CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
SOUTH AMERICA AFRICA MIDDLE EAST ASIA WOMEN SUMMIT (SAMEAWS) DUBAI 2019
THEME: Developing Female Transformational Leaders: A New Paradigm for Growing Emerging Economies. DATE:
VENUE:
NOV. 22
Dubai - UAE
2019
F O R PA R T I C I PAT I O N A N D S P O N S O R S H I P, P L E A S E C O N TA C T Centre for Economic and Leadership Development C/O Amazons Watch Magazine Portsmouth Technopole, Kingston Crescent Portsmouth, PO2 8FA United Kingdom.
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Publisher’s Category Porch
Ken Giami On 11th October 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister and African Leadership magazine person of the year 2018, Abiy Ahmed Ali, was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.” At 43, Prime Minister Ahmed, who is also Africa’s youngest leaders at the moment, has done all Africans, and his native Ethiopians proud, and especially all the young people of Africa who see in him a symbol of hope and possibilities. At a time when majority of the leaders across Africa are much older men, Abiy Ahmed’s Nobel Prize is a pointer to the belief that if young people are given the chance, they can make a difference, especially at a time when the average age of an African president is 62, whereas the median age of Africa's population is 19.5. I therefore lend my voice in congratulating the youthful prime minister for what I believe is a well-deserved win. It is noteworthy to mention that recipients of the African Leadership magazine “Persons of the Year” prestigious Awards are well deserving of the recognition, seeing that two of the past recipients were immediately awarded with a Nobel Prize after the Persons of the year conferment. First being the former President of Liberia, Her Excellency, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who emerged as the African Leadership magazine Person of the Year 2011 and thereafter was awarded the highly coveted Nobel Peace Prize 2011 for “her nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work." Well, this speaks volume to the credibility of the Person’s of the Year Nomination Committee and holds firmly true that indeed Africans Lead the World. Recognizing Abiy Ahmed’s Contributions to the continent’s growth in February this year 2019, African Leadership magazine Awards nomination committee approved the emergence of the Prime Minister as the African Person of the Year 2018, after he resoundingly emerged with over 90% of our readers votes cast. 7 months later, Mr. Ahmed was bestowed with the Nobel prize, painting an all too familiar route for an ALM person of the year. In 2011,
ANOTHER AFRICAN LEADERSHIP MAGAZINE PERSON OF THE YEAR, PRIME MINISTER ABIY AHMED’S WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2019 …amidst ethnic and tribal concerns at home
Taking a short stroll into Dr. Abiy’s past, he has tirelessly worked for peace since his teenage days until he joined the Ethiopian National Defense Force where he worked in the Intelligence and Communication Department. As a member of the United Nations Peace Keeping Force, (UNAMIR), he led several intelligence teams where critical situations were addressed. Dr. Ahmed was also instrumental to resolving civil unrest where he became a central figure of influence, which led to the preferences he enjoyed in the political sphere. The recent Nobel Prize win is another testament that he is still working for peace today. While, I am not unaware of the ethnic rivalries and local political issues which the prime minister continues to deal with at the home front, leading to various protests, killings and internal dissents, resulting to serious security issues, I urge all stakeholders of Ethiopia to engage constructively for the progress of their nation and indeed all of Africa. This recognition, and others that the prime minister has received in recent years, is not an end in itself, but a call to greater service for the peace and development of not just Ethiopia but Africa as a whole. I urge the prime minister to accept the award as both a humbling experience but a call to challenging time ahead. I also urge African young people to not only aspire for leadership in their communities and nations, but seek a life of impact at whatever levels they are currently in life. Congratulations, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed!
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CONTENTS 18
How Japan Can Help Harness Africa’s Blue Economy
COVER STORY Pan Africanism: Towards an African Renaissance, Not yet Uhuru
6
22 Globalization and Development. The Impact on Africa; A Political Economy Approach
32
24
The World looks to Africa as the Last Frontier
Economic Trade in West Africa For Hardwork 45 Reward In STEM e Building Blocks of 56 Th Entrepreneurship e African Private 64 Th Equity Scene Africa ready for 48 Isnuclear energy?
