The company is in its third year and currently turns over N150 million ($480,000) per year according to Erogbobo. The growth has been fast with three kitchens opened in Lagos, including Glasshouse Catering, which provides cocktail-style catering for events; Cookie Jar, which is the bakery and Eros and Gourmet, the speciality savoury dish brand.
As if his success wasn’t remarkable enough, this year Erogbobo was recruited by Food Revolution, the campaign started by culinary master Jamie Oliver. The celebrity chef launched the program to encourage people from all over the world to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle and push their own government to fight diet related diseases.
Joining the Food Revolution was a dream come true for Erogbobo. This year, he is gearing up to open a new catering service offering a 24-hour healthy breakfast menu for his clients.
“The Food Revolution is all about changing the way people eat, buy, grow, and what people understand about food. My global goal is zero hunger and for the next 15 years I aim to help end hunger in Africa. To do that we have to achieve sustainable agriculture, achieve improved nutrition and improved food security,” says Erogbobo.
With  Erogbobo’s passion for food, don’t bet against him.

The Man Who Knows  What Billionaires  Eat For Lunch

The words “the medium is the message” coined by Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan seem apt for Nigerian designer Mai Atafo. He truly is the best medium and model of his work.
When we meet him, the always-immaculate Atafo is dressed in a clean cut black suit, white shirt, yellow tie and socks. His minimalist, unpretentious – and rather understated like the man himself – eponymous shop is located in the heart of Victoria Island, Nigeria. He strides in to meet two new clients in search of the perfect bespoke suit. They have come to the right place.
Pieces of clothing featuring traditional Nigerian design mingle with modern eclectic prints on the racks in the open-plan shop floor. The Mai Atafo brand is known for its Savile Row masterpieces. To the uninitiated, Savile Row is a street in central London known for its bespoke tailoring, and Atafo is a Savile Row Training Academy-certified tailor, of both men’s and women’s suits.
After listening to the new clients and their brief, he asks: “Why do you want this style?” An understanding of what the client is looking for sets the premise for the ensuing four weeks that will go into producing a unique, bespoke suit, typically costing anywhere upwards of N200,000 ($1,000). This level of perfection and attention to detail has earned Atafo an enviable reputation amongst his peers in Nigeria’s fashion industry, and beyond.
Fashion had not always been Atafo’s calling. When he was younger, music was his first love. He was told that as a two-year-old, he only walked when he heard music, and resumed his crawling position when it stopped.
“Until I was 10 years old, all I ever wanted was a guitar, but unfortunately my parents never got it for me otherwise I would be making hits instead,” says Atafo.
His dream of becoming “the next Michael Jackson” was not on the tarot cards though. The sixth of seven siblings, he thankfully also grew up with a keen eye for fashion.
“To me it was more important to look good than to eat,” he says.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30959" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Mai8-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mai8-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mai8-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mai8.jpg 387w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30958" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Mai7-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mai7-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mai7-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mai7.jpg 387w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-30956" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/MaiA2-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MaiA2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MaiA2-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MaiA2.jpg 387w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
After acquiring a degree in Agricultural Economics and a master’s degree in Information Systems in the United Kingdom (UK), Atafo decided to stay on in the West. After five years, he decided it was not for him.
“I decided one day that I am more than a statistic, I am more than yet another African looking to make it in the UK, so I took a chance and decided to relocate back home.”
He secured his first job in the research department at British American Tobacco where he stayed for four years after which a stint at Guinness Nigeria PLC followed as an Innovation Manager and then later as brand manager. While at Guinness, Atafo decided to start his fashion career on the side.
And what was Atafo’s trigger?
“My sleeve length is 27 inches which is quite long because the average length is 25 inches, as a result, I struggled to get clothes that fit.”
So he decided to get his own clothes tailored; a practice from secondary school. There was another impetus. A friend was getting married and the groom’s men decided to upstage the bridesmaids. Atafo designed a range of African print-inspired waist coats and matching trousers in lilac and purple that were an instant hit and after replicating the style for five subsequent weddings, Atafo decided to go with his heart and enter fashion, full-throttle.
“I saved money that was equivalent to my one year salary and decided to take the chance. I said to myself, if in one year it doesn’t work, the worst that can happen is I will be a brand manager again.”
That was never to be – he has only worked for himself since.
Five years on, his brand is the recipient of top accolades in the highly-competitive Nigerian fashion industry. Developing the brand was not without challenges though, especially in light of the perception that it is more acceptable to pay higher prices for bespoke pieces made in the West than for those produced locally.
Even though Atafo holds the certificate from London’s elite bespoke tailoring school, he says he still encounters variables of this perception.
“I remember once a customer came to me with a $4,000 Tom Ford suit from the ready-to-wear range. However, the suit was ill-fitting and I was going to charge less than $1,000 to have it tailored and yet the customer complained that the price was way too much.”
Atafo believes it is still a long way before luxury African brands are fully acknowledged. However, he is in no hurry to open up shops abroad. Far from the contrary, Atafo is a proudly Nigerian brand, the name ‘Mai Atafo Inspired’ is born from what influences him the most – his strong Nigerian heritage. He is on a mission to create the first African bespoke brand for the international market, and be a cut above the rest.

