Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 - January 2023 i Forbes Africa

EDITOR'S NOTE AND 2022, A YEAR OF DISPARATE challenges, is also on its way out! Almost three years into this decade and it has been one of the most unforgettable in human history. 2022, the year the world stooped to war and the planet rose to climate chaos; the year that saw the phased exit of a virulent virus still threatening to rear its ugly spiked head if we are not mindful of the social science experiment it invoked; the year the world population became a milestone 8 billion and the year ‘homework’ became a well-entrenched word for adults too. And to speak of yet another word doing the rounds that has lately entered the global lexicon – polycrisis, popularized by English economic historian Adam Tooze as a period of…

LEADERBOARD On November 15, as per the United Nations (UN), the world's population reached 8 billion, a milestone in human development. “While it took the global population 12 years to grow from 7 to 8 billion, it will take approximately 15 years — until 2037 — for it to reach 9 billion, a sign that the overall growth rate of the global population is slowing,” said the UN. Kathleen Mogelgaard, President and CEO of the Population Institute, says that the world's population will level off at around 10.4 billion in the 2080s. In a video on the website of the Population Institute, she says this is equivalent to about “250 New York Citys”. Population growth has significant implications for society, she explains; we'll need more of everything, with growth placing…

THE UGANDAN-BORN CEO OF FINTECH unicorn, Chipper Cash, Ham Serunjogi, grew up watching his parents solve problems. Today, overcoming challenges is a daily routine and forms a culture of thought inherited from his upbringing “As an African, you're in problem-solvingmode all the time. For me, it was [multiplied] by ten, my parents were both self-employed, solo entrepreneurs, and [they had] a continuous problem-solving mindset,” recalls Serunjogi, speaking with FORBES AFRICA from San Francisco, California. Serunjogi fondly recalls the early memories that shaped his own entrepreneurial stature. “We grew up on a farm so initially [my parents] were trying to figure out how to get the farm going. Eventually, they had a dairy business and they had to figure out how to get that going. My dad is a computer scientist…

Backed by strong global partners including Stripe, Visa and Y Combinator, Paystack with over 80,000 customers is on a mission to digitize transactions and solve the payments problem in Africa The company currently processes over $200 million worth of monthly payments with a presence in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, San Francisco and Dubai. Founded by Nigerians Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi in 2015, Paystack's simple and easy-to-use payment solution allows businesses to set up card payments as well as mobile money transactions on their digital platforms in under 30 minutes. “On a continent with over a billion people, it was shocking to see that we were struggling with processing payments when others were doingit quite easily elsewhere. We are lookingto expand our solution across Africa while we run independently with…

LOAD SHEDDING, UNSURPRISINGLY, IS THE 2022 South African ‘word of the year’ announced by the Pan South African Language Board in collaboration with Focal Points, a media research company. Load shedding, a term for rolling blackouts, has been a regular feature of South African life since 2015, and the latest statutory assessment of the power system showed that South Africa's embattled state-owned utility, Eskom, will be unable to meet the electricity needs of the country for the next five years. South Africa has experienced 2,409 cumulative hours of load shedding by November, according to data from EskomSePush, a load shedding app in the country. September broke the record for scheduled outages in a month, amounting to 570 hours. ” People feel lost when there's no power. – Rui Miranda, owner…

In business, it's always about the ‘Three Ps’ – profit, people and planet And for this experience, here's another – Proud Mary. Nestled in the heart of Rosebank's foodie district, it's a modern mid-century-inspired all-day eatery and wine bar that's both pristine and opulent. And adding to this experience is yet another P – no, not just the personalities Jezz Tibini and Maps Maponyane who are present, but rather the private collection of Glenfiddich, nestled in an exclusive vault. The night is young and Proud Mary treats the palate to a range of tastes with a menu curated to pair perfectly with the world's most-awarded single malt Scotch whiskey. And Glenfiddich ambassador Jezz Tibini shows you exactly what it means to embrace, crown and celebrate the occasion. “There is no…

CHARLES SHIMA WAS 16 YEARS OLD WHEN HE had a gun pointed at him at the height of the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994. Luckily, he survived and was able to leave the country, which he loved, to tell his tale. Destiny made him cross the high seas to the greener pastures of Canada, but little did he know he would return, almost 25 years later, and instead of being faced with just horrific memories, also see new hope in the East African country he once called home. “I saw the changes that had happened in the country at that time and also the many opportunities you notice when you are in Africa. I had an ‘aha!’ moment and the idea was tourism and travel.” This epiphany…

