Brandhill Africa

VOLUME 6, MARCH 2021

Benefits for the AfCFTA for African MSMEs 48-57

featured in our Verbatim series: 28-35 Dr Wynton Marsalis Celebrating 14-23 international Women’s day

1 AFRICA Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Publisher’s Comment

Jambo

Hello

Bonjour

Ola

To all our readers and stakeholders.

The metaphor for the bull that bellows is adapted from an iconic South African jazz song, “Yakhal’ inkomo”, composed by Makunku Ngozi in 1968 which grew to this day to become the signature tune that has embedded this African expression in this universal genre – hence it became the most recognisable jazz tune in the country. The ingenuity of our legendary saxo- phonist was most eloquently captured by our poet laureate, Dr Mongane Serote, in his introduction to his poetry collection, “Yakhal’ inkomo”, which was obviously inspired by this timeless musical piece and was published in 1972, as he mused: “I once saw Mankunku “Ex Africa semper aliquid Ngozi blowing his saxophone. Yakhal’ inkomo. His face was inflated like a balloon, it was wet novi” (meaning “there is with sweat, his eyes huge and red. He grew always something new tall, shrank, coiled into himself, uncoiled and the cry came out of his horn. That is the mean- out of Africa”) — ing of Yakhal’ inkomo…”

Pliny the Elder Although this iconic song evokes emotional re- sponses by its expression of human pain and endurance, remembrance and invocation which, one may add, is reminiscent of life in rural homesteads, the flip side to it is that a bull/cow

2 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

is the symbol of wealth according to our tra- assets, be they natural resources and human ditional wisdom. In Setswana, this iconic capital, will be mobilised to catapult our con- wonder of creation is accorded an almost di- tinent into a higher development trajectory. vine status: “modimo o nko e metsi” (which The idea of exploring the dialectical interde- literally translates into “a goddess with a pendence between continental integration moist nostrils”.) It is a symbol of opulence, and economic development isn’t just a mar- prosperity and abundance where the two keting gimmick. Africa is the next frontier. We sides of the coin of inhumanity – namely, observe foreign powers positioning them- poverty and squalor – are foreign. selves to be granted a seat at the dinner ta- Furthermore, Setswana’s traditional wisdom ble – think the US, China, France, Germany, wax lyrical about “mahube a naka tsa Russia and the desperate UK post Brexit (as kgomo” (that could be translated as the they hope to concentrate their energies into dawning of the dawn). This relates to the re- the Commonwealth Association). Let these flection of the cows’ horns seen through the powers be warned: they will be no repeat of rising sun’s rays perceived as if they con- the 1885 Berlin Conference’s “scramble for verge with the heavens. In our orature, dawn Africa”. This time: Africa defines rules of en- represents a new beginning pregnant with gagement! Indeed, as Zakes Mda mused, “we hope for a brighter day! These are the sun shall sing for the fatherland”! rays that the English bard, William Shake- Although our brand positioning programme, speare, referred to when he poeticised: “Yon projects and activities will be centred on grey lines/ That fret the clouds are messen- “Yakhal’ inkomo” as the central theme, we gers of day… The gray-eyed morn smiles on should be cognisant of the fact that the con- the frowning night/ Checkering the eastern ceptualisation of the AfCFTA is multisectoral clouds with streaks of light…” and crosssectoral as it talks to human devel- The sun symbolises renewal. And it’s because opment in its totality. It cuts across all socio- of sheer appreciation of this metaphor that to economic sectors. In this age of globalisation, hope for continuous renewal and blessings, innovation – within the context of the fourth that traditional wisdom makes a clarion call industrial revolution (4IR) – has become one to us: “ulibambe lingashoni ilanga” (which of the primary drivers of opening market ac- means “hold up the sun”). This demands of cess opportunities beyond geographic borders us “to make hay while the sun shines”, as the – thus it’s a strategic vehicle for economic English dirge reinforces this symbolism. It development. Scholarly literature posits inno- isn’t only us who are saddened by sun set, vation is a strategic source for competitive but even the sun too assumes a melancholic advantage, a multiplier of economic activity, look as iZintombi Zesi Manje Manje muse in employment and development in the face of their Setswana traditional epic song, “Ga le globalisation. dikela”. Brandhill Africa (Pty) Ltd builds nation brand This hope ushered by a new dawn should be equities through developing and designing eloquently captured in the new image of strategic nation brand architecture for cities, brand Africa. The new dawn of the AfCFTA provinces and countries. This helps places to, ushers us into an epoch in which all Africa’s within a globally competitive context, assert

3 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

their brand identity and manage their reputa- Lewin. Beyond this, how do we manage the nation; attract foreign direct investment (FDI); tion brands of Africa’s 54 member states within and to reposition themselves as tourism desti- the context of Africa striving to accelerate the nations of choice. reintegration effort. To us, these complexities provide us with opportunities for presenting in- Since building and forging a nation brand is dividual nation brands which are at once dis- more complex and multidimensional than tinctive yet varied. branding a commercial product or corporate entity as a result of the multiple stakeholders We rely on the theoretical framework on com- with vested interests in a nation brand, Brand- petitive identity which we have developed as hill Africa (Pty) Ltd is an ideal vehicle to advise Brandhill Africa (Pty) Ltd and it is aptly titled governments and institutions in undertaking “the Zebra Paradigm”. This model ranks forty such brand image-building and reputation pro- variables that influence investor decision mak- grammes. ing regarding destinations of their investments. The framework, which I have developed in my Since nation brand concept has infinite range of dissertation in partial fulfillment for the require- touchpoints, the agency helps to unpack and ments of the MSc in Global Marketing degree, streamline them by developing holistic public is outlined in detail in my account on diplomacy strategic platforms. www.academia.edu. The non-state actors, such as the private sec- By the way, another ingenuous metaphor that tor and civil society, are defined by public diplo- could be borrowed from cattle is when they macy theoretical paradigm as vehicles for com- chew their cud. This speaks to the need for in- municating a country’s foreign policy objectives vesting for the future. During grazing time, cat- and yet they are often not given the opportu- tle will partake as much grass as possible and nity to engage with government’s conceptuali- in the late afternoon or early evening at their sation and development of implementation ini- leisure they will then return the partly digested tiatives of such strategies. Brandhill Africa food from the first stomach of ruminants to the (PTY) Ltd endeavours to close such a strategic mouth for further chewing. gap by guiding and mentoring such institutions on navigating the ambit of foreign policy envi- While other countries have depleted their natu- ronment. ral resources, Africa’s are hidden safely in its bowels. We are the next frontier! The question then is how do we manage the perception of Africa away from the images of a Before I conclude, let me focus a bit on house- dark continent as articulated by Joseph Conrad keeping. The Brandhill Africa group is now con- in his seminal work,“The Heart of Darkness”. stituted by five subsidiaries. Three previous di- How do we manage the reputation of Africa visions have evolved into fully-fledged autono- while we avoid “the danger of [communicating] mous companies – namely, Brandhill Africa Me- a single story”, as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, dia Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which publishes Jambo a Nigerian contemporary novelist, has put it. Africa Online and books for the trade market; How do we communicate a message of the Brandhill Africa Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd “Africa rising” narrative while at the same time which mobilises investments for infrastructure asserting the sub-text that “Africa is not a development projects in South Africa and other country”, as eloquently articulated by Arthur African countries; and finally, Brandhill Africa

4 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Institute (Pty) Ltd, which is our vehicle for public PUBLISHING STAFF diplomacy. This means Brandhill Africa (Pty) Ltd Editorial Advisory Board: Dr Thami Mazwai (Chairperson); Prof Tshimpaka Yanga (DRC); Angela Asante Akua (Ghana); Fatou Cisse (Senegal); Francois remains a strategic brand development and man- Fouche (RSA); Salline Handa (Kenya); Namatirai Zinyohwera (Zimbabwe); agement agency which will continue positioning Lebohang Ramotete (Lesotho); Mlungisi Mpofu (Namibia); Dr Bamidele Adeoye (Nigeria/USA); Saul Molobi (RSA); and Andile Msindwana (Secretariat) African brands and opening market access opportunities for them – with the Biashara Services and Editor: Andile Msindwana ([email protected]) Products Africa (BiSPA) Conference and Exhibition Deputy Editor: Dithako Nakedi ([email protected]) being one of its flagship projects. The group’s cor- Editorial Correspondents: Mandla Zibi; Francois Fouche; Namatirai Zinyohwera; and, Dithako Nakedi porate social investment programmes are driven Editorial Contributors: Dr Wynton Marsalis; Masingita Masunga; Amb Ruby by the Brandhill Africa Foundation NPC. Marks; Candice Goodman; and Parminder Vir OBE.

Country/Regional Representative/s: Otieno Ondiek (Kenya); and Nixon Onoka Before exiting, let me thank the staff for keeping (East Africa) the promise we made to our stakeholders on 9 Group Creative & Production Director: Selemogo Maleho December 2020 when we inaugurated the annual ([email protected]); Malose Mahapa (Webmaster); star-studded BiSPA Conference and Exhibition: Simba Mdena (Videography); Mara Mbele (Photography); Mogorosi Motshumi (Cartoonist) that from the beginning of 2021we will mount bi- monthly virtual seminars promoting trade and in- GROUP CORPORATE SERVICES vestment opportunities accruing from the AfCFTA. Marketing Services: Moshitadi Masipa (Executive Head); and Buhle Mnguni Yes, the series was launched on 3 March 2021. (Social Media Manager);

Our warmest regards to our partners – the African Business Development Services: Executive Head, Lucia Mabunda Chambers of Mines and other Mining Associations ([email protected]); and Mpho Molobi (Subscriptions & Circulations Manager) in Africa (ACMMAA) and the Growth Diagnostics in Group Human Capital: Mangi Motloli, Executive Head collaboration with the North-West University Busi- ([email protected]) ness School. Words are sufficient to express how Group Chief Operations Officer: Carol Khoza grateful we are to our audiences from all over ([email protected]); and Phidiso Thato Lee (Management Africa and other continents. intern) Publisher: Saul Molobi ([email protected]) Yakhal’ inkomo! Wake up to appreciate all the re- freshing things Africa has to offer. Our traditional GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE wisdom further says: “ga gona kgomo ya boroko” Group Chairman: Saul Molobi (which means “nobody CEO - Brandhill Africa (Pty) Ltd: Saul Molobi derives wealth from sleeping”). Remember, tradi- CEO - Brandhill Africa Media Holdings (Pty) Ltd: Andile Msindwana tionally cattle are a symbol of wealth. So CEO - Brandhill Africa Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd: Yolanda Basson ([email protected]) let’s get up, fold our sleeves and let’s work hard CEO - Brandhill Africa Institute (Pty) Ltd: Stevens Mokgalapa for Africa’s development. ([email protected]) CEO - Brandhill Africa Foundation NPC: Tshepo Molobi Enjoy the International Women’s Day and South ([email protected]) Africa’s Human Rights’ Month. CONSULTING SERVICES

Accounting and Audit Consulting: Themba Mabena, Mbhuduma Accounting Saul Molobi Services Publisher ([email protected]) Follow me on Twitter: @saulmolobi Legal Services: Shihlamariso Ndlhovu, Shihlamariso Ndlhovu Inc. ([email protected])

5 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

6 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

AU Anthem

Let us all unite and celebrate together The victories won for our liberation Let us dedicate ourselves to rise together To defend our liberty and unity

O Sons and Daughters of Africa Flesh of the Sun and Flesh of the Sky Let us make Africa the Tree of Life

Let us all unite and sing together To uphold the bonds that frame our destiny Let us dedicate ourselves to fight together For lasting peace and justice on earth

O Sons and Daughters of Africa Flesh of the Sun and Flesh of the Sky Let us make Africa the Tree of Life

Let us all unite and toil together To give the best we have to Africa The cradle of mankind and fount of culture Our pride and hope at break of dawn.

O Sons and Daughters of Africa Flesh of the Sun and Flesh of the Sky Let us make Africa the Tree of Life

7 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

International Women’s Day this month, he could have deservingly made our cover story.

I also congratulate you, Jambo Africa Online reader, for your brave fight against COVID-19 – that you are able to read this today shows you are a victor (pat yourself on the back).

Internationalised theft

One of the most burning questions about the current state of global economic, political and cultural routine is the influence of dominant countries over others. We cannot escape the fact that the existence of what some refer to as a ‘global village’ has left underdeveloped and developing countries subject to depen- dencies and influence of bigger economies who happen to be declared former colonialists.

The giant economies continue to usurp control of these countries by manipulating the import-export formula with the small and developing countries in a state of perpetual de- pendency. Africa is the major victim, as has been over the past few centuries.

A country such as Djibouti, for example, does Dear Jambo Africa Online reader! not export much but its economy imports large amounts of foods, pharmaceuticals and Receive greetings from all staff at Jambo capital goods. The developed countries are Africa Online. using the might of their economies to en- Let me hasten to congratulate Ms Lebogang trench post-colonial manipulation, domination Nkadimeng, (Non Executive) Deputy Chair- and exploitation. Weaker cultures are being person of the Brandhill Africa group for being assimilated – worse still, annihilated – and selected as one of the United Nations’ 2020- westocracy continues to assert its hegemony. 2021 Young SDG Innovators. Well done my Thus I recall Antonio Gramsci when he poeti- leader. cised: “In this interregnum, the old refuses to die [while] the new struggles to be born…” Let me also congratulate Dr Patrice Motsepe, a seasoned businessman, for his election as This internationalisation of this exploitation has also left Africa starved of the best that the President of the Confederation of African she can offer and this is done with no shame Football. Indeed, if we weren’t celebrating at all. Nick Dearden of the United Kingdom- based Organisation of Global Justice acknowl-

8 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

edges in his analysis, “Africa is not poor. We financed leagues of Europe. This is exploita- are just stealing its wealth”. He suggests that tion of labour in that these rich countries sub-Saharan Africa loses amounts to the tune through their scouts steal some of the best of $203bn with $68bn in dodged taxes talents that Africa can offer for very low through multinational companies, illegal log- salaries – slave salaries by the victimiser ging, fishing and wildlife trade. countries’ standards. The soccer teams in Eu- rope take advantage of African countries’ So-called tax haven countries (Andorra, the fledgling economies to provide opportunities Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin that seem irresistible to an African player. Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Channel Is- lands, the Cook Islands, The Island of Jersey, At the risk of exposing my age, let me also Hong Kong, The Isle of Man, Mauritius, Licht- acknowledge the first African team to win the enstein, Monaco, Netherlands, Switzerland, FIFA Soccer World Cup. Wearing blue and etc) are also responsible for the huge illicit white kits, they did this on two occasions – in outflows of capital traffic by rich persons and 1998 and 2018. Multi-National Corporations from African An African making waves across the global economies. These countries are global part- world of comedy, Trevor Noah, found himself ners in corruptly destroying the Gross Do- in hot water when the French Ambassador to mestic Products (GDPs) of various African the United States of America Gerard Araud countries. They have left African govern- launched a tirade against him for making ments unable to fulfil their responsibilities such observations about the French soccer over the provision of education, health and national team. But Noah was spot on. In infrastructure to poor communities. 1998 they used Ghanaian Marcel Desailly, Neo-colonialism is real. AfCTFA has a very se- Steve Mandanda of the Democratic Republic rious and sober role to play in undoing this. of Congo (DRC) and Algerian Zinedine Yazid Hence I welcome the AU effort led by H.E. Zidane amongst the many Africans in their Thabo Mbeki in exposing this malfeasance team. In 2018, they used the likes of and supporting our countries to contain it. Cameroonians Samuel Umtiti and Kyllian Mbappe. Scramble for African soccer talent Africans ignite the whole of Europe and the There are some covert methods of thieving. world but are not able to do that wearing Colonialists will steal everything and anything their African colours. Who can ignore the im- in their pursuit to enrich themselves whilst pact that the likes of Ansu Fati (born in impoverishing the rightful owners. When you Guinea Bissau to play for Spain), Patrick cry foul, they find fault in you. Viera and Patrice Evra (born in Senegal, The entertainment industry is one area were played for France), Claude Makelele (born in this acculturation is preponderant. DRC but played for France), Mario Coluna (Born in Mozambique but played for Portu- Sport and soccer in particular is what John gal), Eusebio (born in Mozambique and Bale, famous for his book Sports Geography, played for Portugal), Jose Bosingwa (born in refers to as “a new scramble for Africa”. DRC but represented Portugal), Rolando and African soccer is faced with a constant out- Luis Nani (born in Cape Verde but repre- flow of talented players into the various well

9 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

sented Portugal), Wilfred Zaha (born in Ivory well as heritage. Coast but represented England), Christian A long, uneasy road Benteke (born in DRC but reprented Bel- gium), Gerald Asamoah (born in Ghana and A prosperous Africa that is based on inclusive represented Germany) and a long list of oth- growth and sustainable development is the ers? key to the fulfilment of this continent’s potential. This is a growth that should be distrib- They may be in diaspora, but their roots in uted equitably across society and creates op- Africa persist. Prior to his death in the mid- portunities for all – including pursuing growth 60s, the great US African civil rights leader and redistribution simultaneously. Malcolm X said, “You cannot hate the root of a tree and not hate the tree itself. You cannot Africa is negotiating her way into the third hate an African and not hate Africa”. Africans month since the African Continental Free are Africans, whether within the continent or Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) came into opera- in the diaspora. tion. A free trade agreement is not a walk in the park. It is a long, uneasy road for all the African Art participating countries. Africans have always been artists. H.E. Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General African artwork, stolen centuries ago, that is of the AfCFTA Secretariat, has shown that the used to show class and finesse in Europe has agreement is realistic about the challenges become a matter for discussion. Again, it is that lie ahead. He says, “I don’t want any- laughable when colonialists struggle to un- body to be under the illusion that this is go- derstand why they need to return the works ing to be easy. It’s going to be difficult, but of art from which they have made trillions of we’ve got to do it.” In anticipation of such dollars for centuries from the talents of many challenges the conceptualisers of AfCTFA put Africans. Because they stole it centuries ago, the planning into phases. More negotiations they feel they don’t need to return it. This amongst and between countries mean that body of work may remain in dispersion, but it the project will evolve and become better remains a vivid depiction of Africa’s power as over time as it reacts to predictable and un- the cradle of civilization. predictable conditions.

The difference between that artwork and the The biggest market in the world one made by the Khoi and the San in south- Despite all this, Africa remains a massive ern Africa is that they failed to steal the latter consumer market – bigger than any compa- because it was engraved on walls of natural rable structure in the world and abundant caves – if it was up to them they would have with superior natural resources. It is these stolen those very same caves. Yes we can resources that make this continent to con- never forget Napoleon Bonaparte bombed the tinue being a scramble for modern colonisers Egyptian Sphinx with the intention of appro- from across the globe. As reflected in our priating – thanks to the ingenuity of those previous editions, Africa has no choice but to sculptors that he realised it was an impossi- coalesce its efforts in order to protect itself ble mission, though he disfigured it.. from exploitation whilst at the same time This is sophisticated theft of African skill as maximally benefitting from its capacities.