MaiA5

The Bespoke Tailor Who Wanted To Be Michael Jackson

Africa continues to grip New York and is not likely to let go of its tight hold anytime soon. 2013 was an exciting year of celebration and progress for all things Africa and there is no doubt that this will continue well into 2014 and beyond. It has been impressive to hear policymakers, entrepreneurs and media so willing to talk about Africa in a new and different way, so much so that some commentators are now complaining that they are tired of hearing that ‘Africa is rising’. Some people are never pleased!
It is not just in New York, however—other parts of the East Coast, such as Washington D.C., have also been highlighting African progress. In October, I was honored to moderate a panel on African technology and entrepreneurship hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus at their annual Africa Braintrust event. The Braintrust, hosted by Californian congresswoman Karen Bass, who has been deeply passionate about the relationship between Africa and the United States for many years, also featured the presidents of Somalia and Burkina Faso, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Blaise Campaoré respectively.
The annual United Nations General Assembly was also well attended. British fashion designer Ozwald Boateng appeared with a throng of his celebrity friends including actor Jamie Foxx, Nigerian oil tycoon Kola Aluko, millionaire Tony Elumelu, and a number of key people from the African Development Bank. Boateng introduced his latest non-fashion venture, the Made In Africa Foundation, which aims to lift 200 million Africans out of poverty through infrastructure projects and the new Africa50 Fund. They had the privilege of ringing the NASDAQ stock market opening bell to mark the launch of the fund. Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, also paid a visit to the New York Stock Exchange to ring the closing bell, making history as the first Nigerian to do so.
The African diaspora in New York has been getting a lot more attention from the media lately. One of these is Amini Kajunju who is the president and CEO of the Africa-America Institute. She will be honored in 2014 as the Advocate of the Year. And who can forget that yet again an African—Geoffrey Mutai from Kenya—won the New York City Marathon in an incredible time of 2:08:24. In fact, eight of the top 10 placed athletes were from Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Impressive stuff.
Another New Yorker making waves is Derrick Ashong. The television presenter and musician is the first African with his own show on American network TV. He is an anchor of Latino TV channel Fusion’s new show, where he covers politics, cultural events, the day’s big headlines as well as the entertainment and social media trends that matter most to young Hispanics and millennials. Although he is not covering African topics directly, it is important that someone like him represents the continent in this way.
An exciting arrival for 2014 is the New Africa Centre, based in an upscale part of Harlem. The institute is spearheaded by Mo Ibrahim and his daughter Hadeel and aims to showcase the best of African art and intellect. The Ibrahims will be raising up to $60 million to renovate the center and host an art gallery, museum, theater, policy institute and executive club. It is expected to be a magnet for Africans, Afrophiles and investors. Guests at the opening included Bono, Harry Belafonte and the reverend Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren, musicians Youssou N’Dour and Angélique Kidjo and basketball legend Dikembe Mutombo.
“There is no African institute in this city where we can exhibit our art and culture and hold debates about African issues,” says Hadeel, who is to be the co-chair of the new center’s board.
African business continues to thrive with New York private equity groups, such as Blackstone, KKR and Pinebridge Investments, investing in the continent. Such companies believe that there is much more to come in terms of Africa’s growth and development and that there are huge economic opportunities available. This is a good sign, particularly as the Obama administration and other vested parties desire an increase in foreign direct investment.
Here’s to Africa, onwards and upwards!   FL