“GOOD FUN, GOOD FUN!” BELLOWS ROB Hale on a recent Friday morning. It's 6:30 a.m., and two dozen employees of Granite Telecommunications have gathered for one of their CEO's favorite rituals: hourlong morning workouts, a grueling grind of pushups, squats, sit-ups, planks, jumping jacks and stair runs through the company's four-story office headquarters in Quincy, Massachusetts, a blue-collar burb 10 miles south of Boston. Hale, 56, likes routine. His typical workday includes nabbing the parking lot's fifth spot (five is his lucky number), downing four extra-large decaf Dunkin’ coffees (two in the morning, two in the afternoon), overseeing a second group work-out at noon (this one, mercifully, 20 minutes), then getting home in time for dinner with Karen, his wife of 28 years. “My life is very regimented,” Hale explains.…

Sustainability has risen to the top of the economic agenda globally as consumers become more focused on reducing their carbon footprint. According to a global consumer survey commissioned by Mastercard, consumers demand that brands be more sustainable. In Africa, 9 in 10 people said that they're willing to take individual action to combat environmental and sustainability issues. Among the many actions that can help, reforestation is widely considered to be one of the most impactful and cost-effective ways to positively counteract climate change. This has also informed our sustainability agenda, and in 2020, Mastercard launched the Priceless Planet Coalition, uniting the efforts of consumers, financial institutions, merchants, and cities to fight climate change through the restoration of 100 million trees by 2025. The Coalition is not only focused on planting…

YOU FEEL A DEEPLY INSPIRING AND IMMERSIVE connection with Africa every time you speak with Arunma Oteh. And when the reason for this conversation is the 120th anniversary of the Royal African Society, which this Nigerian trailblazer now chairs, it's a delightful confluence and celebration of all things African. “I'm just fascinated by our origin and who we are,” begins Oteh about the Society on a Zoom call from London a day after the biennial Film Africa festival – 48 films across seven venues in the city from 28 October to 6 November – held alongside the celebrations. Endless weeks of work and late nights have gone into putting it all together, including a gala evening at Aqua Shard on November 2, but Oteh, a former Treasurer and Vice President…

The African Development Bank has acknowledged the impact of climate change on Africa and has pointedly reported that African economies have taken a hit of between 5% and 15% to their economies because of the effects of the rapid rise of climate change. Curbing the climate crisis requires in Africa requires all relevant stakeholders, including business to come together in a concerted way to create awareness of the severity of climate change in Africa with the urgent goal of reducing emissions from key industrial value chains, restoring forest landscapes, and investing in low carbon transport among other crucial interventions. To this end, as a company that operates in Africa with a footprint spanning 50 markets across sub-Saharan Africa and adjacent islands, 21.8 million subscribers, MultiChoice has partnered with The Earthshot…

STOCKISTS: Sound & Image, www.soundimage.co.za • Skins Cosmetics, www.skins.co.za • Luxdeco, www.luxdeco.com • Jenny Robert Exclusive Decor, www.jennyrobert.co.za • Block and Chisel, www.blockandchisel.co.za • Carrol Boyes, carrolboyes.com • Everard Read Gallery, www.everard-read.co.za • Task Interior Styling, www.taskinteriorstyling.com • Villeroy & Boch, www.villeroyandboch.co.za All dollar prices (including on previous pages) are approximate figures as per the exchange rate at the time of going to press…

IT WAS WONDERFUL TO SEE THE revival of the Forbes Global CEO conference that was held post Covid in Singapore in October this year. It was great to reconnect with global leaders as well as meet Forbes’ extended family from different parts of the world. The highlight of the event was the declaration from the organizers that the net worth in the hall of 400 delegates was $500 billion; it wasn't surprising to hear that number considering that 30% of the wealth came from the richest man in the room – and third richest in the world as of November according to Forbes – Gautam Adani, whose speech was a leaf from ‘Invest India’. The mood was buoyant in Asia and despite all the troubles around the world, there was…