10 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

This neo-colonialism stands to suffer dearly, opportunity. African citizenry must, as a con- if Africans make use of the natural talent, sequence, be able to generate income as de- skill and abundance of resources within our velopment should always be people-driven. borders. COVID-19 Africa will, at the success of AfCTFA, shift We live during a period that can easily be from its current commodity export economic viewed as a challenge to all humanity. model to a manufacturing and value addition COVID-19 has imposed a standstill in all supported by a stronger intra-African trade world operations. approach that yields a self-sufficient con- glomeration of its economies. The AfCFTA is It has disturbed the African economy in ways an opportunity for countries, companies and that have challenged the diversity of what we citizens to help each other grow whilst ex- offer. For countries that rely a lot on tourism, ploiting the offerings of this continent. which is quite a huge sector in Africa, this industry is struggling to generate revenue and An integrated Africa is a strong, united and that has severely dwarfed the various influential global player. Kwame Nkrumah al- economies. Trade of other goods and sub- ways insisted on the marriage between poli- stances have also been hit savagely by the tics and the economy. He insisted that avoid- current state of affairs. The lockdowns and ing intra-African political rivalry and eco- border closures continue to disrupt the sup- nomic friction were pre-requisites to the cre- ply chains and has impacted all countries ation of a single African economy that will re- negatively. This does not augur well for lease Africans from the fangs of colonialists. Africa’s economic performance as this conti- Let’s grow together. nent has a very large output on agriculture Redefining Africa as these disruptions could have much longer economic impact. The potential impacts of AfCTFA is based on creating an African sus- the collapse of the financial systems cannot tainable brand that is equivalent to her wor- be undermined. thy status. This is a responsibility that goes beyond what governments do but also trans- Matshidiso Moeti from the World Health Or- mits to how the African citizenry and host ganisation (WHO) has stated that African business in various countries embrace the women have faced the most difficulties as a effort of the African Union and AfCFTA. When result of COVID-19 in comparison to men. you think about Germany your mind already She states that African women suffer as a imagines Mercedes Benz; Italy – pasta; consequence of the pandemic more income United Kingdom – Polo; South Korea – Sam- losses, more social marginalisation, and more sung; United States of America – Nike; Africa health risks. But more generally embers of – war? AfCFTA is a tool that is set to rebrand families have lost lives, more children have Africa in an uncomplicated way. become orphaned, people have lost jobs and, most importantly, whole humanity is under African citizens form the most important attack. stakeholdr segment that should benefit incre- mentally from the works of the AfCFTA. The COVID-19, however, has also vindicated the advent of AfCTFA is a period that defines this African scholars’ assertion that African bor-

11 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ders are artificial. The pandemic has shown We have to accept that this tragedy has left disrespect for racial, tribal, economical, and us unable to maximally use our individual na- many other isms that represent “differences” tionalistic abilities to partake in the manage- between human beings. ment of our economies.

Undeniably, a common approach is not a Stay safe, wear your mask and we shall de- matter of choice but one of necessity. It is feat COVID-19!! not for me to dictate how we all should deal We are all in this together! with the COVID-19 pandemic because it is unprecedented. Therefore, it would be wise We shall unshackle Africa! to allow all Africans and the whole of human- Asante Sana! ity to devise attempts at finding a solution to Andile Msindwana this catastrophic episode bedevilling the existence of the human beings. Editor Follow me on Twitter: @MsindwanaAndile

12 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021 world where teenagers see the beauty and strength within themselves. A world where young adults understand that they don't need to be perfect, all they need is to show up. A world where parents get the help and support they need, but at times lack.

Siyafunda Village Foundation NPC desires to see a generation of young � people living a life filled with love, peace, joy, success and the freedom to be their authentic self. There is a world out there that doesn’t involve abusing substances, � being misunderstood, and our job as Siyafunda Village Foundation NPC is to Siyafunda Village Foundation is a not- and placed at the front door of their lives be that safe haven for the youth to freely for-profit company that was founded in by mentoring, tutoring, teaching and and openly express all that they wish to. 2019 by two young visionary and equipping them. conscientious ladies, Kgomotso Molobi The foundation has already concluded and Paulina Madlazi, with the sole Their vision is to help them realize that one collaboration with Gracious mandate of improving communities for they have purpose and were not placed Operations of Divinity and has another the betterment of society as a whole. on this earth by accident but were in fact planned for end of March. The These two sat one warm afternoon and chosen to live a prosperous and collaborations are a sanitary and toiletry had an extremely relevant conversation successful life according to the book of drive. At this point they are open to about the state of the world. Although John 15:16. receiving anydonations andextend their they realised that impacting and gratitude towards everyone who has changing lives would not be easy, it There is a huge need in the lives of already given towards this cause. certainly would be worth it. young ladies and gentlemen as well as boys and girls alike; a gap that they The foundation is inspired by African Their aim is to improve the lives of the desire tohelp fill. wisdom: “It takes a village to raise a less fortunate and underprivileged by child!” giving of themselves, their time, their According to their vision, Siyafunda resources (limited as they are), whole Village Foundation NPC is not a job or a For more information,please heartedly as inspired by the book of means to an end. it is a lifestyle. A call/WhatsApp Kgomotso Molobi at Deuteronomy 15:10. They also have a lifestyle aimed at impacting lives and +27 61 171 4214 and Paulina Madlazi desire to see young people reach their creating smiles that last. Their desire is at +27 64 214 1702 full potential and realise that there is to see a world where children are cared more to them than what was gift wrapped for, loved and constantly provided for. A

13 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021 Verbatim

This month we feature Dr Wynton Marsalis treatise against racial tyranny in the United States

14 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

With the crescendo of public outcry and pro- loud shouting of other serious, though less liferation of opinions and justifiable expres- egregious, transgressions. This fully recorded sions of outrage by so many experts, officials public execution yet again demands our full and popular celebrities, I fear there’s little attention and interest, IF we have the slight- room or need for yet another person voicing est remnant of belief in the morality, reason a commonly held opinion. I also believe that and intelligence required to realize, maintain the everyday tragedies that are common- and protect a libertarian democracy. place and routine to our everyday way of liv- In each of the four decades of my adult life, ing, should be addressed when they happen, I have addressed our myriad American social not when so much pressure has built up in and character problems with an involved the system that it must be let out. It’s also piece that always defends a belief in the pro- much more difficult to draw a crowd every gression towards freedom that my parents day for the sanctioned and accepted forms of taught us was perhaps possible for all. Expe- corruption and disrespect of Black Americans rientially, artistically, and spiritually, I’ve had that are shouted from countless recordings a lifetime relationship - akin to obsession - and videos and even more powerfully whis- with confronting this national calamity and pered in the form of discriminatory laws, conundrum. practices and procedures that result in unfair housing and employment practices, and more As these decades have passed and our na- tragically, lengthy unjust prison sentences. tion has retreated from the promises of the Civil Rights Movement that my generation Much of this “cacophony of crazy” is exe- grew up believing would substantially im- cuted officiously and with a warm and in- prove economic and social opportunities for nocuous smile. Therefore, Americans of all those who had been denied by our ‘tradi- hues pass quickly from anger to acceptance, tions’, I have spoken, written, played and and as months turn to years, our daily silence composed about the toll that American racial and inaction is willfully misread as endorse- injustice has taken on all of us—our possibili- ment and back we go to go the illusion that ties, our presence and our promise. Those “we’re past this”, because the daily grind is words, notes and more seem to have been more important than what we find if we just wasted on gigs, recordings, in classrooms, in open our eyes and keep them open. prisons, in parks, on tv shows, in print, on This particular tragedy, however common it’s radio and from almost any podium from the become across these last decades, is per- deep hood to palatial penthouse in cities, fectly symbolic of this specific time and place. towns and suburbs in every state and region And this global pandemic has given it a clear of our country day and night and sometimes and more pungent stage. This murder is so deep into the night for over 40 relentless distinctive because of the large size and gen- years. tle nature of the man who was murdered, be- Just yesterday, I was walking with my 11- cause of the smug, patient and determined year-old daughter and she asked me, “Did demeanor of his killer and of the other peace you see the video of the man in Minneapo- officers protecting the crime in full public lis?” “Yes” I said. I always talk to her about view, and because our nation is always at- history and slavery and all kinds of stuff that tempting to escape its original sin with the

15 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

16 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

she is not interested in - and probably overdo it for that reason. She asked, “Why did the man just kneel on him and kill him like that in front of everybody?“ Instead of answering I asked her a question back, ”If I went out of my way to squash something that was harm- less to me, and stomped on it repeatedly and deliberately to make sure I had killed every drop of life in it, and then looked defiantly at you, as if triumphant. Why would I do that?” She said, “You hate bugs.” I laughed and said, “Let’s say it’s not necessarily a bug, just whatever I go out of my way to utterly de- stroy. Why would I?” She said, “Because you can.” “Yes,” and I further asked, “Why else?”

“Because you want to”, and then I said “Yes, but can you think of another more basic reason?” She thought for a while and just couldn’t come up with it. I kept it going saying and aggravating her,” It’s one of the most important ones.” After a few minutes she rolled her eyes and said, “Just tell me.” I debated with myself about telling her this last reason since it’s almost always left out of the national discussions when these types of re- peated crimes by our peace officers are committed, but I figured, it’s never too early to consider the obvious. So, I said, “Because he enjoyed it. For him, and for many others, that type of thing is fun. Like them good ole boys in Georgia chasing that brother through the neighborhood to defend themselves.” It’s no more complex than that. She said,” hmm- mmm....” unconvinced. And I said, “this type of fun is much older even than America itself.” I considered how different her understanding is of these things, if only just because of time, place and experience.

During my childhood, raw racism and pure absolute ignorance was just a fact, but so was enlightened protest and determined re- sistance. It was the times, the 60’s going into

17 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

the 70’s. With our Afros and the conscious- Racist mythology, social inequality, and eco- ness music of James Brown, Marvin Gaye and nomic exploitation used propaganda and Stevie Wonder, younger brothers were deter- physical lines of demarcation to create and mined not to put up with any bullshit at all, enforce a state of mind. It was called segre- unlike our ancestors, who we felt had willfully gation. Because my parents grew to adult- endured and accepted disrespect. And it was hood in it and I was raised in it, I unknow- so easy to believe they were acquiescent in ingly believed in it, and even referred to my- their own degradation because we didn’t self as a minority. The late Albert Murray, my know anything about the deep deep sorrow mentor and intellectual grandfather in and pains of their lives, because they bore it Harlem, New York, dissuaded me from the all in silence and disquieting shame. Now, segregated mindset with a penetrating ques- those old folks are long gone, and each pass- tion, “How are you going to accept being a ing day reveals the naïveté of our underesti- minority in your own country? Is an Italian a mation of the power and stubbornness of our minority in Italy?” opponent. Now, our ancestors loom much Well, let’s see. That’s a question our country larger albeit as shadowy premonitions in the has to ask itself. If we are plural so be it. But background of a blinding mirror that is ex- we aren’t. We are segregated in so many posing us all, black and white. more ways than race and if we are to be integrated, a nasty question remains: whose genes will recede and whose will be dominant? Who is them and who is us? Mr. Mur- ray once told me, “Racial conflict in America has always been black and white versus white.” We see that in the current riots that have sprung up around the country. There are all kinds of folks out there and always have been. Any cursory viewing of protests in the 60’s reveals Americans of all hues.

But when all is said and done, and all the videos and photos become just a part of a protester’s personal narrative kit to be pulled out for kids and grandkids as a testament of their youth. When the enormous collective wealth of America passes from one generation to the next, who of our white brothers and sisters now so chagrined will be out in the streets then? Playing loud defiant music in your bedroom means one thing at 15, but it’s very different when it’s your house. Who will be out there making sure that their darker-hued brother and sister in the struggle has enough opportunity to feed their fam-

18 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ily, and a good enough education to join the keeps us focused on beating people we national debate to articulate an informed po- should be helping. And the more helpless the sition in their fight for their rights and re- target, the more vicious the beating. Like I sponsibilities and the financial security to en- was trying to explain to my daughter, some- joy older age with the comforts of health, thing just feels good about abusing another home, and happiness? person when you feel bad about yourself.

If the 80’s Reagan revolution is any indica- We can’t be feeling that good about our nation, don’t hold your breath for the “post tion right now. Separated by wealth disparity, racial America” that we were supposed to segregated in thought and action, poorly led have achieved without having corrected or on the left and on the right, confused in val- even acknowledged any of the real problems. ues of institutions and symbols of excellence, lacking in all integrity from the highest to the The whole construct of blackness and white- lowest levels of government, undisciplined in ness as identity is fake anyway. It is a exercising the responsibilities of citizenship, labyrinth of bullshit designed to keep you lost disengaged and overfed on meaningless trivia and running around and around in search of and games, at each other’s throats all the a solution that can only be found outside of time for every issue. We seem to be at a the game itself. Our form of Democracy dead end. affords us the opportunity to mine a collective intelligence, a collective creativity, and a It’s funny to think this whole experiment in collective human heritage. But the game democracy could end with a populace that is

19 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

20 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

so polarized and self-absorbed that it can’t Bottoms, the Mayor of Atlanta and Killer Mike imagine atoning for the slavery and subjuga- both reference the Civil War, the Civil Rights tion of other human beings and sharing enor- Movement and this moment in one mous wealth (financial and other) with each breath. They put this present moment in its other. But it wouldn’t be that surprising, be- proper context – a continuation of the strug- cause no matter how many times we find gle for human rights and civil liberties against ourselves with the opportunity to right the legacy of slavery and unapologetic tremendous wrongs, we just keep coming up racism. with the same wrong answer. It’s like having These were Abraham Lincoln’s thoughts the solution to a math problem, not knowing on slavery: the underlying mechanics to actually solve it, and lacking the patience and humility to ask “I hate it because of the monstrous injustice for help-to learn. It’s the damndest thing to of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives just keep doing the same wrong thing over our republic an example of its just influence and over again, and more forcefully wrong in the world, enables the enemies of free in- each time...... or maybe, that wrong answer stitutions with plausibility to taunt us as hyp- we keep coming up with—maybe it’s just who ocrites, causes the real friends of freedom to we actually are. doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men among our- Life is not a book or a movie. It is itself selves into an open war with the very funda- much too complicated and simple to be un- mental principles of civil liberty, criticizing the derstood from any one person’s perspective. Declaration of Independence, and insisting Its truths come to their own conclusions that that there is no right principle of action but live as facts though lies may stand as tempo- self-interest.” rary history. But George Floyd lying in the cold cold ground at this moment is a fact, as Notice the list of corruptions that Lincoln laid was the fact of Eric Garner and all of the out 160 years ago - there is no better defini- other Americans who didn’t deserve to be tion of our current position. He must have killed by their peace officers. come up out of the grave to tell us yet again. Sad as it is to say, contemporary Americans The murders of both men are eerily similar. just may not be up to the challenge of And they, taken together though almost six democracy. A lot of countries in the world years apart, are not even a referendum on seem to be openly retreating from it. But that the offending officers, but a view into how we open retreat will be different here, for our can’t get past the illegality and illegitimacy of credo of equality, freedom and the dignity of our courts and our politics that snatched back persons requires us to construct elaborate the North’s victory from the South in the Civil ways of eliminating stubborn problems that War. This successful legal and political wran- we seem to not have the will, wherewithal, gling to recast slavery as peonage and to and humanity to solve. maintain an underclass is still going on. Its victories, in effect, spit on the graves of And it’s the slow, slow choke out of every- 700,000 Americans lost on both sides in that thing black: that fake construct of blackness conflict. And we refight our Civil War every that was invented in America for the express day. It was interesting hearing Keisha Lance purpose of elevating an equally fake white-

21 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ness; that blackness that has been parodied the American DNA will prove to be impossible and mocked and shamed, been raped and because we are written into the original Con- robbed and lynched, cheated and fooled and stitution – albeit it as 3/5ths of a person. straight up hustled into slapping itself under Black folks’ struggle, more than any other, the banner of entertainment, still seeking the has advanced the integrity of that document attention and resources of its masters by hat- down through these bloody centuries. The ing and disrespecting and killing itself; that challenge that faces our country now is what omnipresent blackness to be named and re- it has always been: Can we reckon with the named again and yet again for the purposes idea that the opposite of injustice is not jus- of denying its very name and birthright, that tice, it is corrective assistance. The question blackness that shows up in everything from a that continues to plague us across centuries, bowl of grits and a Southern twang to a decades, years, months, days, hours, min- whining rock guitar and a piece of fried utes and even seconds: Do we have the will chicken, to The Constitution itself. Yeah, and the intention to get that 3/5ths up above choking all the blackness out is going to be 5/5ths and create a productive society the hard. Because it shows up as state’s rights likes of which has never been seen? versus federal authority, as the root of the One thing I know for sure, that’s not ever electoral college and as gerrymandered dis- going to happen with your foot on a black tricts and the modern repression of some neck, and I’m not talking about the most cur- people’s right to vote. rent, obviously guilty police officer. This is That inescapable blackness is always a pri- about all of us rejecting the injustices of our mary subject in the discussions that elect collective past with consistent and relentless Presidents where it shows up as immigrants, individual action that goes far beyond giving criminals, and disavowed preachers. It’s money. clearly seen every day and night in our rich- This has been my response to injustice in est cities staggering down the streets in a our country and in the world across the last tattered stupor with a sign saying, “do you forty years: see me?” and bearing the dates 1835, 1789, 1855 and all of those slavery years. And all Black Codes (1984); Blood on the Fields those ghosts remind you that we rolled back (1997); All Rise (1999); From the Plantation Reconstruction, we denied the Afro-American to The Penitentiary (2006); and The Ever heroism of WWI with the segregation of Fonky Low Down (2019) WWII, that we denied our citizens access to equal funding and equal housing and equal education and equal health care and equal opportunities and that we rolled back the gains of the Civil Rights movement under on Dr Wynton Marsalis is a renowned jazz the very watch of many of us that are alive to musician and Director of the Jazz at Lincoln read this post. And that at each broken Center in the US. This article was first pub- promise, said with a smile, “fare thee well lished on his Facebook page on 31 May 2020. brother, fare the well”. The photos are from his page too.

That slow choking of all the blackness out of

22 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

23 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

24 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

25 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

26 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

27 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

International

Nothing About Us Without Us! RUBY MARKS argues that while celebrating women’s achievements, we still need to identify what the remaining challenges are…

28 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

29 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

women across the world are free to play their full and equal role in society. This day brings awareness to the rest of the world on the importance of women and their role in the development of our countries.