newyork-city-with-flags_Audrey-Anderson

Onwards And Upwards In New York

“My name is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, not Central Bank Governor. I enjoy my job but if you want me to quit, I will honorably quit.”
Those were the words of the Central Bank governor to a Nigerian Senate Committee in 2010. He was summoned to defend himself after attacking Parliament for consuming, in salaries and allowances, a quarter of what the Federal budget allocates to overhead costs.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2624" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DSC_7959-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" />
Back then, he didn’t have to quit. In February, almost four years later, a statement from the office of President Goodluck Jonathan announced his suspension on account of far-reaching irregularities. The following day, a 13-page investigative report, dated June 2013, surfaced online. It was produced by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, an obscure government agency. The damning report appears to contain the evidence hinted at as Sanusi’s suspension was announced.
In the months before his suspension, it became public knowledge that Sanusi had fallen out with Jonathan after the leak of a letter he addressed to the president alleging that tens of billions of dollars of oil revenue was unaccounted for. It was reported that Jonathan was deeply embarrassed by this. Sanusi confirmed that the president asked him to resign for the leak. He refused.
Sanusi was appointed to the office in June 2009, five months after he was named CEO of First Bank of Nigeria, the country’s largest bank by assets. It was a critical time in the banking industry. The shock from the global economic meltdown was still reverberating across Nigeria. The stock market had crashed and there were rumors that many banks were only alive because the Central Bank was propping them up with cash.
One of the first things he did as governor was to carry out an audit of Nigeria’s 24 banks. Within his first four months, he sacked eight bank CEOs for malfeasance and poured nearly $4 billion worth of bailouts into the banks they ran. In boldness and scope it was the most momentous thing in Nigerian banking’s recent history. That action sealed Sanusi’s reputation as a no-nonsense banker. Most of what he did afterwards was viewed in that light. It was therefore not much of a surprise when he took on the powerful National Assembly a year later.
Under him, the Central Bank was widely respected. In January 2013, inflation fell to 9%  and stayed in single digits until the news of Sanusi’s suspension broke. He was fiercely committed to the stability of the naira; regularly tinkering—with mixed success—with forex regulations to keep the exchange rate stable.
Time had him on its Most Influential Persons list in 2011. In his final months, foreign investors expressed concerns about the future of the Nigerian economy post-Sanusi.
He was born into aristocracy. His grandfather was an Emir of Kano, one of Nigeria’s oldest kingdoms; his father a foreign service bureaucrat who went on to become Nigeria’s ambassador to China in the 1970s.
“He adored Chairman Mao Zedong’s China, which for him was one in which the black African—seen everywhere else at the time as inferior—was worthy of respect,” Sanusi wrote in the Financial Times.
It would have been easy to conclude that Sanusi shared his father’s adoration for all things Chinese, especially when he announced, in 2011, that Nigeria was going to take the unprecedented step of diversifying some of its external reserves into Renminbi. But the central thesis of that piece was that Africa must recognize that China is in Africa not for African interests but its own.
For a central banker he was extremely outspoken.
He had always been that way. In the 2000s, he regularly wrote and published in newspapers and online forums ardent opinion pieces touching on some of Nigeria’s most contentious issues: politics, religion and ethnicity.
He was a polygamous Muslim prince—with a degree in Sharia and Islamic Studies from the International University of Africa in Sudan, earned several years after his Master’s degree in economics—who boldly championed women’s rights. In April last year, he disclosed that the Central Bank had mandated Nigeria’s banks to reserve more board and management positions for women.
Last year, he announced that he had no plans to run for a second term. By Nigerian standards it was another unusual move; public officials never turn down the opportunity of a second term. But it may simply have been that the hard-nosed Sanusi had realized that he didn’t stand a chance.
In the end, it was a terse statement that ended his time at the Central Bank. For someone who made his name as an insider critical of what he saw as the government’s penchant for undisciplined public spending, it was ironic that the millstone that pulled him down came labeled with the same failings. For now, however, no one knows how true those allegations are.
In his appraisal of his final moments, Sanusi was as clear-eyed as he was when he inherited a deeply dysfunctional banking system.
“This is about consequences for decisions I have taken. This is something that is long overdue. I am surprised it took them so long.”

‘I Am Surprised That   It Took Them So Long’