AFTER GRADUTING FROM WATERLOO University, in Canada, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, spotted an opportunity in the Nigerian massive open online courses (MOOCs) market and relocated back home to start Fora.com, a startup with a focus on incorporating MOOCs into the university environment. After running the company for a number of years, Aboyeji managed to score a meeting with Jeremy Johnson, an investor in New York and, after a few cups of coffee, made the decision to pivot from MOOCs to skills training with a specific focus on Salesforce engineers who were hard to find at the time. “Jeremy told me if I could find him a Salesforce engineer who was great, he could pay $150,000 and I thought to myself there has to be someone in Nigeria who can do this especially…

According to a recent report by the National Business Institute on the role of gas in South Africa, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is an important part of our transition away from emissions-heavy fossil fuels-only if it's affordably supplied. The report argues in favor of importing gas, suggesting the exploration and development of domestic gas fields is too complex and capital intensive. Until now. Renergen and Deep Learning Café have partnered to address this issue. A producer of helium and LNG, Renergen understands the costs associated with gas exploration and development. They are working with Deep Learning Cafe, a Google Partner and solutions company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to empower brands to use their business data to be operationally efficient. According to Khalid Patel, head of exploration at Renergen Limited,…

WHAT IS AN ARTIST? IN THE AGE OF artificial intelligence, machine learning and text-to-image tools, it's questionable. Anyone with a computer can generate stunning images in seconds thanks to tools like Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion and Craiyon. These algorithmic programs, which work with text prompts and data sets, are already starting to shift the creative economy. In August 2022, an American game designer named Jason Allen won first place at the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition. His award-winning work – which has been described as ‘Renaissance meets steampunk’ – was created using Midjourney. And even though the category in which Allen came first was ‘digital arts/digitally-manipulated photography’, it left a lot of people in the creative world angry, questioning whether this kind of AI-generated art could replace human artists.…

“This is our report to society. It is how we hold ourselves accountable and show how we're building better futures on the African continent. We are proud of the impact we have made over the past year,” says Ruwayda Redfearn, Deloitte Africa CEO. Redfearn took office in June this year as the firm's first female CEO. “Our goal is to remain at the forefront of driving meaningful change, making an impact in society through the services we provide. Our continued focus is on developing people and driving positive change in communities we operate in as well as the environment,” she adds. Redfearn describes her vision for the firm as that of being a trusted global partner on the continent, helping to improve the competitiveness of its markets and solving some…

AT OXFORD CIRCUS IN THE HEART OF London, Rebecca Mossop, a store manager for George at ASDA, is getting ready to deliver October's haul of clothing — that didn't quite meet the exacting standards of the British consumer — to a delivery truck parked behind the store. “The clothes are manufactured in China and sometimes some items fail quality control and that is where the store's management decided on the idea of donating items of clothing they didn't need to some of the poorest nations in Africa,” says Mossop. The truck will make various stops at London's high street stores before returning to its base in Lewisham, an area of southeast London. There, Michael Ofori, the managing director of a shipping company, will ensure that the thousands of piles of…

SOMETIME IN AFRICA IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME WHEN I TRAVEL abroad and tell people I'm from South Africa that there is always someone who asks: “Where is that?” I can't help, slightly arrogantly, thinking to myself that if there's one country in the world with a clue in its name, surely it's South Africa? Turns out no. I was left red-faced after friends suggested we go to the Central African Republic and my exclamation of “I'd love to” was followed by a frantic googling of where CAR, as it's affectionately known, actually is. This country of almost six million people is landlocked by Chad, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon in…. the center of Africa! Despite – or perhaps because of – its significant mineral…

IN POPULAR IMAGINATION, UNICORNS CONJURE up the picture of a rare but beautiful mythical creature described by the ancients as resembling a horse, with a single horn emanating from the center of its forehead. A timeless symbol of purity and uniqueness, this rich symbolism also translates to the world of business. In the startup lexicon, a unicorn is also a rarity and defined as a relatively young company, usually less than 10 years old valued at $1 billion or more by public or private investors. According to CBInsights, a New York City-based market intelligence company, as of October 2022, there were over 1,200 unicorns in the world. Popular unicorns include the artificial intelligence (AI) company, ByteDance, from China that is valued at $140 billion; Elon Musk's spacecraft engineering firm, SpaceX,…