The Gender Challenge for Equal Repre- sentation

Although we have made major gains internationally, a lot more work still has to be done in the international arena to break the current glasswall between policy-speak and policy-do. This is reflected in the gender hierar- chy for many institutions; for example, in all International Women’s Day is observed annu- of the years of the existence of the United ally to celebrate the social, economic, cul- Nations, we have never had a female Secre- tural, and political achievements of women to tary-General. Of course, it would be reduc- support a platform that helps forge positive tionist to assume that all women and all men change for women. This year, the theme for will necessarily bring a gender analyses to International Women’s Day is #Choose- their foreign policy work, but overwhelmingly, ToChallenge, to indicate that a “challenged it is clear that the predominantly male gender world is an alert world, and from challenge regime in world affairs does shape policy pri- comes change”. orities across the board in ways that sharply reinforce gender inequalities. Another exam- This is a day on which we reflect on progress ple where this is starkly apparent is in the is- made, call for change and celebrate acts of sue of conflict where women, disproportion- courage and determination by ordinary ately affected by conflict compared to men, women, who have played an extraordinary are for the most part excluded in conflict pre- role in the history of their countries and com- vention, post-conflict reconstruction, transi- munities. tional justice and peace building process, International Women's Day is celebrated in leaving them at the margins of peace pro- many countries around the world. It is a day cesses. when women are recognized for their This is in spite of the international and re- achievements without regard to divisions, gional commitments on gender equality in whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, peace processes. For example, according to economic or political. The day was first cele- UNWomen, between 1992 and 2018, women brated in 1908, and is closely associated with constituted 13% of peace negotiators, and the Russian Revolution. It brings all women only 4% of signatories in major peace pro- together in the world as sisters in solidarity cesses. And yet research has shown that to reflect on the gains that we have made in women’s participation increases the sustain- society, but also to identify what the remain- ability of peace. ing challenges are that face women, so that we can recommit ourselves to ensure that all The numbers of women who work as Perma-

30 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

nent Representatives for their country still an immense debt of gratitude for helping to falls far short from gender parity: there are lay the foundations of our current foreign pol- only 50 women who serve as Permanent Rep- icy under hostile conditions, and which, as in resentatives, as opposed to a whopping 140 the case of Dulcie September, led to her as- men in the 193-member General Assembly, sassination while she was a representative in the highest policy making body of the United Paris, France, of the then banned African Na- Nations. And the UN Security Council has tional Congress (ANC). The pivotal role that never been able to have more than a sprinkle women have played in our liberation struggle of women at the table. has not been adequately researched or ex- plored, and so the full story of the contribu- This means that women are mostly excluded tion of women still has to be told. It is there- from the political process of developing and fore important to note that the struggle for implementing solutions to the world’s prob- women’s empowerment and gender equality lems. started many years ago, and have resulted in The Historical Context of Gender in many positive gains for women, although a South Africa lot more has to be done. When it comes to women’s representation, it is clear that the South African women were at the forefront of concerted efforts of the ruling party in South the liberation movement pre-1994, and in many instances played a pivotal role in making representa- tions in other countries on the real- ities of life under apartheid for the marginalised, disenfranchised majority. Indeed, women such as Lil- lian Ngoyi, Miriam Makeba, Dulcie September, Frene Ginwala and many others helped to shape, through their advocacy work and lobbying of state and non-state actors, important policy changes towards apartheid South Africa, which enabled us to build support and solidarity that contributed in no small measure to hasten the end of apartheid. As front-line diplomats, their lobbying and advocacy role at anti-apartheid gather- ings, multi-lateral forums and pre- sentations to sympathetic governments around the reality of the lives of women and men under apartheid. We owe these women

31 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Africa, the ANC, have noticeably increased the numbers of women in political parties. For example, in the 2019 elections women gained 23 seats across all parties. Based on the current composition of the National As- sembly, the proportion of women is 46%. This is a significant increase of 11% from the previous parliament. The increase of women in the national assembly to 45% is a remark- able figure given, that prior to 1994, only 2.7% of parliament consisted of women while in 1994, it stood at 27%. South Africa, Rwanda and Ethiopia are among the world’s few gender-balanced cabinets with 50%, 61% and 50 % respectively.

Overall, South Africa has made notable progress, and has arguably one of the most gender-diverse parliaments in the world, ranking number three in Africa and tenth c) Health: Women bore the brunt of the globally. However, it still falls short in achiev- HIV and AIDS pandemic, and South Africa is ing gender parity. falling short of achieving MDG 5 that related Nationally, South Africa makes clear the link to maternal health between our national priorities and gender. d) Crime: Gender based violence is a ma- As a country, we have posited that there ex- jor feature of crime in South Africa, and we ists an iterative relationship between our for- continue to have unacceptably high rates of eign policy objectives and our domestic pol- rape and domestic violence. icy. At a domestic level, this requires us to unpack the gender dimensions of our domes- e) Rural development: The majority of the tic priorities. If we consider a few of these rural poor are women and bear the brunt of priorities for their gender dimensions, it be- rural poverty and marginalization. comes clear what the impacts for women are The importance of linking our national priori- within our national priorities: ties to the current and post-COVID Gender a) Creation of decent work and sustainable Challenge cannot be overemphasized, be- livelihoods: The majority of working women cause the pandemic has caused roll-back on in South Africa are in poorly paid and poorly the gender gains that we have made over the regulated sectors such as domestic and agri- years. From unemployment to in- cultural work and the feminisation of poverty creased burdens of unpaid care, from dis- is a growing phenomenon in South Africa rupted schooling to an escalating crisis of domestic violence and exploitation, women’s b) Education: There are higher attrition lives have been upended and their rights rates for girl children as opposed to boy chil- eroded. It will therefore remain important to dren

32 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ensure that as we recover from the pan- major obstacles to women’s empowerment demic, support and stimulus packages must and gender equality. target women and girls specifically, including We still have a long way to go. A luta con- through investments in women-owned busi- tinua! nesses and the care economy. As well, companies and institutions must adopt special measures and quotas to advance women’s equal participation. Failure to do this, will once again leave women behind, and will further entrench gender inequality.

Conclusion

Although there have been some gender gains for women, this had been patchy and un- even. We still find regressive patriarchal practices that are sharply at odds with pro- gressive gender policy legislation, and this has proven difficult to surface and to shift. It is clear that numbers are necessary, but not sufficient to ensure that gender equality and gender equity becomes a reality. Coupled with gender-based violence; equal access to Ruby Marks, (pictured below) an accom- resources, and enhancement of women par- plished gender activist, is South Africa’s Am- ticipation in the public and private sectors in- bassador to Benin. cluding households, these barriers represent

33 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

QUOTES ON WOMEN EMPOWERMENT‘ ‘

“There is no tool for development “A woman is like a tea bag - you more effective than the empowerment never know how strong she is until of women…” she gets in hot water…” Kofi Annan Eleanor Roosevelt “Don't just stand for the success of “A woman is the full circle. Within her other women - insist on it…” is the power to create, nurture and transform…” Gail Blanke Diane Mariechild “When she stopped conforming to the conventional picture of femininity she finally began to enjoy being a “Women's empowerment is inter- woman…” twined with respect for human rights…” Betty Friedan Mahnaz Afkhami “No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of “Educate a man and you educate an half of its citizens…” individual. Educate a woman and you educate a family…” Michelle Obama A. Cripps “When women participate in the econ- “The empowered woman is powerful omy, everyone benefits…” beyond measure and beautiful beyond description…” Hillary Clinton Steve Maraboli “We need women at all levels, includ- “If women understood and exercised ing the top, to change the dynamic, their power they could remake the reshape the conversation, to make world…” sure women's voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ig- Emily Taft Douglas nored…”

34 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Sheryl Sandberg “Women are the real architects of society…” Harriet Beecher Stowe “Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world…” Hillary Clinton “The education and empowerment of women throughout the world cannot fail to result in a more caring, toler- ant, just and peaceful life for all…” Aung San Suu Kyi

35 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Bridgital Nation: How the Bridgital Model can transform Africa

36 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

“It is 2030, India is among the world’s top three economies. All Indians use advanced technology to either do their job or get their job done. All Indians have access to quality jobs, better healthcare, and skill-based education. Technology and human beings co-exist in a mutually beneficial ecosystem”.

By Parminder Vir OBE

So goes the introduction to Bridgital Na- Unlike in most countries where growth is fol- tion: Solving Technology's People Prob- lowed by the creation of more jobs, economic lem, co-authored by N. Chandrasekaran, growth in India tends to come from services and Roopa Purushothaman. The book is dedi- and produce few manufacturing jobs. In a cated “for a country that cannot wait”. more fundamental and tailored approach to these challenges, the authors propose the Bridgital Nation describes how technology creation of the country’s own path to growth can solve India’s biggest problems if it is re- and prosperity by using technology as a garded as an aid and not a threat, and if the bridge between the overwhelming demand “simplistic binary of technology versus jobs” for vital services and an overwhelming supply can be done away with. of human capital. Bridgital Nation identifies jobs and access as Bridgital Nation suggests using technology the two biggest problems facing India, and and advances in artificial intelligence to rein- notes that access to basic services in health- vent tasks so that the unorganised, semi- care and education (especially to women), skilled and poorly paid sectors are included and a lack of productive jobs for young Indi- into the formal economy, bridging the gap ans entering the job market, prevent India between rich and poor, skilled, and unskilled. from reaching its full potential. This way, technology offers everyone a In the foreword, Ratan N. Tata writes: “Bridg- chance to leapfrog several steps in each ital Nation addresses these issues in the con- process and empowers workers to perform text of India and emphasizes the need to tasks that were thought to be beyond them. build human bridges which recognise the di- This approach could provide better service versity of the human interface with its varied delivery in health, transport, agriculture, law, educational base, skill sets and access to in- and education, and create and impact mil- frastructure. It shows how technology can lions of jobs around the world. create a pathway for government, busi- In tackling the twin challenges of nesses, regulators, NGOs and everyday peo- jobs and access, the authors argue that two ple to close the gaps that matter most”. other strategies are needed: bringing women to the workforce and preparing the ground for thriving entrepreneurship throughout the

37 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

38 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

country. channel the entrepreneurial spirit inherent throughout the nation. They emphasise the importance of working women and entrepreneurs to India’s future. Bringing women to the workforce and prepar- They use personal stories to make a case for ing the ground for thriving entrepreneurship policies that focus on childcare provision and throughout the country are deeply interwo- parental leave, as well as concerted steps ven, multiplying the impact on jobs and ac- that must be taken to change the society’s cess. “We don’t have to look at digital ap- attitude towards working women. They out- proaches as simply cost-cutting, profit-en- line the need for a new focus on enhancing exercises. They can augment our hu- trepreneurship to potentially shift 45 million man capital. We do not have to look at gen- workers into more productive and better-pay- der as solely an inclusion issue. It is firmly a ing employment in small and medium enter- talent decision. We do not have to look at en- prises. trepreneurship with a singular lens of creating billion-dollar unicorns. It is a strength The role of women is critical: Nearly 120 mil- that we can leverage throughout the coun- lion Indian women – more than double the try”. These are all critical bridges to a better entire population of South Korea – have at future of work for India. least a secondary education, but do not participate in the workforce. Imagine if India al- In Bridgital Nation, the authors do not just lowed more of India’s secondary educated address the problems, they also propose so- population to transition into the jobs market. lutions for moving forward through the adoption of technologies to these challenges. This For Bridgital to work, women will form an im- “digital” becomes “bridgital”, using technol- portant part of the Bridgital workers. India ogy to supplement, rather than substitute, will need to address how to make paid work for human labour – a technology-based available to and worthwhile for women. bridge between jobs and access to build a India is full of micro business – self-employed middle class that India needs. Bridgital does individuals running survival ventures. We this by reimagining how services can be de- know that SMEs account for over third of pri- livered and how people can use their talents vate sector employment. A focus on en- differently once they are aided by technology. trepreneurship throughout the country – ur- In the Bridgital world, technology does not ban, semi urban, rural could potentially shift disrupt an existing market as much as it cre- 45 million workers into more productive em- ates an entirely new one. The more access ployment in small and medium enterprises. India creates, the more jobs it will make available to its people, setting off a virtuous Bridgital Nation argues that entrepreneurship cycle of inclusion and growth. It is possible to can flourish everywhere through the develop- achieve with the Bridgital Model. ment of bridgital clusters that integrate and extend a range of digital business services The Bridgital Model uses technology as an which many SMEs lack. Bridgital clusters, enabler, a tool, to make the most of what In- coupled with the deeper use of digital gover- dia has, and give the country what it most nance to transform the relationship between needs. Bridgital enhances its workers rather SMEs and the bureaucracy, can positively than replacing them. Throughout the book,

39 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

India’s Prime Minister Modi

40 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

the authors show how this can be applied in health, education, agriculture, financial ser- The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the vices, and logistics. If it is done well, they ar- Potential of Digital Technologies for All, pub- gue that it can positively impact 30 million lished in June 2020 as a regional companion jobs in 2025 and lead to a 10-20% increase piece to the World Bank’s World Development in wages for workers, while giving over 200 Report 2019: The Changing Nature of million citizens access to better services in- Workhighlights how global trends, especially cluding health and education. the adoption of digital technologies, may Through poignant stories from everyday Indi- change the nature of work in Sub-Saharan ans, the book shows how serious the prob- Africa by creating new opportunities and lems of the poor are, and how relatively un- challenges, creating inclusive workplaces to qualified people too, enabled by technology, accommodate less skilled and less educated can help address them. workers.

Bridgital Nation is a beautifully written, ex- Just as the authors of Bridgital Nation note, tremely insightful look at how India can har- this report also points out that creating these ness technological innovation to transform its opportunities will require “grassroots inven- economy and people. As I read the book, I tors and entrepreneurs” to promote “formal, kept imagining applying the Bridgital Model private sector jobs”. to the African continent where I spent the In the past decade, with the help of en- past 6 years working, supporting thousands trepreneurship support organisations, en- of African entrepreneurs from 54 African trepreneurship on Africa has been embraced countries, and how the solutions from this and has grown rapidly, providing jobs for an emerging country can be transported to a overwhelming majority and leading innova- continent facing the same twin chal- tion in digital technologies. Policies and struc- lenges: jobs and access. The twin challenges, tures to support entrepreneurs and their said Roopa, are not limited to India; they ex- business are more popular and continue to be ist in many emerging countries and abso- a point of advocacy with governments and lutely apply to the African continent. foreign agencies. By the end of the century, almost half of the The Bridgital Nation model, applied to African global population will be African. And by 2035 countries, can catalyse the use of technology, - less than 15 years from today - Africa will talent, and visionary leadership to truly have the largest and youngest workforce in transform the continent by addressing some the world. (Source: https://www.algroup.org) of its most pressing problems. In many ways, the challenges outlined in Throughout the book, I heard the distinct Bridgital Nation are mirrored in several coun- voice of Roopa Purushothaman who I first tries across Africa – a growing population, met in 2004, soon after she had published few job opportunities, difficulties in accessing the path breaking 2003 Goldman Sachs re- services, an underutilised female population. port, Dreaming with BRICS: The Path to With these challenges come the same oppor- 2050. She was invited to share the report tunities to use technology to effect transfor- with the Board of UK India Business Council. mations at the country and continent level.

41 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

42 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

We met again in 2011, when she had pro- duced her report on women and work in In- dia. We reconnected again in January 2021 when I tracked her down on learning about her new book, Bridgital Nation. An economist by training, she is passionate about girl About the Authors education and has founded Avasara Leader- ship Institute, about which I will write more in another article.

For now, I urge you to read Bridgital Nation. The Bridgital Model is not just for India – the N. Chandrasekaran size and diversity of challenges in India can certainly inspire the African continent. I look Natarajan Chandrasekaran is forward to working with my colleagues on Chairman of the Board of Tata the African continent to organise convenings Sons, the holding company around the Bridgital Model, because the fu- and promoter of more than ture of work will be imagined on these conti- 100 Tata operating compa- nents – bringing people and technology to- nies. Prior to this, he was the gether. Chief Executive Officer of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services provider and one of India's most valuable companies. He About Parminder Vir OBE is also a director on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India. Parminder Vir OBE has dedicated herself to positively impacting and transforming lives through a professional career spanning 40 years in philanthropy, entrepreneurship, film Roopa Purushothaman and television production, arts and culture, Roopa Purushothaman is the and investment funding. She is the co- Chief Economist and Head of founder of the Support4AfricaSMEs cam- Policy Advocacy at the Tata paign and The African Farmers Stories, Group, and the founder of launched in 2020. She served as the CEO of Avasara Leadership Institute. the Tony Elumelu Foundation, based in La- She has contributed to a num- gos, Nigeria from April 2014 to April 2019. ber of publications on global- Prior to joining the Foundation, Parminder ization and development. has enjoyed a distinguished career as an awarding winning film and television producer and private equity investor in film and media.