A lot of women have come up – there are many more rising up to the challenge and a wind of change is definitely blowing. Yes, I am in a male-dominated industry and I’m not ready to back down.”
These are the gutsy words of Nigerian business mogul Ngozi Oyewole, CEO of Noxie Limited – a leading Nigerian diversified service provider.
From trucking and haulage, protective equipment for rigs, to interior decoration, furniture supplies for multinationals and promotional items, Oyewole is a busy woman with a roving eye for ideas, many of which she has brought to life.
There is an infectious exuberance and confidence about Oyewole, one that is just as visible as her business savvy nature and can-do attitude. The evidence speaks volumes in her work, a trait many might not have expected. An Ikwerre princess – born into a the royal home of HRM Eze Frank Eke in Rivers State, Nigeria, who was also once governor – Oyewole is privileged, but that has not made her complacent or idle.
“My father was governor, he is also a king and society expected us to be spoon-fed and lazy but that isn’t the case. I had a thinking head on my shoulders and I wasn’t going to be swayed away by societal expectations or norms,” says Oyewole.
Sitting pretty today, with a fast-growing and diversified business with strong expansionary visions, Oyewole attributes her relentless drive and business acumen to her mother’s strong influence.
“My mother [Evangelist Beatrice Eke] was a very strong woman. She owned various businesses from hotels to beauty salons and she was very entrepreneurial. After school, there were expectations on us to work in similar areas,” she says.
After an undergraduate qualification in business administration and a postgraduate in information technology in the United Kingdom, Oyewole did just the opposite – she plunged into the corporate world and worked with a few UK-based firms, before returning to Nigeria to undergo her National Youth Service (NYSC) Program. Thereafter, she settled into the Nigerian corporate landscape.
“When I got married and had the first of my three children, my husband and I made the decision that I take a break from my career and raise our kids to an appreciable age.
“I started trading in 1993, when my youngest child started nursery school, and I would go overseas to buy clothes, shoes and household items to sell locally. I chose ‘Noxie’ as my business name because it was a pet name my sister-in-law coined for me, when she had difficulty pronouncing my name. I started with a small shop in Ikoyi Hotel and have since grown and diversified into several business interests over the years. I incorporated Noxie Limited in 2001,” says Oyewole
This was the beginning of a journey that Oyewole has found fulfilling and challenging, and yet it highlights the business terrain for women on the continent to be steep and rocky. In the same breath, however, she believes that women can only go as far as they allow themselves. A strong will, self-motivation and competence should be a businesswoman’s creed.
“The challenges I have faced over time are the same most women experience in our type of environment. In a society predominantly dominated by men, most times people don’t take you seriously because of your gender, but once you demonstrate your competence, dedication and professionalism on every job you undertake, they eventually have no hang-ups with dealing with you,” she adds.
Women need a voice within various business sectors and yet the inability to get finance from banks remains a major deterrent. More women should challenge the status quo by proving that they are capable and dependent business leaders.
Oyewole’s passion for entrepreneurship is shaped by her formidable mother, supportive family and her faith in God. All have fueled a healthy restlessness that drives her from venture to venture. Each has comforted her when her professional limits were tested and have pushed her towards self-development.
“Most of the businesses I run, I got into accidentally, after which I developed myself in these areas until I mastered the different technicalities. I have always been restless and enterprising. I’m very comfortable with what I do and it doesn’t intimidate me in any way.”
Noxie Limited has a portfolio that includes: office furniture, interior decoration for office space and the home, personal protective equipment (PPE), uniforms and industrial apparel, promotional items, barge and tugboat leasing as well as trucking and haulage.
As CEO, Oyewole sets the company’s long-term strategy to negotiating major contracts and financing. Having learnt the ropes and earned her stripes, Oyewole’s advice for young upcoming women is: “Have a conviction. Know what you want. Yes, African women do need a voice but self-conviction also goes a long way. The African woman can only go so far if she doesn’t believe in herself first.”
I am keen to find out if and how education has influenced such lucid business gusto.
“You don’t need to be in the classroom or an academic to be educated. It doesn’t take a paper qualification to make a formidable woman. As a woman, look for your strength and what makes you tick. Find what you like to do and do it very well,” she answers.
Noxie, as she is fondly called, may have achieved some grand feats in business but always sets her eyes on bigger projects.
“A major client contacted us to cater to their personal protective equipment business because they were impressed with our performance and track record on previous orders. I was thrilled on hearing the news but my excitement was also short-lived as I began to make assessments of my available resources, both financial and personnel. Although, I knew I had challenges in both areas, within me I believed I could surmount anything that came my way. I quickly realized that I needed to move up to a higher plane in terms of corporate image and presentation. I summoned up courage, took on the challenge head-on and the rest is history!”
Just like any entrepreneur worth their salt, Oyewole has various short, medium and long-term goals in mind. In the near future, she plans to open a showroom for Noxie’s home and office furnishings, and protective gear. Her medium-term goals are to set up a local factory for the office furniture as well as a production line for corporate uniforms, apparel and flame-retardant overalls and personal protective wear made from 100% cotton. Country-wide and regional expansion is on the cards as part of her long-term ambitions.
It might appear a far cry from the cushy comforts of royalty but Oyewole is transcending the myth that women are to be seen and not heard and from all indications, doff your hats as the Queen of gear is here to stay.