FLUTTERWAVE IS A NIGERIAN FINTECH COMPANY with headquarters in the US, providing payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across Africa. It was founded in 2016 by Adeleke Adekoya and Olugbenga Agboola It accepts 30+ currencies, averages 500,000 payments daily, and has over 15 payment options. In 2021, Flutterwave raised a $170 million Series C funding round, giving the company a valuation of over $1 billion, hailing its unicorn status. In 2022, Flutterwave raised a $250 million Series D funding round, valuing the company at over $3 billion valuation. In 2021, Flutterwave launched Send, an African-focused remittance service. During the pandemic, Flutterwave launched a digital store to help the continent's SMMEs. Over 20,000 businesses joined through a campaign known as ‘Keeping the Lights On’. On the platform, customers…

RUNNING A DIGITAL BUSINESS More and more, clients are looking for ways to keep their staff productive in a dynamically changing business environment. Whether your people are working from home, the office or abroad, there is a growing recognition that digitizing your operations can offer unprecedented commercial value in flexibility, productivity and growth. This new digital reality means that it is more important than ever to stay agile – if there is anything that can slow a business down, it is being burdened by old technology. Having made substantial investments in fibre technology, high-speed terrestrial and undersea networks, and new frequency spectrum across the markets wherein it operates, MTN is perfectly positioned to respond to this shift in the market. A few years ago, MTN also made the decision to…

THE TINY EAST AFRICAN COUNTRY OF RWANDA is known for its rolling hills, verdant valleys and immaculate green spaces. Now there is art too, complementing the cotmtry's incredible visual appeal, thanks to the efforts of multidisciplinary artist Jemima Kakizi Akimanizanye. Hired by UNICEF Rwanda for a project to create items that encourage young children to learn about climate change through art, Akimanizanye was inspired to start her own journey making a difference with the paintbrush. Her experience with UNICEF challenged her to think beyond her art, to use her talent to also address issues in her community. “When I was introduced to environment issues, and that there are things we can do to fight climate change, I saw a huge contribution that I could make, which is when I did…

DEEPFAKES IN THE BEGINNING, IT WAS A LOT OF FUN. Anyone could create a deepfake video to merge their face with that of a celebrity. At first, these videos were shared across social media as a parody and everyone laughed. What could be better than becoming the star of your favorite streaming series? But now the technology has evolved. It has become more sophisticated to the point where it's not as easy to tell what is real or not. From misinformation to identity theft, deepfake porn and copyright infringements, the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) is far from entertaining – it's an epidemic. “As technology's power increases, so the ability to cause harm increases exponentially,” says Professor Johan Steyn, a Research Fellow at the School of Data Science and Computational…

We are living in an era of unacceptable juxtapositions. In 2015, a report about the frontiers of longevity postulated that a child born then could live to 142 years. On the other hand, life expectancy in the lowest ranked 10 countries in the world ranges only between 55 and 60 years. Even where life expectancy is getting longer, people aren't necessarily getting healthier, which means facing many years lived in poor health. Scientific breakthroughs, an important part of closing this gap, are accelerating at an unprecedented rate. However, access remains a challenge to some of the most underserved populations globally. Access is being compounded by several immediate and longer-term mega trends including the economic consequences of COVID-19, the food crisis caused by the ongoing war with Russia and Ukraine, and…

COME ALIVE COLLECTION The newly launched Come Alive Collection is a part of the transformation introducing a range of special experiences available across all the Sunlife resorts with clear messages around the core values of Sunlife. The project has also worked across all the resorts optimising each sub-brand with the Sunlife philosophy and undertaking an evaluation to identify each resorts unique core cohorts and lifestyles so hotel guests can be matched to their most suited resort with the Come Alive Collection offering tailored experiences, unique to each resort. COME ALIVE EXPERIENCES The Come Alive Collection of experiences include Energy Gym combining exercise with sustainability, the Beach Squad where a team bring innovative experiences to the beach and IZZY the Bee, the newest member of the team and Sunlife mascot The…

Awhile ago I watched a conversation between US Senator Bernie Sanders and Ambassador Mikko Hautala. The Senator asks why Finland is the happiest society on Earth. The Ambassador said, “I think that we have seen is that there's high degree of trust in the institutions and in other people”. Our biggest challenge to progress, nation building efforts, and to addressing the injustices of our past, is that we have lost all trust in institutions to lead. We've broken the trust amongst each other not to betray the promise of our democracy. The first panel of the Black Management Forum (BMF) Policy Conference asked if we could start all over again. The answer: we would need to do the work ourselves to create a society where the large majority felt a…