43 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

TELLINGOUROWN SMESTORIES

“Even in these uncertain times, some African Inform And Educate: There are entrepreneurs SMEs are rising above the present challenges and entrepreneurship ecosystem players and forging new paths for their businesses. within your sector, immediate community and These entrepreneurs stand as beacon of hope country who need to learn from your experi- and their voices need to be heard.” ences. Given the unique nature of Covid-19, different sectors across different countries The spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) are handling the pandemic in different ways has brought the world to a state of uncer- depending on the policies of each country. As tainty. This uncertainty is wide-spread and such, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to the fear of the unknown has affected the this health and economic crisis. This diversity global population in all the major facets of of solutions makes your individual story ex- our lives—personal, social and business. tremely important for the entrepreneurs and African SMEs and the African Entrepreneur entrepreneurship ecosystem players who op- Support Organisations are not spared from erate within your sector and country as it will this uncertainty. Yet, there are those who give them practical steps that are applicable have been able to rise about that fear. These to them and their unique needs. are the African entrepreneurs and ecosystem Control the Narrative: As the African proverb players who have been able to face this crisis says, “Until the lion has his or her own story- head on and develop strategies, and plan re- teller, the hunter will always have the best sponses to mitigate the effect of this pan- part of the story.” I have always believed that demic on their businesses and communities Africans are in the best position to tell the at large. stories of the African entrepreneurship jour- If you belong to this group of economic driv- ney because they are the ones living it. It is ers, then this call is for you. In these times, this belief that spurred me to create audio a “voice of hope” is needed to break the stories (podcasts), entrepreneur stories (arti- stigma of fear and uncertainty and your ex- cles and interviews) and three documentaries periences and stories can become that voice during my 5 year stay in Lagos, Nigeria work- for the African entrepreneurship ecosystem. ing as the CEO of the Tony Elumelu Founda- Here are some major reasons why your tion. story needs to be heard in this hour. The importance of African entrepreneurs tak-

44 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ing control and shaping the narrative of can help set them on the right path. African businesses in these times cannot be Call to Action overemphasized. We need to make a decision on the type of message that we want to If you belong to this unique group of dynamic spread. Is it one of defeat and fear? Or are African entrepreneurs, I implore you to get in we going to come together to shine a light in touch via the email addresses written below. these dark times? I also encourage you to use the hash- tag, #Support4AfricaSMEs and to share our Inspire Hope: Although hope is intangible, it By Parminder Vir OBE articles and posts to be a part of this cam- is a valuable resource that is needed in these paign. You can also find an aggregation of difficult times. As with most things, defeat important resources here: http://www.sup- starts in the mind before manifesting in the port4africasmes.com/ material world. For entrepreneurs, at the foundation of their enterprises—beyond the Remember, you are a beacon of hope and business plans, strategies, teams and your voice needs to be heard. projects—is the belief that they can. It is this belief that turns their business ideas into re- [email protected] ality. Now, more than ever, these African [email protected] SMEs need to believe again, and your stories

45 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

46 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

47 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Benefits for the AfCFTA for African MSMEs

Parminder Vir OBE identifies benefits for the micro, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) accruing from the AfCFTA…

What is the AfCFTA? than in many other regions. This limits foreign investments within the continent, while The African Continental Free Trade Area increasing trade dependence on foreign mar- (AfCFTA) is a flagship project of the African kets. Union (AU), established in 2018 to create a single market for goods and services, facili- The AfCFTA is the most exciting moment for tated by movement of persons, to promote the continent in this regard, and for Africa’s industrial development and sustainable and post COVID-19 recovery. The agreement inclusive socio-economic growth to deepen offers opportunities for collaborative action, the economic integration of Africa. allowing Africans to do business with each other and strengthening Africa’s resilience. As at 5th February 2021, 54 Member States of the AU have signed the agreement, and 36 What is the AfCFTA Promise? countries have deposited their instruments of The AfCFTA is set to: ratification. Start of trading under the AfCFTA Agreement began on 1 January 2021. • create a liberalised market for goods and services; The agreement connects 1.3 billion people across the continent with a combined GDP • contribute to the movement of capital; estimated at US$3.4 trillion. • facilitate investments through the creation Why the AfCFTA Matters of a large market;

Intra-US trade is 50% of trade. In Asia, it is • catalyse the introduction of new technol- 60%, and in Europe, 70%. ogy to boost productivity;

However, intra-Africa trade currently accounts • enhance competitiveness of members’ for only 12% of trade – significantly lower economies;

48 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

49 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

• promote industrial development through • lift 30 million Africans out of extreme diversification; poverty and boost the incomes of nearly 68 million others who live on less than • develop value addition systems for prod- $5.50 a day; ucts; • boost Africa’s income by $450 billion by • eliminate tariffs on intra-Africa trade, mak- 2035 (a gain of 7%) while adding $76 bil- ing it easier for businesses to trade within lion to the income of the rest of the world; Africa and benefit from their own growing market; • increase Africa’s exports by $560 billion, mostly in manufacturing; • introduce regulatory measures such as sanitary standards and eliminating non- • spur larger wage gains for women (10.5%) tariff barriers to trade; than for men (9.9%);

• establish, in the future, a Common Conti- • boost wages for both skilled and unskilled nental Market. workers — 10.3% for unskilled workers, and 9.8% for skilled workers. What would be the economic impact of the AfCFTA? What are the challenges to implementing the AfCFTA? According to a report from the World Bank: The African Continental Free Trade Implementing the AFCFTA could involve a Area: Economic and Distributional number of challenges. Effects, implementing the AfCFTA would: The agreement will mean harmonising

50 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Africa’s heterogenous economies, despite nomic transformation that competition in their considerable variation in size, levels of these markets could promote, and are re- economic development and diversification garded as key target for the AfCFTA. and it is hard to ensure broad-based gains for The agreement offers a number of benefits to all members states. African SMEs, vital due to their importance to The AfCFTA has the greatest levels of income the continent’s economy, accounting for up to disparity of any continental free trade agree- 80% of businesses and contributing up to ment. Many countries, especially the 32 least 40% of national income. developed countries, face challenges to cre- These include: ate jobs, develop their industrial sectors and diversify their production capacity. • fostering specialisation and boosting industrialisation; In some countries, weak infrastructures, low technological uptake and conflicts will • increasing employment and investment threaten the implementation of the agree- opportunities, as well as technological de- ment. A general fear of losing control and velopment; sense loss of identity across segments of the population has also been expressed. • allowing African-owned enterprises to enter new markets, expand their customer What are the Benefits of AfCFTA for base and create new products and ser- African SMEs? vices, making investing in innovation vi- able; African MSMEs can benefit from greater access to new markets and the possible eco- • Reducing the manufacturing gap, creating more avenues for SMEs to create more well-paid jobs, especially for young people;

• increasing investments that drive capital to domestic businesses;

• easing the process of importing raw materials from other African countries and enabling SMEs to set up assembly firms in other African countries, creating cheaper means of production.

• The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agricul- ture (NACCIMA) surveyed 1,804 MSMEs across agriculture, manufacturing, services and wholesale/retail across Nige- ria for a report on the impact of the AfCFTA, and found the following:

51 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

• low level of awareness regarding the existence of the Agreement, 67% of respon- dents (although survey was undertaken prior to September 2020 and awareness in Nigeria may have increased due to communication campaigns);

• majority are optimistic of positive effects of the AfCFTA on market size, cost of materials/inputs, cost of machineries and production capacity.

• Possible challenges of the AfCFTA to African SMEs

• Despite its many benefits, the agreement still may face certain challenges within Africa. These include:

• Capacity: there is a deficiency in human and technological capacity of MSMEs, putting them at a disadvantage to larger corporations.

• Access to Finance, i.e., limited access to SME finance and trade finance that may hinder participation in intra-Africa trade.

• Access to Power: erratic and poor electricity supply limits operations and raises ex- penses for many SMEs, preventing their ability to scale to other African markets.

• Network Infrastructure: travel and transport between African countries and regions via roads, rail and air need a boost to be more efficient. Digital infrastructure and stronger internet penetration will also be needed for SMEs to take full advantage of the agreement.

• Foreign competition: Local producers may lose sales to foreign suppliers, because the latter can lower the cost of their products by leveraging the reduced tariffs imposed on imported goods, and can dump sub-

52 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

53 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

standard products into the market.

• Loss of intellectual property: to larger corporations due to poorly enforced patent laws

What is the AU Trade & Industry Commis- sioner is doing to support SMEs?

According to the AU Trade & Industry Com- missioner, a study is underway to see how small-scale cross-border traders can be mainstreamed into the AfCFTA. This is vital because it will facilitate their growth, train them to market their products, make returns, manage their accounts, legally register their businesses and pay taxes, all of which allow them to access capital from financial institutions.

The agreement is also building a mechanism to report non-tariff barriers, which dispropor- tionately impact MSMEs due to their limited resources and access to information.

MSMEs can also tap into the regional export destinations and leverage on the AfCFTA to eventually expand into overseas markets.

Call to Action for African SMEs

My call to action to African SMEs on the AfCFTA is to organise and educate themselves about the AfCFTA, and to be partici- pants and not bystanders in this new African initiative.

African entrepreneurs must raise awareness and initiate campaigns on how they can benefit from the agreement, and what measures and policies are needed to ensure they have a place within the agreement.

SMEs must also provide their own leadership, as they cannot afford to wait for others to lead them. With their chosen leaders and with a common voice, they can then begin to

54 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

55 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

engage with the AU, African governments and trade bodies, holding them accountable for the implementation and regulation of the AfCFTA to ensure that it works as intended for all Africans.

About Parminder Vir OBE

Parminder Vir OBE has dedicated herself to positively impacting and transforming lives through a professional career spanning 40 years in philanthropy, entrepreneurship, film and television production, arts and culture, and investment funding. She is the co- founder of the Support4AfricaSMEs campaign and The African Farmers Stories, launched in 2020. She served as the CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, based in Lagos, Nigeria from April 2014 to April 2019. Prior to joining the Foundation, Parminder has enjoyed a distinguished career as an awarding winning film and television producer and private equity investor in film and media.

56 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

57 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Championing co-existence between the biosphere and development

58 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

mental protection and sustainability – and the latter in this context means finding ways for the earth’s biosphere to co-exist with ele- ments of human civilisation such as industrialisation and mining. The company’s participation in this project is inspired by its desire to develop its people’s sustainability leadership competencies and exposure.

A social entrepreneur, the off-duty Lebogang doesn’t sit on her laurels but dedicates her time to serving the most vulnerable and im- poverished sections of our community, children and people with disabilities, by serving There are many youths who give us comfort as the Deputy Chairperson (Non-Executive) that tomorrow’s leaders will right the many of Brandhill Africa Foundation – a not-for- wrongs that are perpetuated today – and profit company committed to mainstreaming Lebogang Nkadimeng is, doubtlessly, among issues affecting people with disabilities and those who top this list. She is the Local Só- advocating for the rights of children. cio-Economic Development Manager at Anglo American Platinum’s Mogalakwena Complex in Limpopo. She has been selected to represent Anglo American Platinum as the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Young SDGs Innovators Programme (YSIP).

“To say I’m humbled will be a gross under- statement,” she says with humility written all over her face. “I’m very passionate about community development and this programme will grant me an opportunity to learn and to come up with innovative, and yet practical solutions to the challenges faced by communities in which we operate as a mining company.I’m looking forward to forging global networks and relationships which will have a positive impact on my life for a very long time to come. This means I will then be able to be more effective in serving our communities.”

The accolade she has received is in recogni- tion to her insatiable commitment to sustainability - today’s buzzword that eloquently tes- tifies a company’s commitment to environ-

59 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

conscientiousness, generosity and commitment to serve her community was recognised by Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality in 2019 when she was selected as one of the Top 100 young leaders in this aerotropolis that contributes over 7.2% to South Africa’s GDP - which is much more than the contribution of the country’s six provinces.

Born in a small village of Manganeng in Limpopo, 9 No- vember 1985, the Johannesburg-based Lebogang Nkadi- meng has gone from humble beginnings to one of the youngest Mining Specialists in the country, respected philanthropist, a great public speaker and a distinguished MC.

Her life story is not one of riches or a fairy tale come true in modern-day South Africa. But Lebo (as she is generally known) has applied a lot of planning, hard work and determination to achieve all she has in her life. She started out as an intern to becoming the youngest Black Female Manager in the Mining Company – and currently, she now works Anglo American Platinum in Corporate Relations and Sustainable Impact. She’s a highly determined and committed advocate for environment-friendy and people-centred development.

Brandhill Africa Foundation will indeed benefit from her vast experience in corporate communications, compiling sustainability reports of A+ level, gold market investor relations reports, internal communications articles. Strong working knowledge of corporate reporting frame- works/standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), King III and United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).

Lebo attributes some of her success to being street smart, taking risks, not taking no for an answer and sur- rounding herself with the best brains in the business. All these qualities add to sheer commitment to achieving excellence through diligence and sheer chutzpah.

This young Woman in Mining star’s education journey began in Ekurhuleni, matriculating at Springs Girls High School in 2003. She holds a Degree in Bachelor of Social

60 - Africa: Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

61 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

62 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Science and an Honours Degree in Social Sci- walks of life which inﬂuenced her decision to get ences specialising in Psychology – both ob- involved in various community develop-ment tained from the University of Pretoria. Not initiatives. one to think that is enough, she is also Uni- Operating under the phrase #LeboSpeaks, this versity of Cape Town’s Business School Grad- young woman is known for her charis-matic uate in Management and underwent a Sus- personality, fashion flair and zest for life which tainability Practices programme from the Uni- she has turned into a personal ca-reer to be an versity of Cambridge. As if it isn’t enough, MC for all types of occasions, she is also she also attained a Post-Graduate Diploma in involved in charity work and moti-vational Corporare Governance from Monash speaking and it is for this reason she has a large International University. social media following. She has been a speaker With all her academic achievements Lebo of- and MC at various business functions, women’s ten remarks that her future was shaped by day events, school events motivating young being born into a family that was involved in girls and raising awareness on various health politics and still is currently. This gave her an topics, particularly asthma which she is opportunity to interact with people from all passionate about as a chronic patient.

63 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

64 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

65 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Kgalalelo Gaitate, affectionately known as the world to produce two Nobel Peace Lau- Kgalee, is a self-taught female South African rettes, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop visual and corporate artist. From the very Desmond Tutu. While in Soweto, one can’t tender age of three, her parents and crèche leave the township without making a detour teachers noticed an embedded creative na- to see her other exhibition at the Eyethu ture which she was encouraged to nurture. Gallery in Mofolo. Teaching herself to draw, from various disci- Her wings have spread beyond the African plines such as observing television cartoons, continent. She has exhibited at the Cape Best colouring books, illustrated story books, mag- in Milan, Italy, for the Salone Mobile Inter- azines and actual people, she finally began to nazionale, Kalahari Art Gallery in Brooklyn, draw in pen, as she found this medium to be New York (NY), Afropolitan Gallery, Julie much more striking than pencil. Honing her Miller Gallery and has been an art panelist for gift at the National School of the Arts High Prelude-To-The-Shed Hudson Yards, NY. School in Johannesburg, she was then ex- posed to various media such as watercolour, She has also done corporate art for Genesis gouache, oil paint, etching and marbling.. Analytics and Royal HaskoningDHV, and is currently administering the Ubuciko Artist Ca- Though only 29, she has already taken part reer Development Programme for Pareto Lim- in various group exhibitions with Mashumi Art ited. Projects, a gallery located on Nelson Man- dela’s home street, the world renowned Soweto’s Vilakazi Street – the only street in

66 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

67 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Her Heritage series is part of an ongoing ex- tail, her works depict South African in tradi- hibition at Edikeni Restaurant in Sandton, Jo- tional attire through the braided mediums of hannesburg. pen, oil pastels, and acrylic,” lyrically waxed Marvin Verna of the Kalahari Gallery, Possessing an incredible eye for detail, she “Seemingly decorative, once taken out of specializes in portraiture, working primarily their original context and presented to an au- with oil pastels, ballpoint pen, Copic markers dience in the western hemisphere, her works and acrylic paint. Much of her subject matter offer a palate of potential for cross cultural is inspired by South African traditional dress. dialogues and new meanings to take place. Her works comment on various aspects of Her works are collected by many prominent numerous subcultures throughout the South tastemakers and luminaries worldwide who African terrain. appreciate owning history through her ex- “Kgalee possesses an incredible eye for de- pression.”

68 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

69 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

70 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

By staff writer

71 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

gas (par�cularly clean energy); and community empowerment projects in general.

A dynamic and versa�le stakeholder and project management specialist with the highest standards of excellence and possessing extensive experience of working at Board level within a fast-paced corporate environment. She’s highly proac�ve with a ‘can do’ a�tude, focused on results and achieving personal work objec�ves. She’s armed with excellent, impeccable exper�se and interpersonal skills, and display integrity when handling highly confiden�al and business intelligence material.

Calm under pressure, she u�lises excellent judg- ment exper�se and has the ability to develop and maintain construc�ve and coopera�ve rela�onships at the highest level. Her vast experience has enabled her to operate collabora�vely within mul�- disciplinary teams and developing produc�ve professional rela�onships to achieve high quality out- comes. Adaptable to different situa�ons, she has a par�cular talent for client/user liaison, idenfica�on of issues and developing workable solu�ons.

Her impeccable exper�se include planning and de-

Yolanda Basson is the Chief Execu�ve Officer of Brandhill Africa Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd. The company is one of the five subsidiaries cons�tu�ng the Brandhill Africa group – a compe��ve iden�ty and public diplomacy conglomerate. The others are the Brandhill Africa (Pty) Ltd, which is a brand management agency. The other is Brand- hill Africa Media Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which is the publishing arm of the group – and its flagship project is this publica�on, Jambo Africa Online. Then there’s the Brandhill Africa Ins�tute of Public Diplomacy (Pty) Ltd and the Brandhill Africa Foun- da�on NPC. “These are five interdependent revenue streams which cross subsidises each other since they draw synergies from each other,” she said ma�er-of-factlt. “We all derive maximum value from the strong equity of our mother brand, Brand- hill Africa.” Yolanda’s competence is primarily to mobilise both domes�c and foreign direct investments for infrastructure development projects for our clients in South Africa and across the African con�nent. This por�olio of projects covers a variety of economic sectors such as mining; real estate (especially low- cost housing, smart and mega city developments); agriculture and agro-processing industries; oil and

72 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021 velopment of all marke�ng and events ac�vi�es; agement; and a Programme in Project Manage- organising travel, venue and security arrange- ment from the University of Pretoria. ments; big events such as expos, event and conference management; coordina�on of corporate ad- Besides her vast experience in the media sales en- ver�sing, newsle�ers and press releases; building vironment, she‘s the founder of Miniforce (Pty) Ltd and maintaining rela�onships with relevant suppli- in which she was responsible for the structuring of ers, stakeholders and media; conceptualising com- clients’ proposed business mergers, acquisi�ons munity empowerment projects; implementa�on and verifying the accuracy and completeness of the sharing and communica�on of new ideas and new representa�ons and warran�es made by the poten- projects; driving brand promo�on and communica- �al sellers to targeted client companies. �on development; market research and implementa�on of marke�ng strategies; and, most impor- Furthermore, she was also responsible for nego�- tantly, financial management. a�ng the preliminary agreements with poten�al investors; preparing company records (company MOI Some of the highlights of her career include estab- and shareholder agreements; compiling finance lishing Media24’s RCP Media: Government Special documents (any documents rela�ng to any securi- Projects Unit, “Legends Awards”, “Project of the �es offering, loans, lines of credit, agreements in- Year”, “Media Liaison of the Year” at Media24 and corpora�ng borrowings, any documents evidencing the Rock Engineering Training Centre at Exarro. In guarantees, inter-company loans, any other agree- developing her competencies through professional ments with creditors; and managing Material and voca�onal training, she achieved a Diploma Agreements. from the Academy of Learning; the Execu�ve Sales Development course from the Anthony Morris Yolanda is proud to be associated with the group Group; Marke�ng Diploma from the Dale Carnegie that has gone through the vigorous adjudica�on Training course from Exarro on Training and Coach- process to qualify as a strategic partner to Proudly ing; training on Project Web App and Server Man- South African (PSA).