So Sure Of Her Business, She Put Her Pet Name To It

I finally meet the second-most powerful person in the US government’s development finance arm at a lavish awards evening in Manhattan, New York City, in late September. The 60th anniversary of the Africa-America institute; it is a spectacular affair. The who’s who of the Diaspora and African glitterati mingle with global business leaders, dignitaries and heads of state. At ease among them all, in a fabulous blue Tracy Reese cocktail dress, is Mimi Alemayehou.
We are seated at the same table, along with former Congolese-American basketball star Dikembe Mutombo and Nigerian model Oluchi Onweagba. Alemayehou manages to look as much a modern woman of the world as she is intrinsically African. She is a global player, with a très chic sense of fashion. As we exchange pleasantries, I am struck by her self confidence and keen sense of direction.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5865" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/MEA2-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
Alemayehou is the executive vice president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic). Based in Washington DC, Opic works with the US private sector, and has a portfolio of more than $17 billion invested in over 100 countries around the world. And as the body’s second-in-command, Alemayehou oversees the distribution and implementation of these funds. She explains that Opic fosters investment in developing nations, by addressing “major world challenges, from poverty and hunger to access to electricity and financial services”, which also helps the US gain a foothold in emerging markets.
Alemayehou has held the senior Opic position since March 2010, when she was nominated by US President Barack Obama; a decision the Senate supported unanimously.
“I feel privileged to help lead an agency that is making a real difference around the world every day. Opic’s work supporting American businesses and mobilizing investment in emerging markets is particularly relevant today at a time when the private sector is playing such a key role in development,” Alemayehou says.
Although she is a naturalized American citizen, living and working in Washington DC, Alemayehou was born in Ethiopia, and the African nation has shaped the woman she has become. “I was definitely impacted by my early years in Ethiopia, as was every Ethiopian of my generation who lived through the Red Terror years,” she says.
A dark period in the country’s history, the Red Terror was a violent political campaign carried out in Ethiopia and Eritrea between 1976 and 1978. It is estimated that up to 500,000 people were tortured and killed under the brutal regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam.
“Seeing family members and friends imprisoned and killed for political reasons gave me a very early life lesson in the pursuit of freedom, not just political, but economic freedom.
“My parents’ and grandparents’ properties were expropriated and overnight they and many other families lost everything they had worked hard for. That’s a lesson that’s hard to forget.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5864" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_7486-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
When she was eight years old, Alemayehou’s family moved to Kenya, where she spent some of the most impressionable years of her life. “I still have more friends in Kenya than I do in my country of birth,” she points out. Four years later, the family left for California, in the US. Shortly after they arrived on American soil, Mimi started high school.
“I was fortunate enough to have had parents who valued education and particularly to have had a mother and grandmother who were progressive, loving, and had the same expectations of me as they did for my two brothers, Addis and Daniel. In fact, my brothers would argue that our parents expected more from me than them,” she recalls, laughing.
Our short encounter leaves me yearning to know more. As fate would have it, I meet Alemayehou again the following evening, this time at a party organized by Sudanese telecommunications entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim. The billionaire philanthropist is celebrating the launch of the New Africa Center in Harlem, New York. Once known as the Museum of African Art, the building is being reinvented as a policy institute and space to showcase both African art and African intellect.
As on our previous encounter, Alemayehou is perfectly at ease ming-ling with the high-profile guests. Among them are musician and philanthropist Bono; Ethiopian-born
supermodel, Liya Kebede; the former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae; and head of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
With Afrobeat melodies playing in the background, I probe Alemayehou for more details about her career path. “I got to where I am today partly because I did not always listen to the advice I got,” she concedes.
Before she joined Opic, Alemayehou tells me, she served as the US executive director at the African Development Bank, effectively the most senior US Treasury official in Africa.
“Earlier in my career I was always interested in working on Capitol Hill, but a lot of people – including some of my own family members – told me that there was no way a member of Congress would hire someone who was not an American citizen. I pursued this dream anyway and was ultimately hired as legislative staffer on Capitol Hill.
“I have found it invaluable to question things and not necessarily take ‘no’ for an answer,” she says firmly.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5863" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/RWP_2524aw-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" />
After graduating from the West Texas A&amp;M University, Alemayehou completed a Master’s degree in international business, law and deve-lopment at The Fletcher School in Massachusetts.
Today, she juggles her high-powered, travel-intensive job with the equally demanding roles of a life partner and mother. She says having a supportive partner, a live-in nanny, and close-knit network of girlfriends make it possible. “I think the family that you make is much more important that the family you are born into.”
But she cautions that “every woman is unique, and what is the appropriate balance for one is not necessarily right for another”. For Alemayehou, going for light jogs with her son means that she can spend quality time with him and still get her workout done.
“One thing about being a mother, I have become an expert multitasker! For example, I could breastfeed the baby and send out emails at the same time,” she quips.
Alemayehou’s roles as a life partner and a mother are clearly a great source of joy and pride to her. “My daughter has been to Switzerland, Senegal, and Puerto Rico. Three continents and she is only two years old! It is very important to me that I expose my children to much more than I was exposed to growing up,” she says seriously.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5859" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_0564-300x215.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="215" />
She also derives great fulfillment from her work: “Opic has supported many exciting projects in Africa in the past few years”. These include the development of a plant cultivation and agricultural production facility in Rwanda and the rehabilitation of municipal water systems in Ghana. She points out that Opic is one of the largest private equity investors in Africa: “I am very proud of our record. Our investment in Africa has gone up by 300 percent over the last four years.”
She is particularly interested in young people on the continent. One of Opic’s projects in Kenya is a microfinance loan program, which lends money to various entrepreneurs such as youth cooperative groups. Alemayehou also believes in the importance of mentoring.
“What is truly important is mentoring young women who look up to us. It’s our duty to mentor as many young women as we are able to. (Former US secretary of state) Madeleine Albright said: ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women’. She is right. We have to do our part to make sure the next generation learns from our experience and hopefully benefits from it.”
She may be a global executive operating in the fast lane, but she claims to have “no desire to run for political office”. Instead, Alemayehou says she focuses on what she cares about: development in Africa: “The most important thing is to find out what you are passionate about.”