40 52 28
14
How to Facilitate Trade in Africa Mapping a way to a greener consumer culture China: Lessons for a Developing Africa
...A Publication of African Leadership (UK) Limited
Publisher/CEO Ken Giami Publisher@africanleadership.co.uk Group Managing Editor Kingsley Okeke editor@africanleadership.co.uk +44 74 184 71670 Associate Editor Arvy Nahar aknahar@africanleadership.co.uk +44 77 89 590 363 Editor – At – Large Martin Roche martin@africanleadership.co.uk +44 77 157 49621 Editor, International Affairs Kenneth Nkemnacho nkemnacho@africanleadershp.co.uk +44 74 018 88866 Creative Graphic Designer John Mutum Chief Operating Officer / Executive Director Furo Giami Group Head, Finance & Administration Boma Benjy Iwuoha Manager, Adverts & Sponsorships Joseph Akuboh joseph@africanleadership.co.uk Manager, Sales & Business Developments Samuel Moses Elaikwu elaikwu@africanleadership.co.uk Head, Events & Conferences Ehis Ayere Director of Operations North America Happy Benson Head, Research and Admin - North America Christy Ebong Head, South African Bureau Oluwatoyin Oyekanmi Business Development Managers Sheba Nyam, Stanley Emeruem, Amang Saliyuk
Associate Editor Joshua Ogbonna Staff Writer Vivian Ozoemena Executive Assistant to the Publisher Jolayemi Mayowa mayowa@africanleadership.co.uk Contributing Editors Major Aku A Amboson FSS (Rtd) Jibril Ndace Correspondents / Representatives David Lekpa – New York, USA Sabrenah Sumrah-Kelly – Atlanta, USA Saikou Jammeh – Banjul, The Gambia Erin Lewis - Washington DC, USA Kudzai Mtero – Pretoria, South Africa Nomia Machebe – Johannesburg, South Africa Lady Ngo Mang – Paris France Josephine Adageog – Accra Ghana Linda Kimenyi – Nairobi Kenya Contributors Matshona Dhilwayo, Chifuniro Kandaya Arthur Becker, Charles Peter Yomi Henry-eyo, Barnabas Thondhlana Splendour Eloke Young, Miracle Nwankwo
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Portsmouth Technopole, Kingston Crescent, Portsmouth PO2 8FA, United Kingdom +44 23 9265 8276; +44 74 3880 2727 AFRICA HEAD OFFICE 13 Mambilla Street, Off Aso Drive, Abuja-Nigeria +234 703 682 7724; +234 803 7920 639 UNITED STATES OFFICE: 6008 Old Rolling Road, Alexandria, VA 22310 +1 202 394 8489, +1 202 367 6916 e | info@africanleadership.co.uk f | +44 (0)23 9265 8201 w | africanleadership.co.uk ISSN 2006 - 9332 While great care has been taken in the receipt and handling of materials, production and accuracy of content in the magazine, the publishers will not take responsibility for views expressed by the writer.
...Promoting Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Development In Africa
Cover Story
Chinese citizens residing in Africa. Additionally, it has been estimated that 200,000 Africans are working in China.” African countries have thrown open its doors to the Chinese with state-owned Chinese corporation leading the construction and investment charges. At the seventh annual Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in September 2018, delegates from both countries met. The collaboration and cooperation which is reportedly set to make Africa one of China’s greatest allies in the current global market environment, saw China announced it would be providing $60 billion in financial support to Africa. The African economies provide another sensible choice for the Chinese to take advantage of first-rate growth opportunities both for political reasons and investment returns. China’s massive infrastructure projects in Africa, including dams, railways, ports and telecommunications networks, has continuously befuddled the west. According to a Mckinsey report, between 2000 and 2014, the stock of Chinese investment in Africa went from 2 percent of US levels to 55 percent. The
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Twitter, has certainly cost the US its respectable place in global diplomacy, with the US President inadvertently setting the country up, on several war fronts.
8 | African Leadership | November 2019
report estimates that, at the current breakneck pace, China will surpass US levels within a decade. While most external investors are responding by subscribing to tenured bonds by the African governments, the Chinese have registered an unshakable presence in Africa by investing hardware because of a firm belief in the prospect of the Africa continent. While Africans have been made to believe that the continent is going to live with the westernbuilt rumors of deprivation, diseases, depression, and desertification, the Chinese have seen no better time to believe the age-long recital that Africa is Rising.
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The African economies provide another sensible choice for the Chinese to take advantage of first-rate growth opportunities both for political reasons and investment returns.
* beauty, * education, * entrepreneurship
STEM Education Category
44 | African Leadership | November 2019
STEM Education Category
Reward For Hardwork In STEM Miracle Nwankwo
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Although on getting to GE she was offered a very low salary, she was not perturbed, rather, finding herself in a job that pushed her towards her career extremely challenged her.
The Middle East is a patriarchal sphere that is almost impossible for women with visions and aspirations to succeed. It is quite unfortunate that the region has many policies and laws that ban their women from living freely and purposefully, and rather bounds them from reaching for the skies. The region is just beginning to let go of it numerous strong stereotyped laws. However, prior to this time a reasonable amount of women has been able to pull through the limitations to achieving their dreams. Among these women is Iba Masood, a successful woman in STEM. Iba is a Pakistani woman born and raised the United Arab Emirates. She is the co-founder and CEO of a project-planning and recruiting company called Tara AI. Iba is a hardworking and purpose-driven woman, who currently heads the evolution of TARA Intelligence Inc. in Silicon Valley. Her company has recently raised $3 million in new seed funding from YCombinator, Moment Ventures, GSV and others. Prestigious organisations like; Ford, Cisco and Orange Telecom are using artificial intelligence from Tara AI to find top coders for freelance software projects. She was thirteen-year-old when she bore the dream that births her present status. She had always wanted to own a tech-related company in the United States, one that would come to being with her ignition, and grow to become a huge, useful, successful, and resourceful to the technology industry. In pursuit of this dream, she went on to study and at the age of nineteen, Iba gained a Bachelor’s in Finance and was the top of her class. Unfortunately, she had graduated at a time when the world was hit with global economic recession. Despite her good grades, getting hired was a huge problem for Iba, so she was unemployed for a long time. However, she stayed focused and continued to apply jobs while looking out for opportunities to begin creating the future she had dreamt of. Finally, her dedicated efforts began to bear fruits when she was accepted into a trainee program at McKinsey which paved the way for her new role at GE. Although on getting to GE she was offered a very low salary, she was not perturbed, rather,
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Category Afripreneur
“If you create an environment with those four things I think you can absolutely create entrepreneurs,” Greenberg says. “I see entrepreneurship education as the great equalizer. You don’t have to have an IQ of 150. You just need to step up, be armed with an idea, and be willing to work hard.” Even if most high school students have yet to develop specific professional ambitions, according to Greenberg’s definition of entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial mindset is useful far beyond the world of startups and business ventures, and therefore it ought to be learned and adapted by everyone. “Life is about interacting with people, and there’s a lot of problem-solving along the way,” he explains. “Entrepreneurship – your ability to interact with people well and solve problems – will equip you for your personal life, your family life, and your professional life.”
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Of course, entrepreneurial skills can be developed outside working for a company or other professional setting. Entrepreneurship starts with finding ways to add value to the environment you’re already in, whether that’s the classroom, the athletic field, at home, or at a part-time job. This can be a novel concept for many high school students.
58 | African Leadership | November 2019
Afripreneur Category
The Importance of Record-Keeping to the Successful Entrepreneur Eloke-Young Splendor
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In order to keep a good track of happenings in any business organization, the role of recording business transactions must not be overlooked.
Some entrepreneurs sometimes fail to understand that recordkeeping in business, is also a serious business as well. Every business person, whose desire for success is not just a one-off goal but a consistent pursuit, must realize the importance of record keeping to her business whether it is a small scale business or a large scale business. This implies that, record keeping cannot be separated from the necessities of a good business ethics. The business world presents a highly competitive environment and for any entrepreneur to continually excel in business, there are some practices
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Category Trade and Investment
remained the most attractive amongst investors attracting a significant 39.7 percent of total funds raised.6 In its 2017 Annual Limited Partner Survey, the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) listed Nigeria as the most attractive country for Private Equity investment in Africa over the next three years, with Kenya and Ethiopia coming behind it.7 Majority of Limited Partners identify Consumer Goods, Financials and Healthcare as the top three sectors for investment in Africa.8 The United States, which has the most developed and sophisticated venture capital industry in the world, has largely benefited from the tremendous benefits of VC funding. Over the past 20 years, VC backed companies, such as Amazon, Google, and Apple, have been a prime driver of both economic growth and private sector employment.9 Reports show that in 2008, venture capital-backed companies employed more than 12 million people and generated nearly $3 trillion in revenue.10
groups are expected to grow by 100 million.12 Africa's 1.1 billion population is expected to have doubled in 2050 and quadrupled in 2100.13 This significantly increases the consumer population and makes Africa a rapidly expanding market that attracts investors. Despite these projections, the African continent is palpably not ready. A fact reflecting this is the ease of doing business in many African countries which is at an all-time low, albeit slowly improving. In the World Bank's Doing Business 2019 report, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria are ranked at 82, 61, and 146 respectively on the ease of doing business. The ranking measures the ease of starting a business, getting a location, accessing finance, dealing with day-to-day operations, and operating in a secure business environment.
Venture capital certainly holds the potential to drive economic development in Africa. It creates a ripple effect, which improves R&D, promotes innovation, and increases intellectual property assets – which also becomes a source of wealth creation. Venture capitalists provide not only financing but also mentorship, strategic guidance, network access, and other forms of support. The frontiers of Africa are gradually opening to venture capital investment and responsibility is placed on African governments to strategically create policies and the right investment environment needed to attract increased funding of the private sector. Based on current trends, Africa's population is projected to double in size by 2050. Lagos leads this exponential population explosion as the fastest growing city in Africa, growing at 77 people per hour.11 By 2030, Africa's middle- and high-income
68 | African Leadership | November 2019
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In recent times, Nigeria has increasingly attracted venture capital investments. Within the period of 2012-2017, Nigeria accounted for 73 percent of the US$10.7 billion value of private equity funding in the West African region
Other significant obstacles facing African economies are lack of financing14 and the absence of effective business regulations needed to create an economic environment that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation. The private sector, which holds the key to an economic reawakening in Africa, has become a victim of these. Strategic financing can be key to developing key sectors in Africa's economy. Through the provision of mouth-watering incentives targeted at private equity investors investing in certain key sectors of their economies, African countries can create a strategic flow of private sector financing that will have a positive impact on other sectors and the economy as a whole. Furthermore, this will create alternative financing options for SMEs. African governments should also create a unified legal and policy response to the increasing interest of private equity investors in Africa.
Category
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