73 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

74 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ORDER A COPY ON: www.brandhillafrica.com75 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Observing a continent on the move

By Nama�rai Zinyohwera

76 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

My relationship with chess over the years has “mastering long division” currently sit with always been one of silent reverie. It made me “learning how to play the recorder” and other look smarter than I was in grade school and not so user-friendly teachings. gave me an edge over the brawn. But This by no means is a calculated attack through the years and to my disappointment, against my teachers, to whom I owe every- I would be the first to submit that I am not thing I know today and whose only fault was one of the masters – heck If I was, I'm sure not teaching me how to code by the age of tech would have something to be jealous 15 like Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter. As we about. But through such personal and truthful say now in our grown up days, its beer under reflection, I do beg to ask the question the bridge, I have forgiven them and begun around the fairness of associating a board looking at corrective measures like free game with mass intelligence. Let's take our YouTube videos for beginner coding – oldish household favourite for measuring intelli- dog, new tricks. gence, Albert Einstein. Speculation around his chess career has caused much ado about But as many of my introductions tend to be, nothing in different circles through the years. chess is a trojan horse whose image I have But here is the version I can base my opinion borrowed to deliver some of my observations on. over the last couple of weeks. The design thinking behind chess has over the years re- It's well known that Albert Einstein was a vealed itself as being inspired by the social friend of former world chess champion (and phenomenon of feudalism – I assume. With mathematician) Emanuel Lasker. It's also that word, I make reference to the lives of known that Einstein could play chess, though Kings and Kingdoms, whose Queens flour- he reportedly disliked the competitive aspect. ished on the service of Knights, Bishops, Cas- That said, he was a great player, even though tles and the Serfs. What a brilliant tapestry of he never really pursued the game. Instead history, in whose romance we can only lending his genius to other exploits like the dream. I guess chess is more than just a tro- development of a theory on special and gen- jan horse, worth only figurative meaning in eral relativity, which helped to complicate and literature – maybe chess is the ultimate sim- expand upon theories that had been put forth ulation of society in its simplest form. by Isaac Newton over 200 years prior. The past couple of months have choked the Now that Einstein has helped us conclude the world into a coma and those that have sur- debate on whether being a chess player is a vived the shell shock, they too have been on key metric for success, we can rest the their last breath since COVID-19 gripped the schoolyard debate until our next high school world. But this has only been the lived reality reunion. We can add “chess” to the bucket of of the majority, certainly not the minority. “unnecessary things I learnt in school” where Whether we are working with the “Great Re- “learning how to make potato batteries” and

77 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

set” or the “Great Equalizer” COVID-19 has billionaires added over one trillion U.S. dol- not been the undoing of everyone. In actual lars to their collective wealth during the fact, it could be argued that if the pandemic COVID-19 pandemic. From March to Decem- waves could reach you in any way, it has ber 2020, the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, more to say about your position on the added a total of 71.4 billion U.S. dollars to his chessboard of life than anything else. Plainly net worth. With 118.5 billion dollars, Elon put, the rich got richer and will continue on Musk added the highest value to his net this trend – there is nothing new under the worth during the time under consideration. sun. Now...there is nothing wrong with that, un- According to Statistica, the world's leading less of course you are more inclined to think

78 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

that there are always two sides to the story. thing – that is, “if you have a bunch of tod- Being a simpleton I just happen to strangely dlers ‘toddlering’ away, screaming, scratching believe that no matter what brings the crisis, and overall being little slithers to each other, a climate of opportunity is presented in which give them toys, they will get lost in that dis- those most able to act will capitalize – one traction”. Labelling Africa the last frontier for word, capitalise. global growth is a widely advertised statement, which both intrigues, disturbs and wor- Its vaccine season and although we are al- ries me. We can't be the only thing left, be- ready tired and activated by the word pan- cause if we are it's truly the end. With hege- demic, scared, un-scared and re-scared by resurgences in the form of “variants” and “waves”, I cant help to feel personally like I've been stuck on Level 1 of Super Mario, for the better part of the last couple of months. My reality is that I am not Jeff nor am I Elon and whilst I remain supportive of their record breaking exploits on the Forbes list, very little of that value is trickling down to yours truly.

But you know what, I am happy about one thing, Elon Musk’s tweet in the thicket of the pandemic when he said he wanted to use his money to fund his Mars city goal was rivet- ing. Coupled with the comfort this statement brings, I was elated by the news that NASA has done it again. The most recent landing took place on 18 February 2021 by the NASA rover Perseverance. Look, I too am optimistic about space exploration and here is why.

At this point the antagonist is probably asking why I am raving on about matters that don’t concern my aptitude. To which I respond, I believe that space exploration at the moment of globalisation offers humanity an opportunity to love. Yes, it's really that simple, an opportunity to love and I am happy to observe players such as Elon investing in making this venture more exciting and ap- plaud them for taking something so challeng- ing for humanity out of the woodwork, just as Albert Einstein did.

I will give an elementary example. Every kindergarten in the world has mastered one

79 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

80 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

monic capitalism on one side, in its arranged ing forward and I implore you to do the same marriage with democracy on the other, we – step into the light of a world that is break- are on a straight highway to doomsday (I am ing new barriers. Take interest in the ab- very excited to have used this word in a sen- stract, understand that the unknown is only a tence) and with very few alternative options stranger before you say hello. Share this on the table, better than good old romantic message and contribute to an exponential feudalism, we are really struggling here on function where telling your neighbour will earth. lead to them telling somebody else who will unlock a dream for a young girl or boy out The question of space exploration will recon- there, whose destiny will be to be one of the figure our consciousness, allowing us to ap- first African inhabitants on Mars. That my preciate that which is bigger, braver and bet- good friends is the beauty of not leaving a ter than us. We must admit, we are so overly legacy but living a legacy. concerned by our own existence, that even imagining that there could be something out there, is merely a chat we can't have over a beer – but why not?

The subject matter of space exploration is as real as our own existence, there really are other planets out there raising many questions worth answers only you can give. Now imagine if everyone could task themselves to keep an eye on that rabbit whole (FYI ancient civilizations in Africa had very deep roots in cosmetology, google the Dogon people) and so did other civilisations globally, we could for once put aside our differences and reflect on our humanity in this great expanse they call the universe.

For once we will fight for what we are up against as human beings, global warming and climate, energy, water etc. the list is endless. Our worldview will shift into a universal view, one where greater challenges are at play, where any woman or man can strive for excellence and leave a lasting im- pression.

My fair warning to everyone is that things will never be the same again in this new and brave world we are living in. Like a pawn on a Nama�rai Zinyohwera is a Business Development chessboard the only move I can make is go- Services Consultant in the ICT sector

81 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

82 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

83 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

By Tiro Mmokwa (Secretary General of the African Manufacturing and Industrial Association)

Over the years, South Africa has experienced significant de-industrialization. This contributed towards the decimation of the industrial base and to significant job losses. As a consequence, South Africa continues to rely heavily on imports. The value of imports into South Africa in 2019 amounted to about 25% of the gross domestic product. Excessive reliance on imports poses a threat to the country’s response to emergencies, pandemics and global disruptions.

Compared to major economies, our debt-to- GDP ratio reveals that our debt levels are nowhere near the impending crisis levels pur- ported by those who insist we have a debt crisis; the accumulation of debt in South Africa has been driven primarily by persis- tently feeble economic growth, exacerbated by the poor performance of SOEs and Finan- cial Mismanagement. In my view South Africa does not have a debt crisis; it has a GDP stresses the intervention role of government growth problem. in correcting market failures in coordination and redistribution. The South African State The debt management programme outlined practices state intervention in the economy to in the February 2020 Budget Statement and facilitate growth. The South African State has the June 2020 Supplementary Budget Review full Apprehension of “market-friendly ap- outline the implementation of austerity mea- proach” and the “market enhancing ap- sures which must be implemented to resolve proach” which points to complementarities increasing levels of government debt. between government and private firms in South Africa is a Developmental State which economic activities and the role of govern-

84 - Africa: Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ment in coordination hence the promotion of nerstones of macroeconomic policy are set. Public Private Partnerships. Microeconomic instruments need to be strengthened to address our mega-challenges The combination of Macro and Micro-Eco- of unemployment, poverty and inequality. In nomic Policies and Sets of Industrial Policies principle microeconomic interventions cannot set South Africa in a new growth path to ad- work if the macroeconomic framework is not dress our GDP growth challenges. What dis- aligned with what is needed. South Africa tinguishes industrial policies from macroeco- needs decisive macroeconomic and microeconomic policies in general is that macroeconomic strategies with a clear vision on how to nomic policies are designed to affect aggre- generate labour demand while stimulating gate demand. Macroeconomic policies are productivity. well-defined policies but the same is not true for industrial policies, Macroeconomic policies Mobilization of other financial instruments for may have various indirect effects on various efficient allocation of resources to ensure that industries Whereas Industrial policy is a set there is sufficient finance and financial sus- of policies designed for the development of tainability to enhance social and economic selected industries to increase the welfare of development, economic growth, job creation, the country and to achieve dynamic compar- and redistribution of generated wealth. To ative advantages for these industries by use utilise debt incurred for productive purposes of state apparatus in resource allocation. to generate high growth which reduces the The macroeconomic strategy of South Africa debt-to-GDP ratio, curbing the growth of pub- must be underpinned by the coordination of lic sector wage bill, reduce the budget deficit, fiscal and monetary policies to achieve improve conditions to facilitate `revenue col- macroeconomic stability Macroeconomic sta- lection’. To stimulate industrialisation through bility can be achieved if we ensure that our localisation to meet domestic demand, intro- fiscal policy does not lead to the debt-to-GDP duce import quotas to protect and promote ratio rising above 60%. It also refers to the local industries, to link the economy to Africa role of the SARB as the guarantor of a mone- and global markets, to promote fair trade, tary policy that maintains the inflation target the creation of jobs through infrastructure of around 4.5%, no matter the consequences projects. Build a growing economy by rolling for employment levels. If these two numbers out South Africa energy transition leading to are fixed and non-negotiable, then the cor- energy security and a maximised access to

85 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

lower cost electricity come elasticities on the demand side and high productivity potential or prospects for Pre-1994, the then government identified in- technological advances on the supply side. dustries whose development was deemed The most important objective of industrial necessary for industrialization (e.g., steel, policies is achieving economic growth by way chemicals, machinery, oil refining, and ship of industrialization and manufacturing, em- building) this industries were nurtured by ployment creation, national economic inde- government. This is because these industries pendence, export development, and techno- required large-scale investments. The gov- logical development. Industrial policies en- ernment developed interventionist industrial counter five points: development policies and we must go back to that economic trajectory in an inclusive man- (i) Industrial policies are designed for se- ner. lected industries, (ii) Industrial policy is not a single policy but Industrial policies are designed to nurture se- a combination of various policies lected industries. The ANC-led government (iii) Industrial policy is concerned with gov- must select industries on the basis of their ernment intervention, importance for future growth. Industries to (iv)Industrial policy targets resource alloca- be promoted must be determined by high in- tion (most possibly due to market failures)

86 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

(v) Industrial policy aims to create dynamic ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT INCEN- comparative advantages for targeted indus- TIVES AND SUPPORT MEASURES TO IM- tries. PROVE SOUTH AFRICA’s INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIVITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE There is a need for concise and legible plan- SUPPORT ning for a 10–20-year trajectory, overseen and coordinated by the ministries. I propose Manufacturing Investment Grant (MIG) - The that an Industrial Council is established na- MIG (2008–2014) offered a grant of 15–30% tionally and in all provinces to oversee tar- of the value of machinery, equipment, land, geted sectors while putting state assets and buildings and commercial vehicle costs. instruments to optimal use. This council should incorporate government, labour feder- Critical Infrastructure Programme (CIP) ations and business to provide real-time solu- The CIP is a cash grant covering up to 30% tions to constraints and bottlenecks. Effective of the costs of qualifying infrastructure to at- instruments for industrial development and tract investment in manufacturing re-industrialisation such as competition policy, trade policy, tax and financial sector poli- Foreign Investment Grant (FIG) cies, sound labour market policies, technology policies, foreign investment policies must The FIG covers up to 15% of the value or to create conducive environment for industrial a maximum of R10 million of the cost of im- development and economic growth. porting machinery and equipment.

For South Africa to re-industrialise the rele- Motor Industry Development Programme vant authorities and the industrial council to The most popular incentive in recent years to be launched must put concerted efforts to improve competitiveness and productivity of upgrade local firms by developing a sound local vehicle manufacturing to promote vehi- supporting industry base for manufacturing cle exports and encourage investment inflows cooperatives and companies, this includes a wide range of financial and technical assis- Automotive and Production Development tance schemes: Programme

1. Manufacturing Enterprise Technical As- Local manufacturers who produce more than sistance Scheme (METAS) 50 000 vehicles can import vehicle components duty-free. This allowance falls under 2. Local Enterprise Finance Scheme the Automotive Investment Scheme (AIS). (LEFS), which serves for the promotion of These manufacturers also receive a cash mechanization to increase productivity. There grant of between 20-25% of the value of in- are also various other schemes established to vestments in productive assets. assist in training, research and development, and automation Enterprise Incubation Programme

3. Productivity Methodology and Effective The DTI increased its allocation for enterprise Labour Relations. development support incentives from R3.3 billion in 2012 to R7 billion in 2015.

87 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

new and unused manufacturing assets, tax National Industrial Participation Programme relief in line with various tax prescripts. Production incentives range between 7–15%, with local market value added (MVA) offering SOUTH AFRICAN INDUSTRIALISATION higher ranges at 10–25% in industrial financ- PATH ing loan facilities for targeted industries. The ANC identified the following sector Firms can access up to R50 million subject to as industrial sectors as the Industrial MVA limits and there are production incen- Path for South Africa tives for green technology. • Health-Care value-chain: pharmaceuticals, personal protective equipment and Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement medical equipment, Programme (MCEP) • Basic Consumer Goods: clothing and About R20 billion was allocated towards man- footwear, home textiles, consumer ufacturing-related tax incentives between • Electronic products and appliances (includ- 2012 and 2020. As of December 2019, existing televisions, mobile phones, and ing businesses can apply for production in- • White goods like fridges, stoves and centives to further capital investment; green washing machines), household hardware technology, improve competitiveness, under- Products, packaging material, furniture take feasibility studies and cluster competi- • Capital Goods: equipment and industrial tiveness. inputs particularly used in infrastructure projects, mining, agriculture, renewable Industrial development zones energy, the green economy and digital These have been established in special desig- economy. nated areas across the country targeting eco- • Infrastructure Construction-Driven value- nomic activities with laws and systems differ- chains, such as cement, steel, piping ent to the rest of the country. These incen- (plastic and steel), engineered products tives include: Preferential 15% corporate tax. and earth moving equipment Building allowance eligible with tax relief, em- • Transport rolling stock: automobile and rail ployment tax incentive, income tax allowance assembly and component Production. supporting greenfield investment utilising

88 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

89 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

By Masingita Masunga

90 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ere I was on a date when my date looked me in the eye and said: “I have never been with a woman with a disability before therefore I Hdon’t know how to treat you. Please teach me to treat you the way I should. ”

I bet you would like to know my response and what happened to us. Askies, I am not going to say because that it is not the point ity. Instead it exposes a great deal of self- of this article. I welcome and appreciate doubt to the point that we feel the need to those honest questions and generally wel- produce evidence of our power. Treating come the sometimes uncomfortable conver- other people with oppression and putting sations. Especially when they are about how them down is not about how we see them, it people should interact with me. is about how you see yourselves. Do I get upset, hurt, disappointed, offended We cannot continue to validate ourselves by and cry sometimes? Definitely yes. If you making others feel and look less. Validation may wonder why? of our self-worth comes from within, there- Emotions are what makes us human hence it fore if we expect others to respect our human is very dehumanising when people think they rights, we then have to respect other’s hu- have a right to micro manage my feelings man right, if we expect to be treated as and infantilise me. This is often coupled with equals by others, let’s treat others as equal them insulting my intelligence by making it human beings because everyone has as look like they are doing me a favour. This much right to exist as we do. kind of attitude is betrayal to my full human- So if you are wondering how to treat some- ity. I don’t take kindly to betrayal. Even if it is one who doesn’t look or sound like you, just done in the name of protecting me. You can’t treat them like a person, believe me it works. protect me from being human. If we want to see true healing, transforma- If you are really concerned about my wellbe- tion and change, we have to start with the ing then protect me from the discrimination person in the mirror because change can only and injustice that I encounter daily as a black start when we start to change ourselves. May woman with a disability. Yes I am well aware you have an abOVEnormal human rights day of all of it, because as a 42 year old woman, I that is filled with harmony and Love. #No- have encountered all sorts of sinister behav- toAbleism #NotoRacism #NotoSexism #No- iour and attitudes. To the point that I have toTribalism even developed mechanisms to detect and deal with such. In most cases I just choose to tolerate it for reason that I will not reveal. Masingita Masunga is a South African television personality and a human rights activist Treating someone as less than human to who advocates for the mainstreaming of is- prove our power doesn’t magnify our human- sues affecting people with disabilities.

91 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021 News IN BRIEF

By Francois Fouche

92 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

credited with spearheading several initiatives to assist low-income countries, in particular Jambo Africa Online’s Editorial Corre- raising nearly $50bn in 2010 from donors for spondent, FRANCOIS FOUCHE, gives us the International Development Association news titbits from around the world im- (IDA), the World Bank's fund for the poorest pacting on Africa’s economies… countries.

But it is her reform agenda in Nigeria in The WTO has a new driver which she takes real pride - especially the and she’s African two times she served as the country's finance minister under Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo Having survived the murky waters of politics and Goodluck Jonathan. in Nigeria, where her mother was kidnapped to send her a message, and rising to number One of her greatest achievements was lead- two at the World bank, Ngozi Okonjo-lweala ing a team which negotiated a whopping should have no trouble dealing with interna- $18bn debt write-off in 2005 for the country, tional trade negotiators in her new job at the helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign helm of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The 66-year-old will be the first woman and the first African to occupy the position.

Despite recently taking out US citizenship, she reveals in being Nigerian and I fiercely patriotic – flaunting her African identity in her African print tailored outfits.

She told the BBC in 2012 that she had in fact adopted such as attire as a working mother of four to do the school run, an easy answer for smart look – and a thrifty one at that, given she estimated each outfit cost around $25. debt rating. The Harvard-educated development economist is seen as a down-to-earth, hardworker, The country's debts had dated back to the who told BBC HardTalk in July that what the early 1980s, and had ballooned to more than WTO needed was a shake-up. $35bn due to penalties and late fees during “They need something different, it cannot be the 1990s. business as usual for the WTO – [they need] someone willing to do the reforms and lead.” Her economic reforms had a far-reaching impact and saved Nigeria at a critical period, Reform in Nigeria according to prominent Nigerian economist, During her 25 years at the World Bank, she is Bismarck Rewane.