Mimi juggles the globe

It took weeks of hard work to verify Rabiu as Africa’s newest billionaire. It took research and calculations by the wealth unit of FORBES, in the United States, and FORBES AFRICA journalists in London, Lagos and Johannesburg.
It is certain that Rabiu will move up the FORBES list of Africa’s richest, which will be expanded from 40 to 50 this year. He was ranked 21st last year. This year’s list will be published in the December-January issue of FORBES AFRICA.
According to Kerry Dolan, the senior editor at FORBES in charge of the wealth unit in San Francisco, the list only adds a few billionaires from Africa to the rankings each year.
“It is too early to say what we are finding. We know that Abdulsamad Rabiu will be on the list as a new billionaire from Nigeria, thanks to reporting by FORBES AFRICA,” says Dolan.
Rabiu, unlike many billionaires on the continent, opened up his books and bank accounts to prove his wealth. The 53-year-old heads the BUA Group, with headquarters on Victoria Island, Lagos. An investigation by FORBES AFRICA turned up a string of assets.
The BUA Group has interests in key sectors similar to those of countryman, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man. They include cement, sugar and flour. Through the group’s subsidiaries it does business in real estate, steel, port concessions, manufacturing, oil, gas and shipping.
The group also owns the ship BUA Cement 1, a 200-meter long vessel designed for heavy loads. It is Nigeria’s first floating terminal.
In addition to his assets in the BUA Group, Rabiu owns property in Britain, worth $62 million, and in South Africa, worth $19 million. Among his properties is a house in Gloucester Square in London worth nearly $16 million and a penthouse at The One &amp; Only Hotel, in Cape Town, worth $12.6 million. Rabiu’s taste for good living is plain to see; he has bought homes from Eaton Square to Avenue Road, also known as Millionaires’ Row.
Rabiu jets around the world on an eight-seater Gulfstream G550 worth $44.9 million, powered by a Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofan engine, as well as an $18-million Legacy 600 aircraft.
<h4>Meet Africa’s Newest Billionaire</h4>
On a chilly autumn night in London, a chauffeured Bentley glides into the courtyard of a quiet and affluent home. Seconds later, at the entrance of the grand two-storey house, the doors swing open and out walks one of Africa’s richest men in a T-shirt, jeans and black overcoat. Hardly how one imagines the publicity-shy chairman and CEO of BUA Group, a privately-owned conglomerate with annual revenues estimated at $2 billion.
The look may be modest; his ambitions are anything but, as revealed by his plans to invest more than $500 million in Nigeria’s economy over the next few years. This is Abdulsamad Rabiu, the unassuming Nigerian business tycoon, full of life, with a keen ear and a great business story.
Born in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano, Rabiu is the son of renowned businessman, Isyaku Rabiu, who made a fortune in trade and industry in the decades after Nigeria’s independence. By the 1970s, Isyaku’s wealth and influence had grown considerably. He emerged as a key sponsor of the National Party of Nigeria, which became the ruling political party after the country returned to civilian rule, following the elections of 1979. A military coup, in 1983, toppled the government and led to the arrest of the president Shehu Shagari and many of his close associates, including Isyaku.
Around this time, the younger Rabiu earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, in the United States. He returned home to find his father’s business in a precarious state following the incarceration. Barely 24 years old, with little business experience, Rabiu had to lead his father’s business empire during dark days.
“It was very difficult. When we started, our dad was not there. There was this huge vacuum, because of his personality. He grew the business, he did everything, everybody reported to him, and then he wasn’t there anymore. So at a very tender age, I was saddled with so many things; I had to make a lot of important decisions, and don’t forget that this happened suddenly,” says Rabiu.
“At the time, there were three ships being discharged, rice and sugar ships. The government agencies tried to seize the goods; so we were discharging, they were taking, we were taking back. It was a big, big issue. Those kinds of things were really challenging.”
“The biggest challenge was that there were restrictions on confirming letters of credit because of the coup. Then there was the issue of the planes; there were two private jets and we didn’t know what to do with them. We couldn’t fly them. They actually grounded the jets. We were able to get the big one out and we decided we didn’t need it. I just got rid of it.”
“[My father] was in detention, so who was going to be flying a private jet at that time with the major-general Muhammadu Buhari around. They grounded the small plane for two years but it was released after [my father] was released from detention.”
In 1988, Rabiu set up his own business, BUA International, with the blessing of his father. He  imported rice, sugar and edible oils, as well as iron and steel rods. His big break came in 1990 when a friend informed him of an opportunity to do a deal with a government-owned steel company.
Production at the Delta Steel Company had been beggared by the Nigerian government’s decision to reduce grants. The company was considering approaching private business to finance the procurement of raw materials and Rabiu saw the opportunity. The deal needed approval from the government. After approaching the minister of steel, who hailed from Rabiu’s home state, he was asked to finance the project.
“They only wanted three serious companies to participate because they did not want to shut down Delta Steel. He went to the president and managed to get a special allocation to Delta Steel, but it wasn’t enough. So, he asked if we would be able to get counter funding, and I said ‘of course’. We approached First Bank and we showed them the proposal at the time and they said they would need us to put in our equity.”
“We were able to get the business which was worth almost $20 million at the time, but the idea was that we were importing their raw materials to the tune of 25,000 to 30,000 tons per month, and instead of them paying us back in cash, they gave us the processed products. We didn’t want to collect money because at the time you would sometimes never get it.”
The payment method was favorable for Rabiu and his company because the price of the products was government controlled.
“I think it was around $6.3 from the company, but around $90 in the open market. So it was quite a good opportunity for us and we made quite a bit of money.”
By 1992, a regime change came and the honeymoon was over. With the substantial profits he had made from the steel venture, Rabiu invested in Tropic Commercial Bank, which operated in Nigeria. He became the chairman of the bank after buying a majority shareholding.
In 1995, BUA acquired Nigeria Oil Mills, which was a peanut processing company in Kano, for more than $20 million. The previous owners had offered BUA the business based on their status as a player in the edible oils business. Two years later, BUA Flour Mills’ first factory was established in Lagos. The Kano flour factory was launched in 1998. Thereafter, BUA set up its sugar refinery in Lagos. The 2,000 metric ton (MT) per day capacity plant is the second largest refinery in West Africa, after the Dangote Sugar refinery, which produces an estimated 2,400MT per day.
It’s a hot morning in Port Harcourt, on the coast of Nigeria when FORBES AFRICA visits one of Rabiu’s biggest projects, the BUA Mixed Development, which includes: a sugar refinery with a production capacity of 2,000 tons per day and a 65,000MT storage; a flour mill; a pasta, semolina and rice mill. In the capital, Abuja, Rabiu’s BUA Group has a huge housing project of 200 homes to be completed by early next year.
“He is very analytical, balanced and always calm under stressful situations. In spite of being experienced, he is always willing to learn more,” says Engr Olumo, BUA Group’s project co-ordinator in the eastern region.
“It has been wonderful seeing the company grow and prosper. Mr Rabiu is very approachable and reasonable. We have a team of 14 people working in the London office and we all feel as if we are a family. We are treated with the utmost respect. All employees approach Mr Rabiu on a first name basis,” says Rajan Sharma, the trade finance manager at Rabiu’s equipment and material procurement company, NOM UK.
Rabiu has often been compared to Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, due to the fact that most of their businesses operate in the same sectors. He dismisses talk of any competition between himself and Dangote, pointing out that their mutual interests in certain sectors derives from the inclinations of the patriarchs of their families.
“We are both from Kano and our parents were doing more or less the same kind of business, so we grew up in the trading environment. My dad had been doing rice, sugar and edible oil for a very long time. Aliko’s granduncle, Sanusi Dantata, at one time was the biggest trader in terms of imports in Kano State,” he says.
“We’ve known each other since childhood. Although people seem to think that we are doing the sort of business that Aliko is doing, I keep telling them that this is a business that my family has been involved in before Aliko even started.”
BUA’s sugar venture was a cash cow. The company was able to reap huge margins due to the difference in duties for imports of raw sugar, which was 5%, and that of finished, or white, sugar, which is 50%. With the money he made from this business, the amount of which he declines to reveal, Rabiu cast his eye further.
His research revealed that the cement business would offer good returns on investment. The first step was to secure a license to import cement. The market for cement in the country was characterized by high price through scarcity, which was due to the fact that few companies held licences to import. Conditions for obtaining the license included that the interested company must have a terminal where the raw cement would be processed and bagged, as well as have a plant in Nigeria where production is taking place, or be in the process of building one.