93 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

This included de-linking the budget from the But her reforms and especially her crackdown oil price, allowing the country to save money on corruption in the fuel sector, where some in a special account when oil prices were powerful importers - known as marketers - high. claimed huge sums of money in subsidies from the government for fuel they had not "It was this buffer that ensured Nigeria's sold, came at personal cost. economy survived between 2008 and 2009," Mr Rewane told the BBC. Her mother, Kamene Okonjo - a medical doctor and retired professor of sociology - was Ms Okonjo-Iweala had given up a well-paid kidnapped from her home in southern Nigeria job at the World Bank and left her family in in 2012, aged 82. Washington, where her husband works as a neurosurgeon, to work in Nigeria, where un- Kidnapping is common in Nigeria, where it is like other ministers she did not have a large a lucrative criminal enterprise and families domestic staff or fleet of cars. often pay up as the security services do not often find those abducted. In fact she even liked doing her own cooking when she could, with cowtail pepper soup be- The then-finance minister said the kidnappers ing a favourite, a Financial Times interview had first demanded her resignation and then revealed in 2015. a ransom.

No-nonsense approach But she says she refused to do either.

94 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

But always quick to laugh in interviews, she "I knew that the largest vested interest that I added: "I can also sleep on a feather bed." had recently offended in my anti-corruption work was an unscrupulous subset of the This determination and independence helped country's oil marketers," she said in her ac- her as she took on other reforms in Nige- count of the event. ria, like her decision to reveal the amount of

Mrs Okonjo was released within five days in unclear circumstances, but her daughter's no-nonsense approach may have come to bear in the matter.

One of her sons - Uzodinma Iweala, author of the 2005 novel Beast of No Nation - has said of his strict upbringing: "My mum is a very powerful woman. She knows how she wants things done, and if you don't it her way, you are in trouble." money allocated monthly to local authorities I can take hardship for things like the construction of roads and the running of rural schools and clinics. Her drive may come from her knowledge of real poverty. She lived with her grandmother Economist Pat Utomi said Nigerians had not until the age of nine as her parents were realised how much regional administrators abroad getting their education. were receiving.

"They were gone for almost a decade before I "But she came up with the idea of publishing really saw them and knew them. I did every- them and basically embarrassed a lot of peo- thing a village girl would do, fetch water, go ple," Prof Utomi told me. to the farm with my grandmother all the chores, I saw what poverty meant, to be poor She also introduced a system that helped to at first hand," she told the BBC in 2012. remove thousands of fake workers and pen- sioners from government payroll. Her experience as a teenager during the Bi- afra civil war of 1967-1970 crystallised this. But when the government decided to remove a fuel subsidy in 2012, things did not go well. Her Igbo parents lost all their savings during the conflict as her father, a renowned profes- Ms Okonjo-Iweala said the subsidy was un- sor, was a brigadier in the Biafran forces. sustainable as it was costing $8bn a year, and encouraged corruption. "I can take hardship. I can sleep on the cold floor anytime," she said. However, the government was forced to back down after nationwide protests - the subsidy

95 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

was only removed earlier this year, with the board of directors, as chair of the Gavi vac- government promising to keep the price cine alliance and as a special envoy for the capped. World Health Organization's Covid-19 fight, has joked before that women seem to be less And some believe while her reforms in Nige- corrupt. ria were good they have not been long-lasting. "Women tend to be more honest, more straightforward, more focused on the job, 'Like running a household' and bring less ego to it. I don't know if it's a feminine instinct but running an economy is But Nigerian women's activist Josephine Effa- sometimes akin to running a household," she Chukwuma says Ms Okonjo-Iweala's career is told the Independent in 2006. so much more impressive given how little respect women can be shown in Nigeria. And women are also on her agenda at the WTO. "She made women proud that a woman in a patriarchal and misogynistic country like In her job application, she said: "It should Nigeria could hold her own and perform cred- also be responsive to the challenge of facili- itably contrary to what detractors thought," tating the greater participation of women in she told the BBC international trade, particularly in developing countries, where greater efforts should be made to include women owned enterprises in the formal sector."

Ms Effa-Chukwuma says this all bodes well for the WTO: "We trust her to deliver on the job and ensure that developing countries benefit from international trade."

This article first appeared on BBC News, La- gos.

Africa Goes Digital

In rebuilding post COVID-19, policymakers must invest in innovative technology "She was honest, transparent and account- to leapfrog obstacles to inclusive devel- able - virtues not often found in public office- opment. holders in Nigeria."

Africa has enjoyed strong economic growth The economist, who also serves on Twitter's for most of the 21st century, mainly because

96 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

of robust global demand for primary com- of any effort to address such challenges as modities. But the “Africa Rising” narrative food security, education, health, energy, and that accompanied this growth is mostly a competitiveness. The world is driven by inno- story of rising GDP, which is overly one-di- vation: unless African policymakers reap the mensional. In fact, Africa’s economic growth potential benefits of R&D&I, the global divide has failed to generate many good jobs—post- will keep growing. The problem is that inno- poning, once again, the benefits of the demo- vation is talked about and debated, but not graphic dividend of a large working-age pop- strategized. ulation. Because there are fewer old and young people that require support than peo- An opportunity to go digital ple of working age, the dividend is supposed to free up resources that can be devoted to It is here, paradoxically, that the COVID-19 inclusive development. pandemic, despite all the economic and social

Instead, African policymaking continued its now nearly half-century belief that achieving “development” is limited to managing poverty—in other words, equating the business of development to poverty reduction. The shift from the industrialization agenda of the early post-independence period to one of poverty reduction is a major reason for the continent’s economic malaise. As the African Innovation Summit (2018) put it, the development agenda shifted from socioeconomic transformation to the lowest common de- nominator, managing poverty.

To generate economic growth that leads to sustainable development, Africa must shift its focus to retaining and creating wealth, better managing its resources, fostering inclusive- ness, moving up on global value chains, di- versifying its economies, optimizing the energy mix, and placing human capital at the center of policymaking. For this to happen, devastation it has caused, provides an oppor- African policy must foster investment in re- tunity for African countries to innovate and search, development, and innovation go digital. African countries will have to re- (R&D&I) to reboot the continent’s economic build their economies. They should not structures and catch up technologically with merely repair them; they should remake the rest of the world. Innovation, and the them, with digitalization leading the way. digital information technology that accompa- nies it, has become a necessary component So far, civil societies seem to be more ready

97 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

than policymakers to embrace digital technol- mapping to track the spread of COVID-19, ogy. With no help from government, the digi- expanded telemedicine to reduce visits to tal technology industry has grown in Africa— clinics, and created chatbots to update peo- through incubators and start-ups, tech hubs ple on the disease. and data centers. Information and communication technology (ICT) activities are spread- These are promising endeavors, but digital- ing across the continent, and young Africans ization is not widespread in Africa. Rwanda is are responding with digital technology to the the exception. Only 28% of Africans use the challenges posed by COVID-19. For example, internet, a digital divide that prevents the at an ICT hub in Kenya, FabLab created Msa- continent from taking full advantage of digital fari, a people-tracking application that can technology’s ability to mitigate some of the trace the spread of infections. A similar appli- worst effects of the pandemic. cation, Wiqaytna6, was developed in Mo-

rocco. In Rwanda, the government is demon- That slow spread of internet technology also strating what enlightened policies can makes it difficult for the continent to leapfrog achieve. The country has invested heavily in obstacles to sustainable development. To digital infrastructure—90% of the country has generate transformative growth, digitalization access to broadband internet, and 75% of cannot be left mainly to civil society and the the population has cell phones. Early in the private sector. The socioeconomic divide in pandemic Rwanda parlayed that technological Africa feeds the digital divide, and vice versa. prowess into developing real-time digital Digitalization needs to be scaled up forcefully

98 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

by policymakers to unlock structural transfor- demic have opened up opportunities to re- mation. make society that are subtle. These are times that test policymakers’ vision and leadership. Digital divide As McKinsey & Company (2020) noted, the “COVID-19 crisis contains the seeds of a When assessing the digital divide, it is impor- large-scale reimagination of Africa’s economic tant to remember that the issue is about structure, service delivery systems and social more than access to the internet. How inter- contract. The crisis is accelerating trends net usage benefits the user is also a factor. such as digitalization, market consolidation The goal of digitalization should not just be and regional cooperation, and is creating im- greater consumption; it should enhance civil portant new opportunities—for example, the societies’ resilience, which demands a clear promotion of local industry, the formalization regulatory framework and an educated population.

In Africa, it’s not just internet connectivity that’s missing. So are other basics—including electricity, literacy, financial inclusion, and regulations. The result is that people are unable to use the digital solutions that are available. Furthermore, a good share of African populations still struggle with such life-threatening problems as conflict and food insecurity, which make daily survival their only goal. Millions of Africans are not only on the wrong side of the digital divide, they are on the wrong side of many divides—lacking basic health and public necessities such as of small businesses and the upgrading of ur- electricity, clean water, education, and health ban infrastructure.” care. COVID-19 has exacerbated their plight because lockdowns and social distancing As Africa rebuilds from COVID-19 disruptions have made many public services accessible it must not return to a pre-pandemic reality. only online. The terrible truth is that these hundreds of millions of people have been left The moment is now. As Africa rebuilds from behind, and unless African policymakers real- COVID-19 disruptions it must not return to a ize that access to digital technologies is a pre-pandemic reality; it must build a better critical tool for socioeconomic inclusion, reality that recognizes the need for innova- progress will be confined to those with election, particularly digital technologies. This is tricity and telecom services—further isolating the prerequisite for victory over its myriad the vast majority without such access. The development challenges—such as poverty, divide will widen. health, productivity, competitiveness, economic diversification, food security, climate The deep disruptions generated by the pan- change, and governance.

99 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

pete internationally, leveraging Africa’s entre- Receptive to change preneurial activity—13% higher in its initial stage than the global average. Over the past five years, change has oc- These ongoing initiatives could become game curred in Africa, suggesting that the conti- changers, breathing life into the top-down di- nent may be receptive to building better

mension of going digital. rather than merely rebuilding. Liu (2019) identified 3 major African initiatives that signal such receptivity to change: So far, the change has been almost only from the bottom up. More than 600 technology � The African Continental Free Trade Area hubs—places designed to help start-up com- (AfCFTA), which aims to create a single mar- panies—have emerged across the continent. ket with a combined GDP that exceeds $3.4 Three have achieved international recogni- trillion and includes more than 1 billion peo- tion: Lagos in Nigeria, Nairobi in Kenya, ple; and Cape Town in South Africa. These tech � The South African government’s new hubs host thousands of start-ups, incubators, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution of technology parks, and innovation centers the World Economic Forum (WEF), for dialog driven by the private sector and young peo- and cooperation on the challenges and oppor- ple who, despite adversity, are aware of how tunities presented by advanced technologies; self-employment is linked to innovation.

� The WEF’s Africa Growth Platform, Public policy lacking which aims to help companies grow and com-

100 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

legal and ethical impact of technology in soci- Things are less promising from the top down. ety, including privacy, data, and tax evasion. According to a 2018 WEF report, 22 of 25 This is especially true in Africa, where weak countries analyzed had no public policies fo- institutions might not be strong enough to cused on an ecosystem for innovation. uphold the rights and interests of their people against those of the market.

Investing in broad-based digitalization, from This article by CRISTINA DUARTE, special ad- a geographic and sectoral point of view, is viser on Africa to United Nations Secretary- crucial not only to address socioeconomic General António Guterres and the former fi- problems but also to deal with peace and se- nance minister of Cabo Verde first appeared curity challenges. And it boosts economic on http://ec2-52-26-194-35.us-west-2.com- growth. A study by the International pute.amazonaws.com/x/ Telecommunication Union found that 10% d?c=11608214&l=2ebd0791-8082-40c2- greater mobile broadband penetration would 9fee-6aeb0fab1c71&r=8878d40a-cfb2-4536- generate a 2.5% rise in Africa’s GDP per 8358-88a72ed44495. capita.

But digital solutions cannot be achieved in a vacuum. Policymakers must make implementation of digital technologies an element of an ecosystem of innovation, and there’s no time to lose. Well-calibrated regulatory frame- Can new international works, investment in infrastructure, digital trade rules prevent future skills, and financial inclusion must take prior- epidemics? ity.

Most research shows that digital technologies Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is not alone in thinking are essential to addressing socioeconomic the WTO could do more. challenges. They are often described as the single ingredient Africa needs to leapfrog to Fixing the World Trade Organisation (wto) is sustainable and inclusive economic develop- not enough for Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first ment. From an economic standpoint, better woman and first African to lead it. On Febru- information and communication technology ary 15th, the day she was appointed as di- democratizes information crucial to produc- rector-general, she announced that she tion and market agents, which makes for wanted to help bring an end to the pandemic, more efficient value chains and more afford- too. The two are related; she hopes to en- able products and services. And the most courage members tolift export restrictions on vulnerable people will benefit. food and medical products, and even stimulate vaccine production. The former Nigerian finance minister and chairwoman of gavi, a However, the massive adoption of digital vaccine-finance agency, is not alone in think- technologies also means that policymakers ing the wto could do more. must be aware of and address the complex

101 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

When the pandemic first struck the wto rity of supply. But the idea has not caught on seemed largely irrelevant. That was partly by among exporters, perhaps because they design: it permits trade restrictions if they know that they would struggle to keep up protect health. Global Trade Alert (gta), a their side of the bargain when crisis hits. Ms watchdog, recorded 202 export restrictions Okonjo-Iweala is keen to beef up the wto’s on medical supplies and personal-protective monitoring efforts, which should be easier. equipment between January and September 2020. Members’ failure to alert the wto of Another complaint has been that the wto’s in- their actions was more egregious. Bernard tellectual-property rules are too rigid, and Hoekman of the European University Institute protect pandemic profiteers over the poor. calculated that over a similar period gta Médecins Sans Frontières, a charity, has recorded more than twice the number of pointed to Italian producers of 3d-printed

trade measures reported to the wto. ventilator valves threatened with patent-in- fringement lawsuits, or South African produc- Now some are asking whether the wto should ers struggling to access raw materials for do more to discourage trade restrictions. covid-19 tests. In emergencies the agree- Members including Singapore and New Zea- ment on Trade Related Aspects of Intellec- land have sought to limit export controls and tual-Property Rights (trips) allows govern- lower import barriers for pandemic-related ments to issue “compulsory” licences to make products. On paper the proposal offers gains health-related products without the permis- for everyone: companies in producing coun- sion of the patent holder. So far, though, tries would access bigger markets, and con- none has. suming countries would achieve greater secu-

102 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

In October South Africa and India therefore .different to the one already in place." proposed to suspend trips rules relating to copyright, industrial designs, patents and This article appeared in the Finance & eco- trade secrets, until most of the world’s popu- nomics section of The Economist's print edi- lation is immune. James Love of Knowledge tion under the headline "In search of a cure”. Ecology International, a think-tank, says the waiver could help overcome the often intense pressure from rich-country governments on poorer ones not to use flexibilities written into the rules. Patent holders, of course, claim such waivers hurt their incentive to invest. (Whereas under a compulsory licence The world has not stopped, buyers would have to pay some royalty, unit just changed der the proposed waiver they would not.) Almost a year after the Covid-19 pandemic The truth is that the waiver itself might officially began, the global economy is still not do much to expand vaccine produc- throwing off conflicting signals about the tion. pace and direction of trade flows.

Without companies facilitating the transfer of The World Trade Organization’s latest goods technology it would have “roughly zero net trade barometer highlights the mixed mes- effect”, says Rachel Silverman of the Centre sages. for Global Development, another think-tank. Export orders and automotive products — And today’s supply constraints reflect manu- which the WTO calls some of the most reli- facturing bottlenecks rather than patent pro- able leading indicators — peaked recently tection. and show signs of decelerating. As for other products, Bryan Mercurio of the Ocean and air freight measures are both ris- Chinese University of Hong Kong says that if ing, suggesting faster-than-average growth, governments have not .issued compulsory li- although recent high-frequency data show cences, often the problem is not with the ex- that container shipping dipped in the start of isting trade rules but with their own domestic 2021. lawmaking.

In any case, the proposal has not gained Electronic components & raw materials are much support among other wto members and rising, possibly because of inventory stockpil- Ms Okonjo-Iweala does not seem to be advo- ing. cating for it. On February 15th she pointed to existing trips flexibilities, and warned about Farm commodities remain on the up- the risks of putting off investment in vaccines swing. to combat the variants of covid-19. Ms Okonjo-Iweala wants to set up a longer-term With services largely shut down or operating framework for responding to pandemics in- at lower capacity, merchandise trade recov- stead. The question is whether it can look ered sharply in H2 of 2020. But maybe the

103 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

boom has run its course. To sum it all up, the Applying higher frequency data than conven- WTO says “these trends suggests that trade’s tional GDP are showing China is rebounding upward momentum may be about to peak if from its usual slowdown for the Lunar New it has not already done so.” Year holiday and emerging-market activity elsewhere is staying steady at around 20% The whiplash-inducing outlook continued with below its pre-virus level. economic indicators this week.

Exporters in Germany are noticeably more optimistic. An Ifo report showed manufactur- So, it is a mixed bag. .The world has not ing export expectations reached the highest stopped, it just changed. since September 2018, owing to China’s recovery and stronger U.S. production.

Demand for the chips used inside cars, touch screens and work-from-home gear fuelled the biggest jump in South Korea’s early-month exports since late 2018. South Korea’s early Some degree of decoupling export figures increased 16.7% in the first 20 between the US and China days of February from a year earlier. looks increasingly in- evitable.

It was again underscored when Joe Biden plans to order a government-wide review of critical supply chains.

The goal is to reduce reliance on other countries for essential medical supplies and minerals.

By doing so, Washington hopes to prevent future shortages and limit the ability of foreign powers to exert leverage over American decision-making.

These are motivations that will resonate in Beĳing, even if the products in question are different.

Instead of personal protective equipment and Taiwan’s government said it sees 2021 eco- rare earths, China’s concern is computer nomic growth being the fastest in 7 years, chips. thanks to the world’s appetite for semicon- ductors. GDP will likely expand 4.6% in 2021 It was the administration of former President in Taiwan. Trump, of course, that weaponised this reliance by cutting Chinese companies such as

104 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Huawei off from their American suppliers. It’s 1% higher than in January 2019, the Interna- hard to know if those sanctions were what tional Air Transport Association said, with led Beĳing in late 2020 to make technology North America and Africa the strongest re- self-sufficiency a strategic priority, but it al- gions. most certainly provided momentum for the IATA compared figures with 2 years ago move. rather than January 2020 to avoid distorted And it’s a trend that looks set to continue, comparisons with the start of the Covid-19 given Beĳing’s emphasis on self-sufficiency crisis. and the aversion in Washington for easing The latest bump came even as capacity de- sanctions against Huawei. New Chinese regu- clined 20% with airlines scrapping flights to lations proposed last month that would give deal with ever-changing travel restrictions the government greater control over the pro- and lockdowns, which meant less room for duction and export of rare earths will likewise freight that’s normally transported in the heighten US concerns. holds under the passenger cabins. There’s not much the US and China see eye- With cargo space in short supply, air freight to-eye on these days, but they do seem to costs remained elevated through 2020 but agree on this: Each should need the other a have come down a bit recently. little less. The most recent reading of an index tracking Sooner rather than later, even the 2 super- rates from Asia to North America was still powers will realise, it remains a global world. more than 50% higher than a year ago. Trying to make it on your own in a hyper con- nected world is simply unsustainable, politi- *Lower capacity means air freight rates will cally naïve, and short-term thinking. likely remain higher for longer*.

Here we go again, a new type of cold war. Airlines have even resorted to temporarily Just when we thought the fight of the previ- converting some passenger jets to freighters, ous one was behind us. We were naïve. pulling out seats to carry goods inside their main cabins.

The parent of British Airways reported that 2020 was a record year for cargo revenue Global demand for air and said it conducted more than 4,000 cargo- cargo services has returned only flights between March and December, to pre-pandemic levels, even as the airline group reported its first annual loss in almost a decade. marking a rare bright spot for the battered aviation Source: Bloomberg industry.

Measured in cargo ton kilometers, demand in January rose 3% from December and was

105 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

China will soon unveil the chinery and software. outlines of what could be US sanctions threatened to kill off core busi- the lavrgest industrial-pol- ness lines for national champions such as icy effort by any country to Huawei, leading to stockpiling last year that date. is partly responsible for the current global shortage of microchips.

The emphasis on cutting foreign reliance

might sound like a negative for global trade It will publish a 5-year plan aimed at propel- — China imported $300 billion of microchips ling its companies to the forefront of tech- in 2020. nologies ranging from hydrogen vehicles to renewable energy and biotech. _Note – and But in the short term, industrial policy is they implement their plans._ likely to increase China’s imports from countries other than the US, as Chinese manufac- Those ambitions are likely to be backed by turers remain heavily reliant on foreign-made the equivalent of trillions of dollars in state equipment, providing opportunities for coun- and private investment over the next 5 years. tries including Germany and South Korea. As well as ensuring continued economic growth for China, the tech plan is also about cutting dependence on the US and its allies In the long run, in order to accommodate ris- for core technologies after Washington ing labour costs, Beĳing wants to replicate sought diplomatic leverage by blocking the success it has had in solar energy by in- Beĳing’s access to US microchips or semicon- creasing exports of technology-intensive ductors made elsewhere with American ma- products.

106 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

It clearly envisions that China could become With more people getting vaccinated, Ameri- an export hub for electric vehicles, making its can restaurants are now bracing for cus- carmakers truly global players for the first tomers to come back. Meanwhile, a recovery time. for economies abroad is sparking optimism for exports. China’s coronavirus-vaccine exports are a sign that its trade in pharmaceuticals should Chicken legs are now fetching about 39 cents continue to grow. per pound in the Northeastern U.S. wholesale markets. That could, in turn, create new trade tensions with the US and Europe, which view Chinese That’s the highest in about 11 months and up companies as benefiting unfairly from state sharply from the pandemic low of roughly 20 financing and subsidies. cents in September, USDA data show.

In a somewhat ironic twist, Washington is “We wouldn’t be surprised to see both export preparing to launch policies that in many interest, as well as restaurant buying con- ways mirror China’s as it wants to bring more tinue to underpin some price support in the microchip manufacturing back to the US. near-term, which may spur interest in increasing chicken production,” said Isaac It has also ordered a sweeping supply-chain Olvera, commodities and data analyst at re- review for large-capacity batteries, pharma- searcher ArrowStream. ceuticals and critical minerals that will likely result in recommendations to reduce reliance Whole chickens get split into various cuts. In on China in those sectors. the U.S, there’s a bias toward white meat, especially at fast-food spots. Meanwhile, dark Source: Bloomberg meat like legs typically goes more to sit-down restaurants.

And just as the outlook for restaurants is picking up, another factor is also helping leg demand.

Here’s the global recovery Joe Sanderson, CEO of Sanderson Farms, the sign you never knew you third-biggest U.S. chicken producer, cited needed: Chicken-leg prices higher oil prices as helping American poultry exports. When crude markets go up, coun- are surging. tries that rely on returns from petroleum have more money to spend on chicken. It’s weird, but also true. “Favourable currency valuations” have also Few U.S. meat products struggled as much as strengthened exports. those poultry hindquarters in the pandemic economy, even as appendages like wings On top of the pandemic problems, the boomed. That’s because chicken legs are chicken market seems to be recovering from much more dependent on the export market the supply mess caused by the severe winter and institutional food service. storm that slammed Texas and other states

107 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

last month. turmoil and suppressed consumer spending, more workplaces are staying open during the At the time, Sanderson was forced to eutha- 2nd wave and people are spending again, nize about half a million chickens amid power favouring goods as services spending is still failures and other weather-related problems. majorly restricted by coronavirus rules. While that meant fewer birds going to market for some time, things looking to be returning to normal and American chicken slaughter numbers are now rebounding.

Source: Bloomberg The surging oil price - what difference a year makes

In March last year Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to agree on a deal to restrain oil production. A price war ensued, with the two gi- Chinese shipping indices ants unleashing millions of barrels of crude show a surge in the price of just as covid-19 prompted lockdowns and oil shipping goods out of two demand dried up. Now Saudi Arabia and other producers are curbing output as de- major Chinese ports. mand rises. The price of Brent crude, the in- The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index ternational benchmark, briefly climbed above and the Ningbo Containerized Freight Index, $70 a barrel during early March for the first representing two of the three biggest con- time since May 2019. tainer ports in the world, maintain price lev- The surge comes amid a broader boom for els 3x as high as a year ago, showing an in- commodities from copper to corn, as Chinese crease in demand driven by the coronavirus imports rise and supply remains constrained. pandemic. But oil’s climb has been particularly lofty. In While Q4 of the calendar year usually sees an April last year the price of Brent dipped below increased demand – and increased price - for $20 a barrel and one American futures con- shipping out of Asia as the Western world tract briefly became less than worthless. heads into the holiday season, a strong post- Since late October, however, Brent’s value lockdown restocking demand elevated the in- has risen by nearly 100%. dices to new heights in December and Janu- Goldman Sachs, thinks it could reach ary. $80 soon.

Shipping prices also surged because contain- Three successive events helped jolt oil prices ers in Asia are becoming scarcer, instead pil- upwards this month. Earlier this month, the ing up in North American and European Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting ports. Countries (OPEC) and its allies surprised the While the first wave of lockdowns in the coro- market by agreeing to extend production cuts navirus pandemic caused major economic to April.

108 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

In early March, America’s Senate passed a $1.9trn stimulus bill, which should boost economic activity in the country that remains the world’s most voracious consumer of oil. A third of destinations re- Fears of supply disruption have raised prices main closed to interna- further tional tourism Over the weekend a Saudi refinery was at- tacked. The refinery supplies a quarter of the kingdom’s fuel.

In addition to the higher risk of disruptions to Saudi output, it looks less likely that America will quickly lift sanctions on Iran, a giant crude producer whose exports have been reduced to a trickle, smuggled out on ships with transponders switched off to evade de- tection.

America may also not reach its pre-pandemic levels of oil production (from shale drilling) until late 2023, holding back global oil supply and thus stimulating the price.

Higher social spending means that Russia now requires an oil price of $64 a barrel to As vaccination campaigns finally start to balance its budget, up from an average of gather pace in some countries, a substantial $51 in 2018 and 2019. chunk of the world still remains off limits to For petrostates, there is a risk in keeping international tourists. supply too tight. A new report from the United Nations World They want prices to remain high enough to Tourism Organization found that one third of balance their budgets, but not so high that destinations remain closed with just over half they trip up the recovery in demand. of them off limits for 40 weeks.

As Buffett says, the best treatment for a low A further 34% of destinations remain par- oil price is a low oil price. It tends not to last tially closed, 32% require testing or quaran- long, indeed. tine and just 2% had restrictions lifted. Source: The Economist The report states that out of 69 destinations that have completely closed their borders:

- 30 are in the Asia/Pacific region,

109 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

- 15 are in Europe, regardless of their level of development, are found to attract more inflows compared to - 11 are in Africa, countries with weaker internet access. As the - 10 are in the Americas and chart below shows, the positive connection between e-government and foreign direct in- - 3 are in the Middle East. vestment is clear.

his article first appeared https://www.statis- The findings, at the same time, expose yet ta.com/chart/24371/status-of-travel-restric- another potential point of divergence, namely tions-for-international-tourism/ the still vast global digital divide and technological disparities between higher and lower income economies. Many people worldwide still do not have access to the internet. Ac- cording to the 2020 United Nations’ E-Gov- How e-Government Ser- ernment Development Index about half of the vices Can Pay Dividends 193 countries covered by the index score below the world average of 0.60, while the av- The ability to renew your passport or driver’s erage index score for countries in Africa is al- license, pay a tax bill, or access government most one-third lower than the index aver- data with the click of a button or swipe of a age. Denmark, the Republic of Korea, and Es- screen, anytime and anywhere, has grown tonia lead the world in providing e-govern- more important during the COVID-19 pan- ment services and electronic dissemination of demic to prevent the spread of the virus. Be- information. Still, a number of developing yond the obvious efficiency and transparency countries such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, and gains that digital government services pro- Cambodia have become leaders in the devel- vide, “e-government” can actually make an opment of e-government infrastructure. economy more attractive to foreign investors. Those nations advanced from the middle group of countries in the index to become Recent IMF staff research has linked―for the some of the highest ranked among develop- first time―the accessibility of government in- ing countries in 2020. formation and services online to the volume of foreign direct investment a country re- This research suggests that countries should ceives. For many countries, this positive im- focus on the development of e-government pact is likely to be stronger as the pandemic services as part of their strategy for attract- pushes governments to provide even more ing more foreign direct investment. But in or- services and information online. der to reduce the divide between higher- and lower-income economies and provide digital A review of foreign direct investment inflows services to all people, governments need to in 178 host countries over a period of roughly push for better information and communica- 16 years finds that the presence of e-govern- tions technology infrastructure. This is a criti- ment services appears to stimulate the inflow cal component for effective e-government of foreign direct investment.Specifically, services. In tandem, governments should countries that implement and adopt strong work to make the internet accessible, afford- information and communication technologies, able, and secure to all.

110 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

the North-West University Business School, at This article was first published by the IMF [email protected]. https://blogs.imf.org/2021/02/11/how-e- government-services-can-pay-dividends/ 2. Find out how your institution can benefit from deep economic insight to formu- late postpandemic economic recovery strategies.

Do you want to connect Designed for public sector institutions which need help to navigate international waters to with the Growth Diagnos- benefit from international growth opportuni- tics in collaboration with ties. Through the newly-launched Research the North-West University Assistance Programme (RAP), we assist enti- Business School? Here are ties with their research challenges. two ways we can help: Research to produce increased levels of economic development and growth via enhanced 1. Join our free WhatsApp Broadcast List and trade and investment. Send your details to receive regular updates on global trade and Francois Fouche, Executive Director of investment-related matters. Please send your Growth Diagnostics, in collaboration with details to Francois Fouche, Executive Director the North-West University Business School, at of Growth Diagnostics, in collaboration with [email protected].

111 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

From

112 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

From mobile first to South Africa, while considering what we need to do to comply with the Protection of Per- mobile forced: sonal Information Act (PoPIA). Let’s unpack the answers to some of the What SA marketers most pertinent questions that arise around need to know mobile marketing in South Africa today: 1. How can marketers overcome the chal- By Candice Goodman lenge of airtime and data costs? South Africans became 'mobile forced' during 2. How to leverage the trend of instant lockdown. As marketers, when planning our messaging platforms like WhatsApp Business mobile marketing campaigns, we need to through chatbots? learn how to overcome the challenges, leverage the trends and take advantage of the op- 3. How to take advantage of the opportu- portunities arising from this 'mobile forced' nity of video by making it personal and en- environment, by enabling the right mobile gaging? technology available to us. Let's unpack what the statatistics are telling us and showcase local solutions that became award-winning Challenge: Cost of data and airtime? campaigns.

South Africa has always been called a ‘mobile I believe the biggest challenge we have seen first’ country. In other words, South Africans in the marketplace, which affects the use of generally experience the internet on a mobile mobile media and marketing, is the cost and phone ‘first’ before they see it on a big availability of data, especially during these screen on a desktop. times.

Since lockdown in March 2020, we have seen For a while now, data could cost financially- a new phenomenon emerge: South Africans constrained South Africans 100 times more have become ‘mobile forced’ because being when purchased in small bundles, and during locked down in their homes, their mobile lockdown this issue has only escalated. phones have become their lifeline, connecting them to their loved ones and to what is hap- With Covid-19 having changed the way we pening in the world around them. communicate: the more limited access to Wi- Fi at work, schools, community centres or in In turn, SA brands and marketers have also shopping malls, and the limitations and in- become ‘mobile forced’ as it became the convenience of not being able to physically best, dare I say only, way to reach out and purchase more when needed, has led many talk to their customers. South Africans to not have airtime or data when marketers need them to respond. It is one thing to know that you must communicate with your customers via their mo- To overcome this challenge, let your brand bile phones, yet the question remains as to sponsor your customers’ engagement by re- how we best leverage the challenges, trends verse billing their costs. How? and opportunities for mobile marketing in

113 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

114 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

115 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

For web and apps: prepare for PoPIA’s 1 July 2021 deadline, providing a ‘free-to-consumer’ USSD channel is Cloud-based technology allows us to elimi- a quick and convenient way to collect, refresh nate the mobile data cost barrier by enabling and augment data, consumer profiles and the use of the telco ‘reverse billing’ model. consent (opt-in) for communication.

Basically, we create a mirror image of your For SMS: site on a reverse billed IP address range (do- main) and pull the content from your site to The past few years have shown us that hav- that page. Whomever you want to experience ing a reverse billed SMS short code as a call #datafree, can be sent the link to that do- to action on your advertisement, where the main rather than your original one. consumer does not pay a cent to SMS the brand, generates much more response. We It can work for apps, mobile websites and have seen an increase of up to six times the campaign sites. There are some limitations response rate, just because it doesn’t need on certain website technologies, but it is cur- the consumer to have any airtime or data on rently available in SA across all the major their phones to send the SMS. networks, and on Airtel in Nigeria. Nowadays, you should even reverse bill your Obviously, the more we compress our site’s SMS replies. Why? Because the PoPIA Act’s images and videos, the less the brand will Section 69 (direct marketing by means of un- have to pay in reverse billed traffic costs. Us- solicited electronic communications) says ing AI (artificial intelligence) compression that you have to offer an easy way to opt-out technology, we can substantially decrease the on each communication, that is free of size of your media files by up to 90% whilst charge! So, you can offer a reverse billed not impacting the quality and load times – SMS reply, SMS short code or USSD code to with the added benefit of allowing you to use dial to allow them to opt-out. more video on your website and improving your Google score and online sales. Two great examples of local award-winning campaigns that ran during lockdown are: For USSD: NIVEA #TakeExtraCare With millions of South Africans not on Smart- phones, USSD is still a must! Yes, those Connecting loved ones with a free minute *120* dial codes are still very popular. In call, without needing to use airtime was an fact, we just ran a campaign for a mobile sur- essential service to maintain mental health. vey on reverse billed web and USSD and 78% preferred dialing the USSD code. The Users dialed a USSD string with a loved one’s reverse billed USSD codes starting with phone number. The USSD system allowed for *134* have been in high demand during reverse billing: people could speak to their lockdown as the government and brands use loved ones for one minute and NIVEA spon- it as a platform for essential communications sored the call. and engagement. Furthermore, now, as we

116 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

NIVEA provided 150,022 unique people with viding tangible benefits (meal voucher, swag the ability to speak to a loved one, building a bag, home nurse visits), using the following permission-based database of over 158,000 multi-channel mobile centric platforms as and getting over 300,000 South Africans to 96% of the mommies were on their mobile speak to each other in six days! phones: Personalised reverse billed SMS mes- Awards: Gold Assegai Award 2020 – CRM saging Programmes, Bronze for Mobile Marketing [in � Personalised wrap (mobile web-app like collaboration with Carat (https://www.carat message) .com/) and The 13th Floor (http:// www.13th.co.za/#/)]. � Mobile-first reverse billed web for mommy portal

View case study with video on https://www � WhatsApp Business chatbot .mobitainment.co.za/casestudies.cfm ?PageID=60 Awards: Silver Assegai Award 2020 - CRM Programmes, Leader in Database and Analyt- MyMomentum BabyYumYum Maternity ics Innovation [in collaboration Programme with BabyYumYum (https://babyyumyum .co.za/) and Shandon Business Solutions (https://shandonbiz.com/)].

View the case study on https://www.mobitainment.co.za/casestudies.cfm?PageID=59

Trend: WhatsApp?

We monitor the trends in using What- sApp carefully.

It was reported in February 2021(https:// datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-south- africa)that 97% of South African internet users are using chat apps, with 93% having used WhatsApp in the past month. These figures increased exponentially during lockdown. The market research firm Kantar conducted a survey in April 2020 (https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFTnPFdIAm0) finding that WhatsApp experienced the biggest increase across media channels, with a The MyMomentum BabyYumYum Maternity net 71% increase over the previous month. Programme is unique; personalised weekly The usage of WhatsApp may be affected by content, reacts to how mommy is feeling with the recent announcement of their planned pro-active call, involves birthing buddy, pro- new privacy policy, with users being frag-

117 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

mented across other chat platforms like Tele- and icings to pizza, desserts and speciality gram and Signal, but we believe this to be toppings, their products are used in restau- marginal if at all. rants, hotels and bakeries around the world.

It is critical in these times for businesses to Rich’s developed a WhatsApp chatbot with proactively communicate with all customers, snackable, on-demand content at a low cost. even those who haven’t been in touch re- A tech innovation with almost 12K lines of cently. A low-data chat platform, like What- code, 10 resource files (DLLs), three platform sApp, is still a powerful ‘digital democratiser’ integrations, 396 updatable products and for brands to remain in contact with their recipes to share their content digitally during customers and to give feedback and get sup- lockdown! port. Awards: Mobile Marketing Association Smar- However, you need to know how to leverage ties EMEA Customer Experience – Bronze this channel with respect to your customer. Winner (https://player.vimeo.com/video/ We have found the use of a chatbot respond- 482645002?api=1&autoplay=1 ) ing 24/7 to guide the conversation with the customer, allowing them to send and receiv- View case study with video here https://www ing images, videos and documents, with ex- .mobitainment.co.za/casestudies.cfm tra help on hand by allowing them to break- ?PageID=61 out to an agent, very effective in various use cases like: Business and Arts South Africa Debut Pro- gramme • providing a library of PDFs or documents for the customer’s reference During lockdown, the recruitment of young artists for Business and Arts SA’s Debut Youth • customer profiling and surveys Programme, seemed impossible. Until we • competitions entry mechanics leveraged mobile technology - a WhatsApp chatbot - resulting in increased inclusivity • till slip verifications for proof of purchase and accessibility, and 207% more, quality ap- plicants in 25% of the time! • even a store locator using the popular pin functionality in WhatsApp. Through their strategic partnerships the programme assists artists with everything from These award-winning case studies showcase ideation to venture implementation, all in how WhatsApp Business has brought tremen- their language of choice. They had to record dous social benefit to brands during lock- a video and say ‘Hi’ to the WhatsApp Busi- down: ness chatbot to start the guided conversation to help them through their entry. Help was Rich’s Africa WhatsApp chatbot always at hand with FAQs and allowing them to ‘breakout’ and chat to a human. Rich’s is a family-owned food company dedicated to inspiring possibilities. From cakes Awards: Mobile Marketing Association Smar-

118 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

ties SA Business Unusual Customer Experi- ing the video engaging and relevant to the ence – Bronze Winner viewer. How? By combining video and data to View case study with video herehttps://www create a personalised and/or interactive video .mobitainment.co.za/casestudies.cfm experience. ?PageID=62 A personalised video can include the viewer’s WhatsApp Business chatbot demo name, embedded in the image of the video, as well as spoken in audio, together with per- To experience it for yourself, you can either: sonal information like policy details and amounts unique to them. • Scan the QR Code An interactive video allows the viewer to click • SMS your name to 32117 (R1/SMS), click on hotspot buttons in the video or enter per- on the link in the reply SMS and say Hi sonal info, which can then determine the course of the next scene of the video. This • OR WhatsApp 087 152 0819 and say ‘Hi’ becomes extremely powerful for lead generation, as you educate your prospect, pre-qual- Opportunity: Video + data? ify their interest and gather their contact details as well as permission to contact them, all within video.

These videos can be sent at key moments to drive customer engagement (welcome videos, loyalty programmes year in review, cross-sales and customer service) and are extremely useful to educate your customer and thank them for their time with a reward.

This is a great award-winning example of how interactive videos were used to educate South Africans about protecting themselves and others around Covid-19 – provided ‘data free’ to the consumer: With a reported 98% of South African Inter- net users watching videos online before lock- Real Heroes Connect down (https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-south-africa), and the increased Funded by the Health and Welfare Seta to ed- viewings on YouTube during lockdown, as re- ucate SA on how to take action and flatten ported by the same Kantar survey in April the Covid-19 curve, we created nine interac- 2020, it was found that YouTube experienced tive mobile videos for the Real Heroes Con- a net 70% increase as a media channel over nect Series: zero-rated, gamified, with in- the previous month before lockdown. video quiz voiced in four languages to tran- scend communication barriers. But the opportunity for marketers is in mak-

119 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

FedHealth ‘Made For You’

In 2019, medical aid FedHealth launched their revolutionary new flexiFED medical aid packages. Although the changes were designed to give their customers more choice, flexibility and save them big, they just weren’t understanding how it worked and were getting frustrated! So, they sent out an

Awards: Mobile Marketing Association Smar- ties SA: Mobile Video – Silver Winner, Busi- ness Unusual Brand Purpose – Silver Winner, Social Responsibility – Bronze Winner Assegai Awards 2020 – Leader in Craft Awards - Most Effective Use of Content

[In collaboration with Talent Brand (http:// talentbrand.co.za/), TTRO (https://www.ttro email and SMS, directly to each one, person- .com/) and Blue Magnet (https://www.blue- ally, with a video made just for them! magnet.co.za/).] View case study with video herehttps://www Fedhealth. Personalised video. Made for you, .mobitainment.co.za/casestudies.cfm one member at a time. ?PageID=66

120 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Awards: Bookmark Awards 2020 - Bronze Africa. Best Use Of Data, Craft Bronze In Excellence In Software, Coding and Technical Innovation She founded mobile marketing technology [In collaboration with TCHM Marketing and enabler, Mobitainment, in 2006, winning mul- Advertising (https://thecheesehasmoved tiple awards over the past 14 years. Mo- .com/)]. bitainment earned the coveted title of “#1 Technology Provider in Africa, #4 in EMEA, View case study here https://www.mobitain- and #8 globally” from the MMA Global in ment.co.za/casestudies.cfm?PageID=58 2018.

Top take-aways About Mobitainment Here are our top three key take-aways to en- Mobitainment is a mobile technology enabler, able technology for this mobile forced audi- translating technical skill into business solu- ence to: tions and marketing results. Collaboration, integration, relevance and personalization are 1. Overcome the challenge of cost of airtime the keys to mobile marketing success, allow- and data? Reverse bill to sponsor the costs of ing marketers to build long-lasting, loyal rela- your mobi-sites, apps, USSD, SMS short tionships with these on-the-go consumers. codes and SMS replies. Our focus is to deliver happiness to our 2. Leverage the trend of instant messaging clients by offering dedicated care, service and platforms like WhatsApp Business? Use a expertise, so that you can deliver happiness chatbot to optimise your business communi- to yours! cations.

3. Take advantage of the opportunity of video ?Combine Video + data to create a personalised and interactive video experience that is engaging and collaborative.

****

About the author: Candice Goodman

She was awarded the DMA’s Direct Marketer of the Year in 2016 and is currently a non-executive board member of the Direct Market- ing Association. She is also on the Education Committee of the IAB. Goodman headed Edu- cation at the Mobile Marketing Association of SA for over five years, and was on the MMA Advisory Board as chairperson, as well as the first Certified MMA Mobile Marketer in South

121 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021 SPORTS

DITHAKO NAKEDI, the Deputy Editor of Jambo Africa Online, profiles a cohort of soccer stars who acquire academic qualifica- tions to be well-rounded profes- sionals…

122 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Soccer is undoubtedly one of the most lead- ics and automation industry. ing and prestigious employers in the world But Petersen isn’t the first one. He follows in today. A lot of millionaires are made in this the steps of a few others across the conti- sport that dates back over 2000 years ago. nent, who decided soccer wizardry was just To make it big in the game, machismo, skill, not enough to provide long term social secu- and sharpness are required prerequites. In- rity. deed, behaviour on and off the field of play may guarantee one a lifelong appreciation by Ghana, one of Africa's leading soccer nations the connoisseurs of this most popular sport in has about 9 known football players with uni- the world, that does not necessarily need for- versity degrees. They include among others, mal education. Joseph Tetteh Zutah, William Opoku Mensah, Abel Manomey, Ebenezer Opoku, Abdul Aziz However, a handful of soccer players across Suleiman, Ebenezer Ackon, Dennis Kwodwo the world have gone out to defy the odds, Korsa and Emmanuel Addington. and mix brawn with brain.

Footballers are mostly considered as people with poor academic background since several actors of the beautiful game find it difficult to combine it with studies.

However, there are a few that displayed impeccable standards of play in soccer and went on to make various achievements in formal education.

Nearer home in South Africa, Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brylon Petersen is the latest soccer player to complete his degree in Mechani- cal Engineering at Wits University.

Petersen, 24, joined Chiefs from Wits Univer- sity in 2016 after impressing in the Varsity Football tournament and continued his studies which stretched over a duration of six years in total.

With football as his main source of income, the talented shot-stopper will now be covered for life beyond the game with the mechanical engineering industry proving a lucrative career path.

His university degree entails designer power- producing machines in the automotive, aero- space, biotechnology, computer and electron-

123 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

124 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

As if not to be left behind, South Africa also � Romelu Menama Lukaku Bolingoli, a has its fair number of university graduates Belgian professional footballer who plays as a who make a living from running behind the striker for Serie A club InterMilan and the oval leather ball. They include among others, Belgium national team. Born in Antwerp, he Percy Tau, Daine Klate, Mpho Maruping, began his professional career at Belgian Pro Pogiso Mahlangu, Lehlohonolo Majoro, Tefu League club, Anderlecht, in 2009, where he Nashamaite, Nhlanhla Shabalala and Sean made his senior debut, at age 16. Roberts. Lukaku is also said to understand German Africa is actually a football playing continent and Swahili, as well as hold a degree in since time immemorial. Every single country tourism and public relations. Observers argue in the continent has one or two, even more that it is important to make a living from soccer players with university degrees. While playing soccer, but ensure that you have we may not have a fixed number at this point something to fall back onto, just in case. The in time, this publication can however confirm idea, they say, has been ignited by the num- that there are few of those in every country, ber of financially broke former soccer stars including Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Democratic also growing behind scenes. Republic of Congo, just to mention a few.

According to reports, the entire world has its pool of learned soccer players, with Juan Mata of Madrid leading the pack as the most educated soccer player.

Among the most educated in the world, are:

� Juan Manuel Mata García, a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club, Manchester United and Spain’s national team. He mostly plays as a central attacking midfielder, but he can also play on the wing.

� Clark James Carlisle, an English former professional footballer who played as a de- fender and was chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association. Born in Preston, he began playing football at a young age, taking inspiration from his father who played semi- professionally. He is a graduate of Sttarforsh- hire University in London.

� Yuto Nagatomo, a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Ligue 1 club Marseille and Japan national team, and IA an Economist From Meĳi University, and

125 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

DR PATRICE MOTSEPE HEADS AFRICA’S SOCCER SUPREME BODY

126 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

The Confederation of African Football elected, South Africa. In the same year, he was the unopposed, Dr Patrice Motsepe of South winner of the Ernst & Young Best Entrepre- Africa as its 43rd Assembly which was held neur of the Year Award. on 12 March 2021 in Rabat, Morocco. Two In 2017 Forbes Magazine commemorated its Vice Presidents – namely, Augustin Senghor 100th Anniversary and honoured Dr Motsepe of Senegal and Shmed Yahya of Mauritania – as one of the “100 Greatest Living Business were also elected. The two, with Jacques Minds” in the world alongside many promi- Anouma who was appointed a Senior Advisor, nent global business leaders. He is the only withdrew their candidacy to support Dr Mot- person living on the African continent to be sepe. recognized and honoured as one of the “100 A seasoned businessman, Dr Patrice Mot- Greatest Living Business Minds” in the world. sepe, is the Executive Chairman of the con- Dr Motsepe is also the founder and Chairman glomerate African Rainbow Minerals (ARM). of Ubuntu-Botho Investments, African Rain- He possesses an LLB and Doctorate of Com- bow Capital (ARC), African Rainbow Energy merce Honoris Causa (University of Witwater- and Power (AREP) and UBI General Partner srand), Doctorate of Commerce Honoris (Pty) Ltd. He is also the Deputy Chairman of Causa (Stellenbosch University), Doctor Sanlam, Chairman of Harmony Gold and of Management and Commerce Honoris President of Mamelodi Sundowns Football Causa (University of Fort Hare) and BA Law Club. and Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa (University of Eswatini, formerly the University of Swazi- Dr Motsepe is a member Board of Trustees of land) the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Global Network Advisory Board of the WEF Centre In 1994 Dr Motsepe founded Future Mining for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the which grew rapidly to become a successful WEF International Business Council (IBC) contract mining company. He then formed which is made up of 100 of the most highly ARMgold in 1997 which listed on the JSE in respected and influential chief executives 2002. from all industries. He is also a member of In 2003 Dr Motsepe led ARMgold into a the Harvard Global Advisory Council and the merger with Avmin and Harmony Gold. Fol- International Council on Mining and Metals lowing the merger Avmin changed its name (ICMM). to African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and he His past business responsibilities include be- became the founder and Executive Chairman ing the President of National African Feder- of ARM. ated Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dr Patrice Motsepe was a partner in one of (NAFCOC) from 2002 to 2006, Founding the largest law firms in South Africa, Bow- President of Business Unity South Africa mans and was also a visiting attorney in the (BUSA) from January 2004 to May 2008, USA with the law firm, McGuireWoods. Founding President of Chambers of Com- merce and Industry South Africa (CHAMSA), In 2002 Dr Motsepe was voted South Africa’s President of the Black Business Council Business Leader of the Year by the chief ex- (BBC), and the Founding Chairman of the ecutive officers of the top 100 companies in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South

127 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

128 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Africa) Business Council in March 2013. challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Motsepe is a recipient of numerous business and leadership awards and recognitions These companies and organisations are: including: Motsepe Foundation • Sunday Times Lifetime Achiever Award, Sanlam 2017; • Harvard University Veritas Award for Excel- African Rainbow Capital (ARC) lence in Global Business and Philanthropy, 2014; African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) • BRICS Business Council, Outstanding Lead- Harmony Gold Mining Company (Har- ership Award, 2014; mony) • The Black Management Forum (BMF) Presi- dential Award for Business Excellence, 2010; and others • McGuireWoods Outstanding Alumnus Awards, 2009; The Founder and Chairman of the Motsepe • African Business Roundtable, USA, Entre- Foundation, Dr Patrice Motsepe said: “Several preneur & Freedom of Trade Award, 2009; hundred million rands will immediately be • South African Jewish Report, Special Board made available with the primary objective of Members Award for Outstanding Achieve- saving lives and slowing and restraining the ment, 2004; spread of the Coronavirus. We are purchasing • Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut, MS Louw sanitisers, disinfectants, Personal Protective Award for Exceptional Business Achievement, Equipment (PPE) and are in discussions with 2003; and Government, health workers and other stake- • World Economic Forum Global Leader of To- holders to assist with acquiring other equip- morrow, 1999. ment and making resources available which are essential for dealing with the Coronavirus In January 2013 Dr Motsepe and his wife, Dr pandemic. We’ve been advised that access to Precious Moloi-Motsepe joined the Giving water for regularly washing hands is crucial Pledge which was started by Warren Buffett for slowing and limiting the spread of the and Bill and Melinda Gates. Dr Motsepe com- Coronavirus. mitted to give half of the wealth, which is owned by the Motsepe family to the poor and “We are therefore providing water to poor ru- for philanthropic purposes during his lifetime ral and urban communities by purchasing wa- and that of his wife and beyond. In April ter tanks (jojos), drilling and equipping for 2019, Forbes Magazine stated that US$500 borehole water and also building sanitary fa- million was donated by the Motsepe family to cilities. The current lockdown has an impact the poor and for philanthropic purposes.Dr on the goods, equipment and services that Motsepe announced on 28 March 2020 that can be purchased immediately and the goods his family, in partnership with companies and and services which can be provided when the organisations that they are associated with, lockdown has been terminated. including ARM, pledge R1 billion to assist with “Our short to medium term interventions in- South Africa and Africa’s response to the clude building additional classrooms, com-

129 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

130 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

puter centers and laboratories in all the 9 local, provincial and national business provinces of South Africa to assist with the and professional organisations; excessively high number of students per black and white farmers and their repre- classroom in some schools; particularly in the sentative organisations; and context of the current Coronavirus pandemic and the social distancing requirements. Those other organisations or structures that schools in the poor rural and urban areas can assist or partner with us in dealing with which do not have internet access or facilities the current Coronavirus pandemic. will be assisted with study guides, scientific calculators, dictionaries and other educational The CEO of Sanlam Ian Kirk said: “Sanlam equipment and facilities identified in consul- has a rich history of always putting our peo- tation with the Department of Basic Educa- ple, our clients and our country first; hence tion, school principals and teachers.” our mantra of ‘Doing well, by doing Good’. Today, we’re proud of the partnership with In concluding, Dr Precious Motsepe added: the Motsepe Family and its associated com- “Poor and underdeveloped communities are panies. We believe these efforts will make a ill-prepared to deal with the serious chal- meaningful contribution not only towards lenges and consequences of the Coronavirus fighting the Coronavirus, but also in develop- pandemic and are in dire need of our assis- ing the long-term sustainability of South tance and contributions. We are committed to Africans, particularly in poor and rural areas. contribute to the provision of quality educa- Periods of profound uncertainty like these call tion, infrastructure and other facilities to bet- for us to come together to support all the ter prepare and equip them to deal with fu- prudent actions that contain the scourge of ture pandemics or catastrophes.” this virus and its impact on our already frag- ile economy.” The group announced it would be working in partnership with: The CEO of ARC Dr Johan van Zyl said: “As a nation we are in unchartered waters in terms traditional leaders, kings, queens and of the scale and danger that the COVID-19 their communities that we have been working pandemic presents to South Africans. It is with for the past 20 years; now time for each and everyone of us to the 34 Religious and Faith-Based organi- demonstrate leadership and help. ARC is a sations that participate in the annual Motsepe fairly young company with limited financial Foundation National Day of Prayer; resources. Yet, it remains important that we make a contribution. In this regard we are National, Provincial and Local Govern- partnering with companies and organisations ment authorities; with which we have common interests and Trade Union and other Worker Repre- share common values to ensure that the pos- sentative organisations; itive impact we aim to make is felt.”

NGOs and other local community representative organisations;

sport organisations and entities;

131 Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

Mamelodi Sundowns is a South African football club based in Pretoria and they play in the top tier of South African football. They are the most successful team in the Premier Soccer League era and are regarded as one of the giants in Africa.

Since the inception of the Premier Soccer League in 1996 Masandawana have won the league title a record ten times, have won the CAF Champions League in 2016 and were voted CAF Club Of The Year the very same year. They have also won the Nedbank Cupfour times, and hold the joint record of three National Football LeagueChampionships and they are the only South African team to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup.

The club’s nickname, The Brazilians, is a reference to their uniforms, which echo those of the Brazilian national team.

The Brazilians play with flair, passion and precision leaving many supporters in awe and opposition in envy thus the team has been dubbed “Bafana ba Style (boys with style) due to the appetizing attractive football they display. Locals refer to this attacking style of play as ‘shoeshine and piano’ which includes combinations of quick, short passes on the ground and this is likened to the Spanish ‘tika-taka’ style as demonstrated by Spanish teams, most notably FC Barcelona.

Mamelodi Sundowns is blessed to have the incredible support of club owner and Presi- dent, Dr Patrice Motsepe whose unerring dedication and visionary leadership has seen the club grow to where it is today and this shall continue as the club strives to succeed and surpass all expectations, realizing the vision of the club – The Sky is the Limit!

132 - Africa:Services. Products. Channels. Jambo Africa Online - Vol.6, March 2021

133 HEAD OFFICE: 4th Floor The Firs Corner Bierman and Cradock Avenue Rosebank, JOHANNESBURG, 2196 Tel: +27 11 759 4297 Twitter: @jamboafricaonline and @brandhillafrica

LinkedIn: @brandhillafricaonline

eMail: [email protected]

Website: www.brandhillafrica.com 1 AFRICA a project of Research. Innovate. Re/engineer a pan African com petitive identity and public BrandhillAfrica (Pty) Ltd. diplom acy agency