BUA set out to meet the requirements, starting with the acquisition of the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) for nearly $100 million from Scancem International in 2007. The next goal was to procure the terminal. Since it would have taken over a year to build one, Rabiu made the smart move to acquire a floating terminal. He approached the then president, Umaru Musa Yar’adua, to secure the approval. The terminal secured the import license.
Production on this platform was carried out until last year when the government restricted imports following the launch of Dangote’s $1 billion cement plant in Ibese, Nigeria. Although Rabiu disagrees with the government’s decision, he says he was prepared for it.
“When the Ibese plant was commissioned, the government decided that that there was enough production capacity in Nigeria and there will be no need for imports. I still do not agree with that.”
“We knew it was coming, so we decided to put up our own plant. Part of what we acquired from Scancem was a small grinding plant in Edo State, which is called Edo Cement, but then with a large limestone deposit. The plant is being built as we speak and will be delivered next year. It is a 3-million ton plant and costs a little over $500 million. At the same time, we are also looking at Ilaro, west Nigeria; in fact I am going to China next week for a meeting with CDMI, a Chinese cement plant manufacturer, to put up another plant in Ilaro. We want to capture part of the south western market, because that is the biggest market in Nigeria today.”
Rabiu believes that Nigerian demand is greater than estimated. He points out that when the additional supply is added and the price is adjusted further, latent demand will be unlocked.
“Nigeria has around 170 million people and the production capacity that the country has is about 20 million, maybe 22 million tons. So that gives us about 117 kilograms per head. Nigeria is so low in relation to other African countries, in terms of consumption per head. It has to go up and I am looking at a minimum of 250 kilograms per head in the next three to four years. I think it will happen and we are looking at least at a minimum of 35 to 40 million tons capacity,” he says.
“The price of cement in Nigeria is probably the highest anywhere in the world, apart from possibly Zambia, at $8.80 per bag, which is $173 per ton. It’s around $40 anywhere else in the world; why should it be $170? It doesn’t make sense at all.”
“Everybody says we have issues with infrastructure and power; it’s nonsense. Power is cheap in Nigeria. Gas is cheap. We had to put up a power plant at Edo Cement, which is about $60 to $70 million. Capital expenditure is there, and it’s quite a bit of money. But, it costs you no more than $20 million a year for gas and it is your biggest cost in a cement plant,” he says.
Rabiu wants to see the price of products decrease so that demand will increase.
“The moment we have a price that is more affordable, demand is going to shoot up. Today cement is around $8 per bag. If we are able to sell it at $6.20, you will see demand shooting up by at least 20% every year. In five years, production will more than double.”
While cement has been a key focus of the group’s activities in recent years, Rabiu also has his eyes on the steel industry.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is the largest importer of steel and steel products, especially pipes, flat sheets and reinforcements, yet we do not have an integrated steel plant in the country.”
Plans are also being made to invest more in expanding the sugar business to exploit opportunities that have been created by the federal government’s implementation of a national sugar master plan.
“We want to ensure that we have at least 30,000 hectares cultivated for sugar plantation in the next three years. We have the Lafiaji sugar plantation, which we bought from the government around four years ago, but it is only around 15,000 hectares, so we are trying to develop another 30,000 hectares.”
“We believe the demand for sugar will go up simply because of the price. Sugar is still around $400. The cost of production, if you have a plantation, is probably around $150 per ton to produce locally. Imagine the demand if that happens. We should be able to supply the entire region with sugar, we will look to take the West African market,” he says.
For a man who can easily afford the best in life—he has a Bentley and Aston Martin parked in his courtyard—Rabiu’s simplicity is remarkable. He speaks excitedly about going to see American jazz singer Stacey Kent play whenever she performs in London. The man is also a movie buff and is always on the lookout for blockbuster releases. With a whiff of triumph, he declares that he just saw the new biographical drama Diana, which captures the last two years of the life of the late Princess of Wales.
Rabiu exudes an aura of a fulfilment. He gives the impression of one who values his achievements and success, but does not wear it on his sleeve. From being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Rabiu—Africa’s newest billionaire—has carved out his own place in the continent’s business history.

Tag: Nigerian

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA