Forbes Africa April 2013 (e magazine full)

Full E-magazine Forbes English version (copyright)

FROM A SHOVEL

TO A KNIGHTHOOD SAM JONAH

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

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80| 2013 ACADEMy AWARDS WInnERS

34 | THREE MEN YOU CAN BET YOUR LIfE ON

BY CHRIS BISHOP

72 | THE RISING STAR WITH THE

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BY TONI MUIR

EDITOR’S DESK — CHRIS BISHOP

“Carpe Diem”

Bite

The Ballot Bullet

BY CHRIS BISHOP, MANAGING EDITOR

him and the complexity of Kenyan politics

is probably beyond me

During this year’s election, I caught a glimpse of the 2007 mayhem on TV that made me sick to my stomach It was the image of a tall man, probably in his forties, running the gauntlet of a gang of thugs

on a road in the Kenyan hinterland The man was in distress; his shirt was torn and hanging down the back of his legs, a sure

sign he was leeing a beating

As the sweating man ran past the camera, one of the thugs kicked out, slicing the man down at the knees As the man writhed in pain on the loor the camera cut, prob-ably at the insistence of one

of the attackers

Now, most of us who have covered numerous elections know what happens The attackers would kick the man

on the ground senseless—if he was nate he would wake up in hospital, cov-ered in blood People ask me what was the worst I ever saw on this continent—was it the tear gas, the bullets, or the blood? My answer: the looks on the faces of the cow-ardly thugs who jump onto their lonely victims in packs Those gloating, leering and vicious looks make me shudder In fact, I am shuddering as I write this now.What I am saying is that any hardship

fortu-is worth it, if it means avoiding brutality of this kind that merely breeds more In my experience the swallowing of an election result, no matter how unpalatable, can be

So, Kenya has elected its man

Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the founding father of Kenya, has a magic name in politics, if ever there was one There can be few world leaders who have a irst name that means freedom Fewer names can evoke the passion and power of a bygone era of hope at the dawn of independence He is the irst son of a president to take the reins

of power in East Africa and also the youngest at the age

of 51

Another dubious irst has been denied Kenya’s new president He is only the second sitting president

to face charges of crimes against humanity laid at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague;

the other being President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan

The charges relate to the appalling election violence of the bloody Kenyan elections

of 2007, in which more than a thousand people died The political rivalry lared into that most ugly cancer of the world: ethnic violence

If I were Kenyatta, my irst phone call

in oice would be to the ICC to arrange

a hearing as soon as possible I would ly

to The Hague for my day in court, for a chance to clear my name and clean the slate Aside from the moral question, imagine the political capital that could be made through an acquittal and triumphant return to Nairobi But then again, I am not

GOT SOMETHING TO SAY? WRITE TO US

Views expressed by commentators in this publication are not necessarily those held by FORBES AFRICA or its members of staf All facts printed in FORBES AFRICA were conirmed as being correct at the time the magazine went to print

the irst step to a brighter future

The opposition in Kenya is appealing the result

Wouldn’t it be better to draw a line under the election

and start afresh? Surely, it would be better to regroup and

prepare for the arduous task of opposition—keeping the

ruling party to account for its decisions, while redoubling

the eforts of activists on the ground ready for the next

election In my view, this stoic and patient approach by

opposition parties, in hanging on and stoking debate, is as

much a part of nation building as drawing up policy Then

again, I believe that day follows night and that the running

man writhing in agony can go back and teach the bullies a

lesson

At stake, is the long-term prosperity of a country

For-eign investors will always look at the likelihood of

suc-cessful free and fair elections before they decide to plough

their money into a country Freedom, conident spending,

business stability and policy certainty usually go

hand-in-hand

Let us hope Kenya can sort out its problems on the path

to stability There is a lot riding on the country and even the disgruntled opposition can sleep safe in the knowledge that when a real change is afoot the people vote in a land-slide that few can resist I predict that at least one country

in southern Africa faces such an electoral tsunami this year.Speaking of powerful forces, after half a century on earth, I am on Twitter (@ChrisBishopZA) I thought that

if I said it quickly it would sound more familiar It doesn’t

I am a man who has built a career in journalism on ing and listening to people I feel all too often that on social media, everyone is talking and few are listening On the other hand, I felt, as an editor, it was my duty I will try

read-to tweet, with a sweet turn of phrase, only those morsels that could inform and intrigue It will be journalism and FORBES AFRICA only

To put it all in context, I telephoned my 13-year-old daughter, who has been on social media shortly after going onto solid food, to tell her of my foray onto Twitter

“Whatever,” she says casually

OMG

FOrBES aFriCa INBOX

I was initially very impressed when

the irst issue of Forbes hit my desk –

great content, insights from business

leaders and inspirational tales about

adversity being turned into advantage.

Then it hit me – this can’t go on for

too long, can it? How many positive

stories could possibly come out of

Africa? I waited with anticipation for

the next issue to be proved right

Issue two arrived with just as much

inspiration about the changing face of

Africa and its people From stories of

losing your job with no concrete plan

B to big business deals, I’ve since been

sold on the pulsating beat of Africa’s

heart.

Every issue is a lesson in resilience

and for somebody in public relations

consultancy in an increasingly busy

and competitive Lusaka city, the

magazine demystiies business and

enterprise into an endeavor that one

can excel at.

You get knocked down so many times in business and at times, the tenacity to get up from the canvas can be a really grueling challenge

The inspiration, insight and analysis

by some of Africa’s leading lights in business makes you feel you’ve got the right team in your corner, refusing to throw in the towel even in the twelfth round.

At the end of each read, you’re not only inspired but challenged to think diferently and resist the precedents of those who have gone without success all because they did not go down the path we’ve decided to take.

Forbes Africa is required reading if the murky, meandering landscapes of business and enterprise in Africa are not only to be taken on but relished

as well.

Kachepa Mtumbi Lusaka, Zambia

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to President Robert Mugabe for approval.

The referendum took almost four years to produce and cost $50 million of donor funds The amendments to the constitution include: presidential term limits and eliminating the president’s power to reject legislation; the banning of cruel punishment and torture; the protection

of the freedom of press and expression as well as a forcement of gender equality The new constitution calls for the creation of a constitutional court to replace the Supreme Court as the highest court in the country, which will enforce fundamental rights.

rein-Zimbabwean elections are expected to take place between July and October This is said to be the most important election since 1980 and could possibly end the 33-year reign of Mugabe If he approves the new consti- tution and wins, he could remain in oice for another two ive-year terms, until he is 99.

NEWS LINES

VENEZUELA: 58-year-old Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, passed away on March 5 He ruled from 1999.

FEMALE UN CHIEF: Activists from

South Sudan are prompting the United Nations General Assembly to consider a female successor to its current chief, Ban Ki- Moon, after 68 years of male dominance.

AIRPORTS: Airports Council national (ACI) named Cape Town International Airport the best airport

Inter-on the cInter-ontinent, followed by Durban, Cairo, Mauritius and Johannesburg.

LEADERS: The World Economic Forum (WEF) named Alex Okosi, senior vice president and managing director of Viacom International Media Networks Africa, a 2013 Young Global Leader Okosi was featured in the November issue of FORBES AFRICA.

INNOVATION: The world’s irst Climate Innovation Centre (CIC) was established in Kenya by the World Bank Group’s infoDev program, to help companies working with climate- related technologies turn their ideas into viable businesses.

SOCCER: According to FIFA rankings:

Ivory Coast is ranked irst in Africa and 13th in the World, followed by Ghana, which is 20th in the world Third

is Mali, which is 24th in the world

Nigeria and Algeria were the other top ranking African nations.

BOAT: At least 45 people drowned after a wooden boat traveling from Nigeria to Gabon sank The boat, carrying 166 passengers, capsized

40 nautical miles of Nigeria’s shore

There were two survivors, the remainder are unaccounted for.

NEW POPE IN THE VATICAN

After three days of discussions, Jorge

Mario Bergoglio (76) was chosen as the

266th pontif of the Roman Catholic

Church Bergoglio, the irst

non-Europe-an pope in more thnon-Europe-an 1,200 years,

suc-ceeds Pope Benedict XVI who

unexpect-edly resigned in February Bergoglio took

the name Pope Francis I, to honor Saint

Francis of Assisi.

“A saint that transcends the Catholic

Church and is loved by all people, a saint

who reached out for simplicity poverty

and care for the poor,” according to

Reverend Thomas Rosica, spokesman for

the Vatican.

The two African Cardinals in the running

were Ghana’s Peter Turkson (64) and

Nigeria’s Francis Arinze (80)

DANGOTE GETS RICHER

Alhaji Aliko Dangote moved up 33 places from the 76th position to 43

on Forbes’ ‘The Richest People on the Planet 2013’ list Dangote was reportedly valued at $16.1 billion in 2013, strength- ening his position as the richest man in Africa, for the third year in a row

Other Africans who made

it onto the list include:

Mike Adenuga—the ond richest man in Nigeria and 267th in the world, with $4.7 billion Adenuga made his wealth from mobile telecommunications and oil Patrice Motsepe is ranked 490th on the list He is South Africa’s irst and only black billionaire with a fortune of $2.9 billion.

sec-Ranked at 490 is Isabel Dos Santos, the richest woman

in Africa Dos Santos’s fortune, from her involvement in inancial investments is said to be more than $2 billion.

DEADLIEST NIGERIAN

BOMBING IN MONTHS

Two suicide car-bombers struck a bus

station in the Christian neighborhood of

Kano, Nigeria, killing at least 41 people

Oicials say that at least 65 others were

wounded It is reported to have been the

deadliest attack in nine months Although

no group has claimed responsibility

for the attack, many suspect Islamist

extremist group Boko Haram President

Goodluck Jonathan condemned the

attack and declared that the

govern-ment would continue "its unrelenting war

against terrorists".

Fanie Fourie’s Lobola, a South African

romantic comedy, has won the Audience

Choice Award for Best Comedy at the

19th Annual Sedona International Film

Festival in Arizona The ilm was also

selected to screen at the 39th Seattle

International Film Festival (SIFF) in the

United States in June.

Seven foreign hostages were kidnapped from northern Bauchi, Nigeria and later killed by Islamist group Ansaru In another incident, seven French nationals were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Cameroon and are being held in Nigeria.

The Seleka rebel military command in the Central African Republic detained ive ministers and threatened to break

a peace deal made in January, unless political prisoners are freed and 400 South African troops, who were sent to assist President François Bozizé’s army, are withdrawn.

KENYAN ELECTION RESULTS CONTESTED

in the history of the country

Kenyatta acquired 50.07% of the votes, which is 4,100 more votes than required by elec- toral law Raila Odinga trailed behind by more than 800,000 votes at 43.31%.

The announcement of the results was peaceful However, the Independence Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which was responsible for the conduct of the election admitted some challenges ranging from failure of the electronic system to server communication failures This amongst other reasons prompted Odinga not to concede defeat He iled a petition at the Supreme Court challenging the election of Kenyatta, on March 15 The court will have 14 days to rule

as to whether Kenyatta will be sworn in on 26 March

Voting day also saw 19 people—including four police oicers, who were hacked to death with machetes—killed

Read about the Kenyan tions on pages 38-40.

elec-RAMPHELE’S AGANG FIGHTS FOR

POLITICAL REFORM

Former Black Consciousness activists Mamphela Ramphele

called for South Africans to support her new political party

Agang, which translates to “Build” Ramphele, who was a

chairwoman of Gold Fields, will use the political platform

to contest the 2014 elections The biggest issue raised is

the electoral reform, which needs the signatures of 1 million

South Africans, before citizens, and not political party

leaders, can decide on who makes it to Parliament.

Skeptics believe the party will fail to make a diference, like

Congress of the People (COPE), but only time will tell if the

new political party is a possible solution or just another fad

TAXI DRIVER LAID TO REST

The 27-year-old Mozambican taxi driver Mido Macia, was laid to rest on March 9, in Matola, Mozambique Macia was tied to the back of

a police van and dragged for 400 meters The postmortem indicated that he had died from head injuries and internal bleeding The incident, which was recorded on a cellphone camera, spread quickly on the internet and sent shockwaves across the world The nine oicers

in question were been suspended and face charges of murder.

A memorial for Macia, in Johannesburg, was attended by Graça Machel and Mozambique’s ambassador Fernando Fazenda The South African ambassador to Mozambique, Charles Nqakula, pledged that South Africa will provide logistical support to Macia’s family.

In the wake of this event another incident of police brutality occurred in Lomanyaneng in the North West Province A sergeant was arrested after he grabbed a complainant by his neck and dragged him behind a police vehicle for around

100 meters The complainant sustained injuries

to his feet during the incident and was taken to hospital by his neighbor The sergeant has since been charged with attempted murder.

TOGO MEDIA BLACKOUT

Media organizations and journalists in Togo staged a

nationwide news blackout in protest against a new law,

recently passed by the country’s parliament The new

regulation allows the High Authority for Broadcasting and

Communication (HAAC), the statutory media regulatory

body, the right to impose sanctions on the media without

going through judicial processes As part of the three day

protest, journalists wore red and planned a demonstration

in front of the Presidential Palace.

SAM JONAH

FORBES/FOCUS

THE MAN WITH THE

GOLDEN TOUCH

BY LERATO SEKO

PHOTOS BY CHRIS TOWNEND fOR fORBES AfRICA

it was a dangerous beginning where a dying man could whisper thanks; it led to riches, acclaim and a knighthood

Sam Jonah has broken rocks miles

underground and brokered deals over the boardroom table He’s advised world leaders and discovered a passion for parrots He is probably one of the few men in the world to be knighted

in London nearly 30 years after sweating as a

miner in the searing heat, miles beneath the

country of his birth

It all began in 1949, Jonah was born in a

military camp in Kibi, Ghana; his father—a

sergeant major and World War II veteran,

served in the Royal West African Frontier Force

Soon after, Jonah Senior left the army and set

up a construction company The family moved

to Obuasi where Jonah went to school It was

after high school that Jonah made the surprising

decision to work underground at Ashanti

Goldields Corporation’s (Ashanti) Obuasi mine,

the only mine in Ghana Jonah’s classmates were

going into law and medicine, while he was going

to work shoulder-to-shoulder with men who

had barely gone to school

“My business was breaking rock,” he says

Jonah saw that mining was run by whites

and wanted to change it There were tough days

underground Jonah calls it his most humbling

experience and with merely a high school

certiicate and no experience, he had to sink to

the bottom of the barrel to learn to survive

“You learn quickly how to get what you want from people who are better equipped, who are better skilled, who are better experienced, who are much older than you are,” he says

In his quest for more, Jonah won a scholarship to study mining engineering at the Cambridge School of Mines, in England, which later awarded him an honorary doctorate He returned to Ashanti and moved up the ranks Then he returned briely to London to study business at Imperial College, now the University

of London

It was during these exciting days at Ashanti that tragedy struck One day, Jonah was underground when the chamber’s ceiling fell

in, trapping and killing miners It was time for quick thinking Jonah saw a man trapped under rubble who showed signs of life by muttering softly Under Jonah’s guidance, a team worked

to pull the man free and carry him to the lift The miner, whose legs were crushed, drew Jonah close and thanked him Four hours later the miner was dead This was the life Jonah chose as a young man; a life he likens to that of

PRESS FOR VIDEO:

BEHIND THE SCENES

WITH SAM JONAH

FORBES FOCUS — SAM JONAH

which owned Ashanti, appointed Jonah as managing

director This was at a time when production at the

company’s single mine had deteriorated and the industry

had yet to see a black man at the helm

Jonah’s father had once said that the day Ashanti was

run by a black man, would be the day he left town Jonah

had the pleasure of telling his father that the day for him to

pack his bags had come

In his new position, Jonah introduced his ‘Africanization

Policy’ He wanted to change an industry that was run

by whites He wanted to attract his countrymen to the

industry to prosper like he had, by forcing expatriates

to fulill their contractual obligations to impart skills

Moreover, Jonah wanted to cut the expense of expatriates

Why pay a foreigner four times what you would pay a

Ghanaian to do the same job?

This policy was unpopular among expatriates but it was

all about the big picture in a growing company

“Glass ceilings were punched through,” says Jonah

Jonah considers business to be all about people He

feels that it is a leader’s responsibility to identify talent and

harness it, to set aside one’s ego and surround oneself with

the very best, to make one look good

“Wisdom does not reside in the head of only one

person,” warns Jonah

Jonah says his parents taught him all he knows about

leadership They encouraged humility, told him that good

days are not forever and that he should never give up

In 1999, Jonah needed all these skills when Ashanti

faced a liquidity squeeze It came at a bad time for the

company as it was trying to raise $125 million to build a

mine in Tanzania

The root of the problem was hedging done by the

company when the gold price was low This was viewed as

a risk management tool and a price protection mechanism

Unfortunately for Ashanti, a decision taken by global

central banks saw a sharp increase in the gold price

The market price was greater than the hedged price and

the company did not have enough cash for margin calls

because it had pumped a lot of money into new mines

Jonah says this was a bruising time for the company and

the most diicult of his career The company’s share price

fell to the point that the New York Stock Exchange was

considering delisting it It took eight months to recover and

years to prosper

Jonah, the driving force behind Ashanti’s growth, sees

opportunities where others don’t In his time, Ashanti grew

from a single mine in Ghana to the second largest gold

“I came to appreciate the roles of these people [miners], how backbreaking the

job was, how hardworking they were, how committed they were.”

producer in the world

The company was public until the Ghanaian military government under General Acheampong, took 55% share

in 1972—making it a partnership between the government and Lonrho In the quest for growth, Jonah and his team convinced the partners that better days were ahead if the company went public again Once Ashanti listed in both Ghana and London, the government held 17% of the company and Lonrho 27% Between 1994 and 2004, Ashanti went on the acquisition hunt in an attempt to be both an entrepreneurial as well as a conservative company

It extended its operations in Ghana, Australia, Zimbabwe, Guinea and Tanzania In 1996, Ashanti became the irst African-based company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange

There is a saying that goes: “No good deed goes unpunished.” As Ashanti grew, the hunter became the hunted Success attracted the interest of numerous companies

Jonah felt the choice was to grow from within, or agree

to be part of a bigger outit It proved diicult trying to convince partners that issuing shares, thus diluting power, was best The government was faced with a competitive demand for its money, while Lonrho wanted to focus more

on platinum With no other defense, a merger was the only option

The $1.48 billion merger between Ashanti and AngloGold, then the seventh and second largest gold producers respectively, was far from a merger of equals

“We were punching beyond our weight,” says Jonah.Despite this, Ashanti’s management secured key positions within AngloGold Ashanti, with Jonah becoming the executive president of the merged entity

After his time at AngloGold Ashanti, Jonah became a

serial director Some junior mining companies approached him to guide them to success, as he had done for Ashanti Equinox Minerals, a mining exploration company based

in Zambia, was at the feasibility stage when it approached Jonah Years later, in 2011, the company that had a market capitalization of $63.1 million in 2006, was sold to the Barrick Gold Corporation for $7.4 billion Moto Goldmines,

in Ghana, grew from a $50 million market capitalization company and was sold to Randgold Resources and AngloGold Ashanti in October 2009

Since AngloGold Ashanti, Jonah has sat on at least 18 boards of companies

Jonah currently sits on the boards of a few companies, including Vodafone Plc He is also the founder and

chairman of Jonah Capital, a private investment holding

company, based in South Africa, with interests in mineral

resources, real estate, agriculture, construction materials,

inancial services and oil and gas services

His counsel has extended beyond the business world

When former South African President Thabo Mbeki set up

the International Investment Advisory Council in 2000,

Jonah was the irst and only African to sit on it He has also

been an advisor to Nigerian Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo,

his successor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck

Jonathan He was a founding member of Ghanaian

President John Kufuor’s investment advisory council and

advised the late president of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa,

on investment promotion Jonah was also on Koi Annan’s

UN Global Compact Advisory Council Three years ago

he helped the president of Togo put together a team that

would formulate strategy for the country

According to his biography, Sam Jonah and the Remaking

of Ashanti by Ayowa A Taylor, Jonah turned down the

position of Ghanaian vice president twice

On June 25, 2003, Jonah received an Honorary

Knighthood in recognition of his achievement as an African

businessman at St James’ Palace, in London Knighthoods

conferred to foreign citizens are done so on the advice of

the Foreign and Commonwealth Oice They are bestowed

on those who have made an important contribution to

relations between their country and Britain

It came from the blue Jonah took a call from the British

high commissioner in Ghana who, after making sure that

he had sat down, told him that he had received a call from

the British prime minister’s oice informing him that

Jonah’s name had been put forward for a knighthood The

high commissioner asked Jonah if he would accept the

honor, should the Queen approve The inal word came

two weeks later, while Jonah was in Guinea Since Russian

President Vladimir Putin was on a state visit on the day

of the ceremony, the knighthood was conferred by Prince

Charles

In 2006, Jonah received the Order of the Star of Ghana,

the nation’s highest award, and the Commonwealth

Business Council Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010

More recently, Jonah has been appointed—along with 12

other internationally recognized business, academic and

public policy leaders—to sit on the newly formed Bank of

America Global Advisory Council

A lifetime away from his days of breaking rock

underground, Jonah says: “I saw no barriers I was

determined to get to the highest [level] in anything that I

did.”

This sentiment is echoed in his biography where Taylor

writes: “Jonah was determined to build a ‘First’ World

company, to dispel the unspoken belief that coming from

the ‘Third’ World implied that he would be a third-rate

businessman.”

Jonah acknowledges the big part that mentorship played

in his success and feels that it is important that those that have found success pass down their knowledge and not have the arrogance to think that they did it all on their own Jonah has, through the years, been approached by those seeking guidance and says that there is nothing more fulilling

“You must be humble enough to know what you know and to appreciate what skills you don’t have, and to have a plan.”

Jonah says it’s sad that young people are no longer as keen to serve apprenticeships

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Jonah In 2008,

a conlict of interest arose when Jonah became a executive director at Metropolitan Holdings Ltd while on the board of the Standard Bank Group’s Liberty Life He stepped down after holding the position for a month Jonah refers to this as the shortest directorship in South Africa and says he failed to see the conlict from the onset as Liberty Life had a separate board to Standard Bank

non-Also making it into the news that year were claims

of insider trading and the resignation of senior staf in a company chaired by Jonah Sentula Mining was accused of

Sam Jonah, after being knighted by Prince Charles

misdeeds worth R242 million ($29.7

million)

Jonah says he was approached

by the family with the controlling

interest in a company called

Scharrighuisen to become the

chairman and shareholder, buying in

on concessionary terms, at around

R2 ($0.25) a share Jonah went to

distressed shareholders, and some

potential ones, and sold them his

vision to rebrand Scharrighuisen as a

new mining services company to be

called Sentula Mining Jonah Capital

and Coronation Capital were the two

largest shareholders when they sold

some of their shares, at around R21

($2.60) The combined sales were

reported to amount to R680 million

($85.4 million) The share price

subsequently fell to around R1 ($0.12)

before recovering slightly

The parties were thought to have

had knowledge that the market did

not The Financial Services Board

opened up an investigation into the

possible insider trading and trading

was suspended for a few months

During this time Jonah resigned

as chairman of the company but

maintains that there was no wrong

doing and that they were cleared

With his focus on the many

possibilities the future holds Jonah’s

Iron Mineral Beneiciation Services

(IMBS) is using industry changing

technology for processing super scrap,

metallic iron, from the waste dump

at Phalaborwa Mining Company, in

South Africa’s Limpopo Province The

super scrap replaces traditional scrap

in steel making

Jonah says that when he told

Lakshmi Mittal, of ArcelorMittal—

the world’s largest steel making

company—the chairman and CEO

asked: “Sam, what do you mean? I

have 77 PhDs in Chicago and New

York looking for this technology,

and you’re telling me that two South

Africans have found the technology?”

Jonah is proud of the fact that

while big companies around the world

were writing of lots of money in

“Africa is all about entrepreneurship.”

FORBES FOCUS — SAM JONAH

search of this technology, two South Africans beat them to it Jonah Capital has the largest stake in the company, with South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Russian company, OAO Severstal,

as partners The R120 million ($15 million) pilot plant will be up and running by May

Despite all this success Jonah maintains that he is not a wealthy man and that he is merely comfortable

He has been reported, by African

journalists and bloggers, as having a

net worth of between $500 and $600

million and has been celebrated as

the richest man in Ghana His worth

remains a mystery but Jonah says

that he is appalled by the speculation,

adding that his father would be upset

by people saying such things about

him

“We were not brought up that way,”

says Jonah

Evidence of this is the inscription

by Jonah’s father placed on the house

he built for his family in 1950 It read:

Wobisa wo din enye wo sika, which

translates to: They ask about your

name, not your money

“I’d like to be deined more by what

I have done, than what I have…” he

says

Jonah says that having earned a

monthly salary from the age of 19

until his retirement from AngloGold

Ashanti, at 58, and sitting on boards

and owning shares, means that he has

done well for himself but he denies

being the richest man in Ghana

Jonah may not be pleased by some

of the reporting about him, but what

pleases him is the way business is

going on the continent

“Africa is all about

entrepreneurship,” he says

Jonah feels that people are now

being given the space to grow, that

businessmen like Aliko Dangote, Mike

Adenuga and Patrice Motsepe, are

world-class

Jonah is also adamant that the

world’s attitude towards Africa

has changed He feels that Africa’s

potential is now being appreciated and

harnessed, which, he says, is coming

on the back of political and social

change

The world’s eyes and markets were

on South Africa when the Lonmin

mine workers’ strike in Marikana

turned violent As the longest serving

director of Lonrho, Jonah doesn’t

want to weigh in too heavily on the

matter but points out that there

are philosophical diferences in the

style of management and his own, inluenced by his time underground

“I came to appreciate the roles

of these people [miners], how backbreaking the job was, how hardworking they were, how committed they were,” says Jonah

He believes there will always be

a future in mining as long as there’s

a demand but that miners’ living conditions are shocking and that South Africa needs to focus more on the social aspect of the business

Jonah has enough thoughts to ill a book but jokes about not being literate enough to write it

Jonah does, however, have a more relaxed side The jet-setting entrepreneur enjoys ishing His eyes light up as he talks about it He took up golf once again, four years ago It brought back memories of a battle around the golf course nearly

40 years earlier Jonah challenged the exclusively white Obuasi Golf Club, where he was not welcome

He was determined to learn the game and when none of the other members would teach him he went

to the caddies After 10 lessons, one wanted to play with him Jonah used to go early to the golf course and play slowly, deliberately, to irk the white golfers backed up behind

no-him It worked and eventually the invitations to play grudgingly arrived

On the other side of the coin, some of his fellow Ghanaians couldn’t see the victory and sneered that Jonah now thought he was white

It is no surprise that decades later his children tease him about becoming obsessive about his hobbies When Jonah discovered squash, playing twice a day was not enough so he built

a court at his home When he took to the gym, he was there every morning

at 5AM and then built himself one You could have guessed that buying

a parrot in Guinea would lead to an aviary being built back home It is now illed with a collection of parrots from South Africa, Ghana and Brazil

An avid reader and big fan of Rudyard Kipling, Jonah recommends

the poem If.

In a speech to inspire leadership Jonah closed with an extract from

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s A

Psalm of Life: “Lives of great men

remind us that we can make our own lives sublime and departing we can leave our footprints in the sands of time.”

At the very least, Jonah proves that

if you can keep your head while others are losing theirs and blaming it on you… you can be a man, my son

Sam Jonah with miners at the commissioning of a shaft at Obuasi

The lights are out at the 1Time oices in Isando

in Johannesburg’s East Rand There’s no

receptionist on duty and you can park in

anyone’s parking spot

It’s business unusual for the budget airline that went into provisional liquidation in November, leaving

the airline with its wings clipped But group CEO of 1Time

Holdings Blacky Komani is trying not to lap and to keep his

eyes on the horizon

“It’s true I’m not sleeping at night, I keep thinking about

what else I can do,” he says

He’s sitting in the very boardroom seat where he made

the decision to suspend all services that irst Friday of

November He knows it was a Friday because the start of

the weekend would be a critical factor in the perfect storm

he says led to the airline being grounded

“Once you’re in business rescue, which we were from

August, you have to pay everything in cash and if it’s a

weekend you have to pay for the whole weekend in advance

If you don’t have a proof of payment by 3PM on Friday for

fuel and other expenses you’ll be grounded,” says Komani

He says up until just 2PM that afternoon they were

conident they’d make the deadline Negotiations were

looking good with UK-owned budget airline group Fastjet

and creditors seemed likely to consent to a lifeline But

the storm got ugly, creditors baulked and Fastjet was sent

scurrying

At 2.23PM (he remembers the time exactly) he made

the call for suspension of services, leaving hundreds of

passengers stranded and his staf in tears and total shock

Clipped Wings

MY WORST DAY

Blacky Komani recalls the exact time

he made the decision to suspend

South african airline 1Time Since

then, he’s had a lot of time to think

about what went wrong.

BY UFRIEDA HO

“I didn’t believe it myself I remember calling my wife, Pam, a little after we made the announcement I phoned her but I couldn’t say the words ‘We’ve gone into liquidation’,” he says

The 49-year-old from Kwelera, East London, had put

up his Bryanston house as collateral when he, as one of six Mtha Aviation shareholders, went to the Industrial Development Bank (IDC) for a R49 million ($5.49 million) loan to buy a 25% share in 1Time The deal went through

“You feel so alone, like you’ve tried everything and it’s still not enough,” he says

The abrupt halt to business could not have come at a worse time, just weeks before Christmas This weighs heavy on Komani’s mind, and so too does the suicide of

a pilot who was on 1Time’s payroll, just weeks after the

airline was grounded

It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this For Komani

entering into the airline industry meant merging his love

for business and his passion for tourism Giving travelers

greater access to air travel across the continent had to be

the next leap forward for tourism and business, he igured

back in 2010

But four factors created turbulence 1Time didn’t need

“The World Cup didn’t deliver what we expected

in terms of business opportunities We acquired the

maintenance facility Jetworx that came with its own

problems New player in the market Velvet Sky was taking

a cut of passengers from us and when we’re talking about the low-cost arena, those last 10 passengers are what you need to stay in business The inal factor was that the oil price never dipped below $110 a barrel Anything above that means you’re in a very tight position,” he says

Critics—including trade union Solidarity, who had access

to 1Time’s records during its period in business rescue—say 1Time was doomed with bad management practices These included a glut of staf, especially at Jetworx, even when the airline was down to a leet of seven aircraft; not clocking

up enough lying hours a month; fat management incentive payouts when 1Time was loundering; and deiciencies in credit and cash low management

“You feel so alone, like you’ve tried everything and it’s still not enough.”

MY WORST DAY — BLACKY KOMANI

What Did I Learn?

Don’t doubt that you can be big when you do, you think small and when you think small it is the biggest barrier to becoming big

Komani doesn’t believe he iddled while Rome burnt

He says they knew they were in trouble in May 2011 He

says they started cutting costs and dropped three planes

from their leet of 10 Trimming the fat meant lattening

their management structures, plugging leaks and stopping

wastage and theft They optimized light schedules and

Komani says he took a 10% salary cut and didn’t take

bonuses

“Ironically by October last year, just one month before

we suspended lights, our records showed that the company

had actually saved R30 million ($3.4 million) that year

compared to the same igures from the previous year,” he

says

But it was too late Even though they managed to sell

Jetworx, saving around 250 jobs by February this year,

liquidators were looking to divvy up the pie to creditors

Komani and his team’s big hope lies in UK-based Fastjet

sealing the deal Fastjet is the African version of Stelios

Haji-Ioannou’s EasyJet venture in the UK They will buy

the company for R1 ($0.10) and inherit the R462 million

($52 million) debt Fastjet’s designs are to broaden its

pan-African light route

It’s a tricky deal Fastjet, headquartered in Dar es Salaam,

Tanzania, has been in dispute over unpaid leasing and

maintenance bills to a Canadian aircraft leasing company

It’s also tangled up in an outstanding tax claim of around

$2.4 million in the East African country

Back in South Africa, the deal is still subject to the thumbs up by South African transport minister Ben Martins 1Time will be hoping for a precedent-setting exemption to allow for more than 25% foreign ownership

in a local airline to meet Fastjet’s majority shareholding aims But other domestic airlines have objected to the application, saying it will erode the position of local aviation shareholders A nod from the minister will give Fastjet international route rights without the company having to follow standard route license application processes, they say

Komani sees it diferently

“I think the minister understands it’s an important decision around keeping the low-cost air travel model alive

in South Africa, and also that there are over 540 jobs from the airline at stake,” he says

Even if the deal comes through it could leave him out in the cold He could be edged out as management structures are further pared down

“I have a love of people and right now for me saving jobs

is the most important box to tick For me, I’ll come right one way or another

“The lessons I learnt have been about implementing rescue measures early on and making sure they take efect

as quickly as possible Also that loyalty and leadership in tough times matters—anyone can be a good leader when things are going well,” he says

Another worry on Komani’s mind is Skywise—brainchild

of 1time founders Rodney James, Glenn Orsmond, Michael Kaminski, and Johan Bortslap, and more recently Wayne Duvenhage The new budget airline is set to take

to the skies in the second half of 2013, with three daily lights between Johannesburg and Cape Town and more destinations to follow Skywise was granted an air service licence in March

He may have lost his appetite for aviation right now but Komani’s trying to keep his focus and his sense of humor

So when asked the question: “Chicken of beef?” He says:

“Right now, I think I’m on a diet”

In the cut-and-thrust world of business we’ve all experienced a worst day how did you turn it around? What can we learn from your experience?

letters@forbesafrica.com

There is no air of self-importance surrounding

the co-founder and CEO of Nkonki Inc., Sindi

Zilwa In fact, if you did not know her, you

would walk past her without a second glance

Born 45 years ago in the city of Mthatha,

in the Eastern Cape Province, she has come a long way to

become one of the most important women in South Africa’s

corporate world Zilwa’s dream was to see more black

women become chartered accountants (CAs)

“I lost sleep over the fact that I was the second [black]

woman to become a CA,” she says

Nonkululeko Gobodo, executive chairperson of SizweNtsalubaGobodo, was the irst and because they came from the same city it was inevitable they partnered to form Filtane Nkonki Accounting Consultancy in Mthatha

But before she opened the consultancy, Zilwa had pursued her dream of producing more black chartered accountants by lecturing at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and the then University of Transkei (Unitra)

“I was in a hurry to see more black CAs but the people I

wanted to see qualifying were not in a

hurry, there was a misalignment.”

“I was so sad when I marked the

scripts and realized that no one with

an ambition to become a CA was

willing to work hard for it Others

wished to become CAs but they didn’t

do what it costs to become a CA,” says

Zilwa

Zilwa had come from the same

poverty stricken background—her

mother was a hawker—as her students

and was not willing to take any

excuses

“Based on that I said, ‘Let me try

to use my time in some other way’

So, I decided to concentrate on my

practice.”

That practice was established in

late 1992 when Zilwa moved back

to Mthatha after leaving Deloitte

in Johannesburg Three years later,

the two partners decided to go their

separate ways

“If the car you are driving from here

[Johannesburg] to Butterworth, a town

near Mthatha, continuously gets tire

punctures, you need to make a decision

whether you want to continue with

that car For me reaching Butterworth,

the destination, was more important;

I just had to ind another vehicle,” she

says

That vehicle came in the form of

her brother, Mzi Nkonki, who was

working as a chartered accountant

in East London The siblings joined

heads and formed Nkonki&Nkonki in

1996 It was clear that Zilwa—whose

maiden name was Nkonki before she

married lawyer Sivuyile Zilwa—would

become the CEO

“When we won a contract worth

R5 million ($565,000) from the Bisho

government to do their audits, we

really felt our conidence grow,” says

Zilwa

In 1998, 31-year-old Zilwa

caused waves when she was voted

Businesswoman of the Year by the

Businesswoman Association of South

Africa The hard work was paying of

and the partners decided to expand

This relationship lasted for six years before it was disbanded

Interestingly, Nonkululeko Gobodo has since replaced Nkonki as part of SizweNtsalubaGobodo

“At brand level we did well but

at administration level we didn’t

do so well I could only share in the liabilities and proits in the Eastern Cape but where I was based, in Johannesburg, I didn’t get anything,”

says Zilwa

The Nkonki siblings decided to revert back to working alone after another short-lived joint partnership

“We made a commitment never

to burn our ingers again When you merge you move ten steps forward but if it does not work you move twenty steps back I think that was the problem,” she says

Today, Nkonki Inc has more than

55 partners and directors based in the country’s major cities, with 300 staf and a turnover of around R60 million ($6,7 million) Although it is a thriving business which counts, amongst others, South African Airways, Hernic Ferrochrome and Eskom as clients;

the company still experiences many challenges

“As a black irm you are more inclined to get public sector work because you get more support from there All the medium-sized irms are

owned by the white middle class so they tend to get private sector business more,” she says

Never one to back down from a challenge, instead of complaining the mother of two shows that she is a solutions-driven person

The irst time she opened her accounting irm, Zilwa wrote to the then Reserve Bank governor, Tito Mboweni, to tell him about the challenges faced by black accounting irms

“I always aspired to audit a bank because that is an intellectual hub of knowledge, so I wrote to him because

This was to be the beginning of her other career as a member of a number of boards including Aspen, Woolworths, PRIMEDIA and the Billion Group

“The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank gave me call and said I should come up to Johannesburg to meet him That really opened doors for me,” she says

The irst board she sat on was the Wiphold Group, which was once listed

on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Currently, she is making waves as part of the high performing Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, led by FORBES AFRICA Person of the Year nominee, Stephen Saad, which he started with deputy CEO, Gus Attridge

“She is an extremely warm-hearted person with a great sense of humor, which makes her instantly likeable

I admire her career and personal achievements as a person who has reached the heights of her profession when she was aforded no privileges

in her upbringing or early education,” says Attridge

Zilwa has come a long way from being instructed by her brother to study accounting to being a leader in the accounting industry

“If the car you are driving from here, Johannesburg,

to Butterworth, a town near Mthatha, continuously gets tire punctures, you need to make a decision whether you want to continue with

that car.”

When South african athlete Oscar pistorius shot his girlfriend,

reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day, his sponsors distanced themselves.

BY TSHEPO TSHABALALA AND KARABO SEANEGO

OSCAR PISTORIUS

FORBES/FOCUS

Oscar’s Lost Millions

Pistorius has a net worth

of $5 million and is on

bail, accused of shooting

of his girlfriend Reeva

Steenkamp Whatever

happens during the trial, it is clear

that the life of endorsements and

advertising campaigns is over

He is estimated to have received

endorsements worth more than

$2 million a year Amongst them

was sportswear giant Nike, British

Telecommunications, Thierry Mugler

fragrance, Oakley sunglass, and Ossur,

an Icelandic irm that makes the

prosthetic carbon iber blades, which

he wears during his races

Johannesburg-based marketing

and communications strategist Clive

Simpkins believes it won’t all be gloom

and doom for the 26-year-old athlete,

as it’s believed he is a director of

several companies among many, owned

by the Pistorius family

“His sponsorship revenues, although

evidently worth a hefty sum of money,

were not his sole means of support

Even without them, he’s unlikely to

sufer inancial deprivation Regardless

of the outcome, he’s now pretty much

‘un-sponsorable’, says Simpkins

He added that no company could

aford to associate themselves with

Pistorius, out of fear of their brands

being eclipsed by the controversial

personality connected with it As the

Blade Runner prepares to prove his

innocence, the sponsors have moved

away Nike conirmed to FORBES

AFRICA that it has suspended its contract with the athlete, but would not say how much it was worth

“We believe Oscar Pistorius should

be aforded due process and we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” says Seruscka Naidoo, communications manager for Nike South Africa

The sports apparel giant removed

an advert of Pistorius, which showed

featuring the athlete

M-Net Movies, a South African pay TV channel, pulled its TV advert campaign and billboards featuring the athlete to promote Hollywood movies, with the run up to the Academy Awards The advert’s tagline was:

“Every night is Oscar night”

Pistorius was also dropped from the South African leg of the “It Gets Better” global video campaign, where high-proile igures give support to gay teenagers He was shown in the video saying, “Just remember that you’re special You don’t have to worry You don’t have to change Take a deep breath and remember it will get better”

Assets that the athlete owns include three houses and a vacant plot worth a total of around R8.3 million ($903,300) The house where the shooting took place in a gated security village outside the capital city of Pretoria is worth around R5.6 million ($609,500) The luxury home has been on the market since September 2011 The vacant plot he owns is located in the Western Cape, near Cape Town is worth around

$190,000

In his aidavit Pistorius says that

he has an annual income of around R5.6 million and movable assets including household furniture, cars, jewelry worth around $56,000 He also has “cash investments” of around R1 million ($108,800) with various banks

in the country

The athlete is currently on strict bail

him setting of from starting blocks alongside the tagline “I am the bullet in the chamber”

Top sunglass brand Oakley also severed ties with the athlete but again refused to disclose the terms of the contract

“In light of the recent allegations, Oakley is suspending its contract with Oscar Pistorius, efective immediately

Our hearts are with the families during this diicult time and we’ll continue to follow the developments

in this tragic case,” says Cheri Quigley, spokeswoman for Oakley in the States

Thierry Mugler—Pistorius was the face of its A*Men fragrance in 2011—also withdrew all its campaigns

“Regardless of the outcome, he’s now pretty much

‘un-sponsorable’.”

conditions and was ordered to pay bail

of R1 million In March his lawyers tried

to get his bail’s conditions relaxed to

no avail The 26-year-old was ordered

to hand over his guns and passport and

was forbidden to return to his upscale

home, where the shooting took place

He may undergo random, mandatory

alcohol and drug tests and also has to

report to a police station twice week

or be visited by a probation oicer

Pistorius will also have to be in regular

contact with his probation oicials, who

will report on his state of mind He was

warned against contacting any potential

witnesses in the case against him

Pistorius was charged with

premeditated murder and will appear in

court on June 4

The story caught the eye of rogue

trader, Nick Leeson The man, who at

the time aged 25, broke Barings Bank,

the Queens bank in Britain Leeson

lost £862 million ($1.3 billion) through

unauthorized trading and spent more

than four years in a jail in Singapore

He believes that the truth will come

out even though it could take a while

“The big thing for me is about

accountability You have to accept

you did something wrong And

sometimes that’s the most diicult

journey You need to get that degree of

accountability, otherwise it’s impossible

to move forward So whatever

happened, he has to come to terms with

it,” says Leeson

Sage advice from a former young

man to a troubled young man.

PRESS FOR VIDEO:

CHRIS BISHOP, MANAGING

EDITOR ON OSCAR PISTORIUS

Stellenbosch has become the

South African pioneer of

a new style of community

development; a technological

hothouse and African

trendsetter with the introduction of

free wi-i, and a partnership with one

of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs

that is set to be rolled out to the rest of

the country

It is hardly surprising then

that when 102 South African

municipalities were evaluated in 2012,

Stellenbosch was the second-best and

one of two to achieve an astounding 85

out of 100 in the Municipal Financial

Stability Index

One of Stellenbosch’s pioneer products is the iShack system, an innovative approach developed by postgraduate Stellenbosch University (SU) students Its purpose is to make simple yet signiicant improvements

to the living conditions of residents of informal settlements

It is going to be scaled up with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, says Desmond Thompson, senior writer in the department

of institutional advancement at Stellenbosch University

The grant will cover a two-year pilot

project in Enkanini, Stellenbosch The eventual aim is to roll out the system to the rest of the country and beyond

Between 40 and 100 shacks will be built or retroitted with a basic solar energy system and insulated with used Tetra Pak containers and cardboard boxes to protect residents from extreme temperatures

The iShack system is the result

of a combined research project by Stellenbosch Universities’ TsamaHub and the Sustainability Institute (SI)

at Lynedoch outside Stellenbosch, in collaboration with the Stellenbosch municipality

What You Can Do With

The Bill Gates Dollar

Free wi-i and community participation have made Stellenbosch the second-best

municipality in South africa, and a case study for the rest of the world

BY FANIE HEYNS

CITIZEN POWER

FORBES/FOCUS

The “i” in iShack stands for

“improved”, and it entails cost-efective

and sustainable modiications to the

basic corrugated iron shack commonly

found in developing countries around

the world

“The problem with the existing

policy of in-situ upgrading is that

people wait a long time for the

energy and water grids to arrive,

and thereafter for housing to be

constructed,” says Mark Swilling,

coordinator of the sustainable

development program at Stellenbosch

University’s school of public

leadership

“Research shows that this can take

eight years What happens in the

meantime? Do shack dwellers just wait,

or are there things that can be done

immediately? The iShack project is

about demonstrating what organized

communities can achieve in a short

space of time.”

Where possible, shacks are

reoriented to face north and will be

provided with a roof overhang for

maximum heat from the sun in winter

and cool shade in summer

Inside the shack, a clay wall along

one of the sides provides thermal mass

for passive temperature control

“These strategies are not

alternatives to conventional

approaches All improvements are

compatible with the conventional

energy and water grids if and when

they arrive,” says Swilling

“Given that all the technologies

are mature and proven, the real

learning during the pilot phase will be

determining what social, institutional

and inancial arrangements would be

required to make the system viable in

the long run,” he says

Pieter Venter, head of Stellenbosch

municipality’s inancial portfolio, says

such is the housing backlog nationally

that some residents would have to wait

107 years for a new home

Therefore ingenious ways of

upgrading informal settlements

and households, like iShack and the remarkable Langrug-initiative, could become a blueprint for residential development in the whole of South Africa

In Langrug, an informal settlement

of 4,088 residents near Franschhoek,

a partnership between the University

of Cape Town (UCT), the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), Shack Dwellers International (SDI) and the Stellenbosch Municipality is coming to fruition

“We believe community-centered and driven development—in

partnership with local municipalities, other non-governmental organizations and stakeholders—is the best approach

to upgrade informal settlements,”

says Aditya Kumar, Community Organisation Resource Centre technical coordinator and a Langrug project manager

CORC piloted its unique approach

in Langrug, where strong community leadership has emerged

“The Langrug residents have generated their own developmental agenda that has shifted the community mind-set from ‘free state-subsidized housing’ to ‘community-led settlement upgrading’,” says Kumar

Community members conducted extensive research to determine their main concerns and probe for possible solutions, says community chairperson Trevor Masiy

“We’ve come up with solutions and now we’re taking them to the [Stellenbosch] municipality,” he says

Some solutions have already been implemented

“They have opened access streets, relocated several families that block access to the settlement, built grey water channels, provided play parks for children, painted ablution facilities and set up health forums to assist with HIV/Aids counseling,” Kumar says in commentary published on the skillsportal website

Helen Zille, premier of the Western

Cape in South Africa, recently visited Langrug and enthused about the viable partnership between authorities and the community

“The exciting thing about this project is that we are upgrading shacks where they are instead of moving people out and starting from the beginning,” she says

Stellenbosch is arguably the irst municipality in South Africa and Africa that ofered accessible and free wireless connectivity to local residents

According to the World Bank, a 10% increase in high-speed internet connections results in economic growth of around 1.3% In other words, networked technology is crucial to a developing economy like South Africa because the statistics predict good economic returns on any investment made in the web

Stellenbosch municipality partnered with the former chief executive oicer

of Mxit, Alan Knott-Craig, to initiate the project Mxit agreed to donate not only their excess bandwidth to the initiative but also infrastructure support and technical know-how

“Although free wi-i can never compete in performance with paid-for services, it does provide a magnet for creativity and engineers,” says Knott-Craig

Venter says they planned to give everybody in the community a cap

of 500 megabytes a day The next phase was to extend the network to the greater Stellenbosch area over six months, and thereafter target Franschhoek and Pniel

Free connectivity and business partnerships might assist Stellenbosch

in becoming Africa’s technology capital, and also enhance its reputation

as one of the favorite tourist destinations in the country

According to Annemarie Ferns, CEO

of Stellenbosch 360, the Stellenbosch Tourism and Information Authority (STI), together with key role players,

Appropriately named Stellenbosch

360, this ground-breaking initiative

created the opportunity for not

only tourism but business and other

stakeholders to join hands and build a

better future together

The strategic goal for an inclusive

tourism plan for Stellenbosch was

to enhance and uphold the national

and international reputation of

Stellenbosch and also to market

the town to local and international

visitors

The tourism budget of R1.8 million

($202,000) in Stellenbosch was minute

compared to Cape Town with R36

million ($4 million) and Knysna with

R4.5 million ($505,000) Without an

integrated and strategic plan there

could be only limited success

The new buzz word in Stellenbosch,

which has enhanced its economic

growth and has contributed to its

national standing as one of South

Africa’s inest municipalities is

“partnerships”

For example, Ferns says

Stellenbosch 360 wants to promote

cultural tourism by inding community

entrepreneurs that will provide

tourists with authentic cultural local

in and around the Stellenbosch towns

Venter said Stellenbosch 360 is

an excellent example of inclusive cooperation in the Western Cape focusing on growing the economy and creating job opportunities

The iShack’s DC electricity grid and solar panel system is made in

South Africa

The iShack is facing with a roof overhang, to maximize passive heating potential

north-in wnorth-inter and provide shade in summer

“The exciting thing about this project is that we are upgrading shacks where they are instead of moving people out and starting from the beginning.”

FORBES FOCUS — CITIZEN POWER

balanced on her head, one pair

perched on her nose Broh’s solid

black Chevrolet Tahoe, with a number

plate reading Mayor 1, waits by the

curb as the acting city mayor paces

back and forth

“This is a special project, I need you

here!” she snaps into a walkie-talkie

“Don’t touch the paint!” she tells

someone moving near the small green

concrete fruit and vegetable kiosk that

she is here to launch

Liberians jammed in vans and

beaten-up yellow cabs, or cruising

past in SUVs, turn their heads to see

what the city’s most controversial

public oicial is up to Dressed in

a gold lapa jacket, with her ine

dreadlocks pinned with champagne

diamante clips, and a clunky watch

strapped to her right wrist, Broh does

not look like your typical city mayor;

nor does she act like one

Broh points to a small concrete

zinc-roofed building with an X

marking its wall

“Someone ind out who this place is

for! I’ll demolish it!”

Workers in blue uniforms wielding

rakes and cutlasses arrive in the back

of a pickup and sweep the area at breakneck speed Petty traders on a nearby street pack up their goods and lee; a young boy runs holding a plastic chair above his head

“Liberian people are too dirty!” she exclaims

After the formalities the mayor jumps into her Tahoe and hares of

Weeks later Broh was engulfed

in a scandal that seemed the stuf

of a Hollywood action movie

She had rescued her friend, the Superintendent of Montserrado County Grace Kpahn from the moldy walls of Monrovia’s South Beach prison, after Kpahn was ordered behind bars by the national legislature for failing to implement a legislative mandate concerning misappropriation

of the county development fund.The legislature branded the pair

“fugitives” and voted for their arrest

a Brush With a prickly rebel

Who Wanted To Turn Liberia

Into Singapore

Mary Broh tackled the dirty job of cleaning up one of africa’s most chaotic capitals, and found she had bitten of more than she could chew.

BY CLAIR MACDOUGALL

and dismissal Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,

suspended both oicials indeinitely, but citizens and

the legislature were skeptical that Sirleaf would take any

serious action against Broh, her longtime friend After all,

Sirleaf pushed through Broh’s appointment in 2009 despite

the fact that the Senate twice rejected her nomination for

mayor, though Broh could only hold the title of “acting

mayor” due to the Senate’s disapproval

The Ministry of Justice charged Broh with “obstructing

government operation and disorderly conduct”; and

the legislature ordered the pair to be incarcerated for

30 days, in a separate case that went all the way to the

Supreme Court Days later, Broh was met by hundreds

of demonstrators gathered at the Temple of Justice, who

attempted to make a citizen’s arrest Broh was slapped and

kicked by some protestors The police dispersed the crowd

When contacted by FORBES AFRICA for comment,

Mayor Broh said she had been advised not to give

interviews

This is not the irst time Broh has come to blows with

the legislature or the public Broh drew ire when she

slapped a prominent senator’s assistant across the face,

which led the legislature to pass a vote of no conidence

and order her arrest for failing to appear to ofer an

explanation for her actions Broh claimed the woman had

publicly insulted her The legislature called her a rebel

Broh’s critics in the political establishment say she

is rude, arrogant and untouchable because of her close

relationship with the president, who gave her the

nickname ‘the General.’ The two met in New York in the

1990s Broh has been the president’s special projects

coordinator, the director of the passport division at the

Ministry of Foreign Afairs, and deputy managing director

for administration at the National Port Authority

Broh, now in her sixties, lived in the United States for 33

years She worked for a children’s wear manufacturer for 12

years, then for the toy division at Marvel Comics, managing

shipping, logistics and distribution, where she kept long

hours and shuled on the subway between Middle Village,

Queens and Manhattan in New York

“If you made one mistake there would be a chain efect…

everything had to be synchronized That’s New York and

you know everything is fast and I enjoy it and that’s what I

bring here.”

Broh moves through Monrovia as though she is

commander-in-chief of a dysfunctional assembly line

Broh’s supporters view her as an eccentric rebel with

a cause Secretary general of the Liberia Chamber of

Commerce Massa R Lansanah says that Broh’s work has had an enormous impact on the city and made it more attractive to international investors

“No male or female would be able to do her work She gets into the gutters, she acts crazy but her impact is positive,” says Lansanah

But, civil society claims Broh is creating further divisions between the rich and poor

“She disrupts places and destroys things by instinct and that is very dangerous,” says Abdullai Kamara head of the Center for Media Studies and Peace Building

Bestman Toe, president of The Slum Dwellers Association of Liberia says that while the city must

be developed, the Monrovia City Corporation and the Ministry of Public Works, headed by Minister Samuel Koi Woods, has failed the urban poor Toe claims that 70% of the 1.5 million people living in Monrovia, many of who migrated during the war, live in slums

Back at headquarters, the acting mayor sits behind an

iPad at the end of an oval table in her dark, wood-paneled oice She is meeting with World Bank consultants who have been hired to help rebuild the capital city

“We have urban growth we cannot contain and we don’t want more slums; we want to create a productive, resilient and inclusive city,” she says

The consultants leave and Broh frantically prepares for

a radio show Three young women lit around the room searching for documents Broh complains about her oice assistants being sluggish and tells me to report on it She walks with swift steps down the marble corridors

of city hall, her leopard print slingbacks clacking She pulls open oice doors and tells a few departments that their work has to be up to scratch because there is a journalist in the house

“I want a clean, green city, but the people are against me!” she says as we shule down the back staircase Outside, men and women from the General Services Department sit with half-annoyed half-puzzled looks on their faces

“I shut them down because they are ineicient,” she says

We drive through the streets of Monrovia, past the executive mansion that is under repair, and down Camp Johnson Road Broh’s eyes dart as she points to imperfections in the urban landscape that rolls past: rubbish on the street, buildings with faded paint and moldy exteriors, petty traders and people cooking fried plantain

and kala on the footpath

“I want a clean, green city, but the people are against me!”

FORBES FOCUS — LEADERSHIP

“When I don’t come on

the street there is a lot of

nonsense going on,” says

Broh

As the Mayor walks

up to the studio of Radio

Monrovia, she points to

clothes drying on the

ground of a construction

site and market stands

that she says must go

People stand outside the

front of the store and

begin to shule things of

the street Broh calls for a

team to come in and clean

up the area and walks up

to the studio

On air, she addresses

criticism of the

demolitions undertaken

before the UN High Level

Panel on the post-2015

development agenda that

was held in Monrovia in

February, she says: “They

were selling their coal, they were bringing their children to

bathe there, they had their slop buckets all lined up, they

were brushing their teeth, bathing upfront… on the main

street Can you imagine that? Where did you ever see this?”

As Broh leaves the radio station she orders her staf to

open a grubby garage, where marketers have hidden their

tables and stools A heavy man piles them together and

kicks them in She orders them to smash down a rusty roof

that juts from a wall A stout elderly woman splashes water

on the ground and haggard old man runs back and forth

with a small broom

“All of these people here are illegal aliens,” she says

A crowd gatherers around her

“If you clean your community, I’ll respect you Certain

people can’t live in the city You have the right to be in a

city, but you can’t turn this place into a ghetto,” she says

A few days later, I asked Broh about a particular book

among those lined up on her immaculate desk, From Third

World to First: The Singapore Story written by Singapore’s

irst Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew She opens the book to

a photograph of Yew sweeping the streets of Singapore in

his early days as a politician Broh says she doesn’t have

political aspirations, but the picture illustrates how public

oicials ought to behave: they should get their hands dirty

“I ind myself playing the role of janitor-in-chief,” she

says

While Broh was once lauded for her eforts to clean the

city, public opinion has turned against her

Kaifala Losene Sayon, a 34-year-old university student who has worked in Waterside market for the past 10 years acknowledges the impact of Broh’s work

“[T]here was dirty water, no garbage collection, and no one painted their shops, Mary Broh has made 80 percent of central Monrovia clean,” he says

But even Sayon says Broh must go

“She don’t respect nobody’s rights People close their shops when they see her I will be happy if she is dismissed,” he says

At the conclusion of writing this article a press release from the executive mansion stated Broh had turned in her resignation Sirleaf, in a carefully-worded nationwide address, acknowledged Broh’s contribution to Monrovia and announced that Broh would be leading a project to create a market complex for women with a playground and school in the neighboring city of Paynesville

“Mary’s methods may not have pleased everyone but there can be very little argument that she got the job done,” says Sirleaf

I thought about how quickly Broh’s fortunes had turned

“Nobody will dislodge me They will not make it, I am here to stay,” she had said deiantly on the radio

While Broh’s legacy will be contested on the city streets for months, perhaps even years to come, she is an acting city mayor the citizens of Monrovia will never forget

COUNTRY PROFILE — SIERRA LEONE

FORBES/FOCUS

For a better part of the 1990s and the early

2000s, the mere mention of the name Sierra

Leone conjured up images of amputees, brutal

execution, abandoned children and leeing

refugees

It is estimated that between 1991 and 2001—a mere 30

years after gaining independence from Britain—more than

50 000 people died in Sierra Leone and over two million

were displaced in neighboring countries as refugees

Their country had fallen into the wrong hands of military

juntas that had no regard whatsoever for human life, the

constitution and accompanying freedoms

So, few believed the optimism of African Union leaders,

and United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who

asserted that “a key benchmark for peace” would indeed

be achieved on November 17, 2012, the day the

six–million-people West African nation successfully took to the polls to

elect a president, parliamentarians and local councilors

Notwithstanding a few eyebrow-raising moments—

among them the main opposition’s initial refusal to accept

the outcome of the election—Sierra Leoneans have since

shown a determination to put one of Africa’s most deadly

civil wars behind them, and are now rolling up their

sleeves getting ready for reconciliation, national cohesion, infrastructure reconstruction and economic development.Some skeptics still doubt whether the mineral-rich country has put its past behind it and is now oicially open for business They will get their answer from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who, following a staf mission to Sierra Leone towards the end of last year, found that economic growth had in fact already “strengthened in recent years, driven by expansion in agriculture, services and construction activities Real GDP growth increased from 3.2% in 2009 to 6% in 2011 The coming on stream of iron ore production in late 2011 is expected to boost growth and exports signiicantly in 2012 and beyond Inlationary pressures have trended downwards since mid-2011, aided

by a sharp fall in non-food inlation, a tight monetary policy stance, and stability in the exchange rate The external position is set to beneit from increased mining exports and reduced iron ore-related imports.”

On a continent that is fast getting global investors drooling, but frustrating them equally by making it tough to

do business, Sierra Leone is among those countries that are trying to act fast to rectify that problem

The recently released Doing Business 2013 report,

The Journey Of a Thousand Miles

Sierra leone is putting one of africa’s deadliest civil wars in the past

Great opportunity exists but the country has far to go.

published by the World Bank and its

subsidiary, the International Finance

Corporation, inds Sierra Leone to

have improved its “ease of doing

business” record, from number 148 in

2012 to 140 this year, out of a total of

185 economies surveyed

But that’s not to say its all hunky

dory As the World Bank observes,

“in spite of its remarkable strides and

reforms since the war ended in 2002,

problems of poor infrastructure—

including roads and energy—low

capacity, youth unemployment,

high maternal and infant mortality,

widespread rural impoverishment,

impact of the global economic

downturns, and lapses in public

inancial management and governance

still persist

“There is also the daunting

challenge of enhancing transparency

in managing the country’s vast natural

resources,” World Bank economists

say

Following “candid and constructive

discussions” with Sierra Leonean

decision makers, IMF oicials write:

“The medium-term prospects are

favorable However, they are subject to

downside risks related to the uncertain

global economic outlook and potential

adverse movements in commodity

prices for Sierra Leone To support

broad-based growth and reduce the

economy’s vulnerability to exogenous

shocks, the authorities would need to

sustain eforts to improve the business

environment and address impediments

to growth

“Key among these are continued

investment in infrastructure to support

productivity gains in the private sector,

increased economic diversiication, and

broader access to inancial services,

particularly for small- and

medium-sized enterprises to create employment

opportunities The mission welcomed

progress in the preparation of the

authorities’ new poverty reduction

and growth strategy, the Agenda for

Prosperity, which outlines policies

and reforms to address Sierra Leone’s

developmental challenges.”

Citing as an example the performance of a program the IMF is sponsoring in the country, “the mission found that all quantitative performance criteria and indicative targets were met, and that progress was being made

in implementing the government’s privatization agenda With support from the IMF and other development partners, the authorities prepared legislation outlining iscal regimes for natural resources.”

Diamonds from Sierra Leone is a

Grammy-winning song released in

2005 by American rap musicians Kanye West and Jay-Z It should be music to anyone’s ears that legislators are hard at work, trying to ensure that the erstwhile “blood” diamonds that the musicians sang about and which were once mined and sold ostensibly

by warlords to buy weapons and fuel atrocities, will now beneit the country’s six million people, a great majority of whom remain dirt poor

Sierra Leone is also endowed with some of the world’s best bauxite, rutile, gold and iron ore, but the country is also diversifying, moving away from a heavy dependence on minerals, although the pace of that diversiication is still slow

The economy is now being led

by sectors other than minerals

The country’s oicial igures put agriculture’s contribution at 58.5% of the GDP, services industries at 10.4%, trade and tourism at 9.5%, wholesale and retail trade 9%, mining and quarrying at 4.5%, government services

at 4%, manufacturing and handicrafts

at 2%, construction 1.7% and electricity and water at 0.4%

As to which of these sectors will take the lead in the drive to ensure that Sierra Leone no longer remains one

of the poorest countries in the world, the answer may lie in whether the rest of the world sees the enormity of the challenge still facing the country

as a hindrance, or an investment opportunity

The Decision Makers:

PRESIDENT: ERNEST BAI kOROMA

MINISTER Of fINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: kAIfALA MARAH

MINISTER Of TRADE AND INDUSTRY: ALHAJI OSMAN BOIE-kAMARA

CENTRAL BANk GOVERNOR:

SHEHU SAMBADEEN SESAY

MINISTER Of fOREIGN AffAIRS AND NATIONAL COOPERATION: SAMURA kAMARA

SERVICES: 19.3%

INfLATION RATE (CONSUMER PRICES): 12.6%

OffICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE:

3.4% (EST 2004)

Geographical and

Cultural sites:

Bunce Island, at the mouth of the Sierra

Leone River, is the site of a castle used by the British to house slaves from Europe and the Americas in the 18th century The Gateway to Old King’s Yard, now located at the entrance

to Connaught hospital, was a temporary quarantined area for freed slaves before they entered Freetown.

St Charles Church, the third oldest stone

church in Africa, was completed in 1816 and overlooks Regent village.

Banana Islands, comprising of Dublin,

Ricketts and Mes Mieux, are south west of the mainland, The Portuguese ramparts, canons from 1813 and church ruins are found on these islands

The polls were open, business

was closed Fourteen million Kenyans queued

up across the country to cast their votes on March 4

in what many feared would be another violent election

For most entrepreneurs it was far from business as usual The Monday was declared a public holiday just after month-end when shoppers normally spend istfuls of their hard-earned shillings The violence of 2007 was fresh

in many minds and for days the capital, Nairobi, was a ghost town

“I remember very well December 27,

2007 When the problems arose it was

just around the 31st of December, we had actually come to work It was business

as usual Suddenly we had some police oicers who came into the store and said

we need to shut the store and go home There is violence coming our way,” says Karim Fazal chairman of Little Red—a Nairobi luxury designer store

Within the hour, on that fateful December day, a mob clashed with police just outside the store in Nairobi’s Kimathi Street, says Fazal He was trapped in his store for nearly an hour with his workers, customers and passers-by, who were trying to shelter from the violence

The unrest spread and lared into ethnic violence that left more than 1,200

violent threat for

most of the country’s

entrepreneurs.

BY GOVENOR MAKHUBELA

people dead and 600,000 homeless

Rioters destroyed property and

productivity collapsed The country’s

economy came to a standstill and

the GDP growth for 2008 fell to the

country’s lowest ever, 1.7%, on the cusp

of the world economic crisis

This time around, Fazal, along with

other entrepreneurs, took expensive

political risk insurance cover

“The insurance charged us two

shillings for every thousand shillings

worth of goods and two shillings for

loss of business which I took out for

three months,” says Fazal

At the very least, Kenyan insurance

companies banded together to ofer

cheaper political risk insurance for

business

“Loss of business will not just be

prevalent to the irst two days, not the

day for voting and not the following

one This will carry on until we get the

election results out and that the results

are accepted by all parties concerned

until we see normalcy returning to the

business environment,” says Fazal

Kenya’s Independent Electoral

and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)

promised free, fair and secure

elections The voting was so, bar

violent clashes in Mombasa that

claimed 19 lives—including four

police oicers The announcement of

results, in a two-horse race between

presidential candidates Uhuru

Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, also proved

peaceful

“There seems to be a lack of security

in the CBD, which will then lead to

thugs taking advantage of the situation,

which has been prevalent in Nairobi in

the past few days because of the police

being deployed at the polling centers

to make sure things are peaceful So in

Karim Fazal

Nic Robertson @NicRobertsonCNN

Looking at long long lines of voters waiting to cast ballots in #nairobi #kenya elections, many out since early hours

March 4

BBC News (World) @BBCWorld

At least four police killed in attack near Mombasa #Kenya before elections, reports say

http://ow.ly/jctCq #kenyadecides

March 4

Department of State @StateDept

The U.S applauds the people of #Kenya for participating peacefully in the March 4 national elections http://ow.ly/jctF9

March 5

AJELive @AJELive

#Kenya elections @JamesBrownsell: tions of ballot-box stuing in counties across country are emerging” http://ow.ly/jctIn

“Allega-March 5

Ory Okolloh @kenyanpundit

Kudos to Kenyan media for their work this week Now please help us keep these politi- cians on [their] toes after elections #kenya- decides

March 8

TWITTER’S NEWSFEEd WaS aLL aTWITTER dURINg ThE 2013 ELECTIONS

DailyNation Politics @Nation_Politics

HIGH COURT to declare at 3.30pm whether

it has the authority to hear a petition ing to stop the vote count in #KenyaElec- tions

seek-March 8

Horn of Africa News @Horn_News

Kenyan police in riot gear ired teargas to disperse crowds of angry supporters of Raila Odinga http://ow.ly/jctKf #Kenya

March 9

Thomas Kemp @tomgk90

#Kenyaelections - will Kenyatta really stand

up to western governments in the interest of Kenyan people? http://gu.com/p/3ebt4/tw

March 11

Shakira Asia @Shakirasia

RT @dennismutuku: @RobertAlai Raw eo: evidence of election rigging in Mathare Constituency http://ow.ly/jctLP

Vid-March 11

DavidBarouski @DBarou

International #Kenya elections reactions: West reserved, China and African countries positive toward results - http://ow.ly/jctOw

11 MARCH 2013

Announcement of inal presidential results Uhuru Kenyatta declared winner

26 APRIL 2013

Swearing in of the new president But a petition iled with the Supreme Court by Raila Odinga might delay the swearing in ceremony

that way, we felt that there was lack of security,” says Fazal

It took six hours for Fazal to cast his vote on March 4 His dream: the election of a leader who will bring peace and unity to Kenya; one who will also foster business

“When you take the insecurity, the weariness and trepidations that we feel pre- and post-elections that should not

be the case in this country I am hoping for the next elections we will not have

to look at this ever again,” concludes Fazal

Millions of Kenyans are likely to agree

Steadily, slowly, step by careful step, the three

greying legal heads made their way to the reunion

at Rivonia Their progress was as deliberate and

methodical as the defense they led with razor

sharp precision in their inest hour, in court half a

century ago

Joel Jofe, George Bizos and Denis Kuny are the survivors

of the legal team that defended accused number one, Nelson

Mandela, and his comrades in facing the death penalty

over 221 charges of sabotage They are all in their 80s, two

of them are still working; Bizos and Kuny, who both live in

Johannesburg, tackle human rights cases Multi-millionaire

Jofe is retired in the English countryside of Wiltshire after

a lifetime of legal work in London and the setting up of

Hambro Life Insurance

Jofe, who wanted to get out of apartheid South Africa,

was about to emigrate to Australia when he was asked to be

the instructing attorney for the defense in the Rivonia Trial

at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria The trial cost £29,000

pounds, in 1964, but the defense team chose not to take the

money they had earned

“He slept on a mattress on the loor with his wife; his

furniture had gone to Australia He was persuaded to stay

They lived on as little as possible so the defense fund could

go as far as possible… What Joel showed is that courage

takes many diferent forms, here was a lawyer who wanted

out of apartheid and yet stayed to uphold the principles of

justice for people who had no hope of surviving, at a time

when no other lawyer would take it on That is courage,”

says accused number three Denis Goldberg

Kuny defended fellow lawyer Jimmy Kantor, accused

number 12 in the trial, who had nothing to do with the case

but was scarred by it Ludicrous evidence against Kantor,

thrown out by the judge, included that he was seen feeding

the chickens at Liliesleaf; therefore he must have known

about the sabotage plotted there Kantor was acquitted but

his legal practice was destroyed and he went to an early

grave

The reunion was to launch the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the police raid in Rivonia, which sparked the world-famous trial It was a winter’s afternoon

on July 11, 1963 that a delivery van pulled up outside a thatched cottage at the back of Liliesleaf—a safe house used

by underground activists The van was a Trojan horse Inside were 14 policemen and a dog Inside the cottage was almost the entire leadership of the South African underground movement holding a meeting, including Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada and Govan Mbeki The police jumped out

of the van, surrounded the building and rushed the door

Mbeki and Kathrada tried to escape through the window but were hounded down The police handcufed the activists

in a circle outside the cottage and let the dog snap at them They couldn’t believe they had caught so many activists in one place

“We have hit the jackpot!” said an excited charge over the police radio

oicer-in-Jofe, Bizos and Kuny stood at around the same spot where that triumphant statement was made, as they posed for photographs on a warm February evening They recalled memories of the trial of the century that proved the turning point for South Africa The trial saw the words of Mandela and his fellow accused ly around the world changing millions of minds Overnight, the saboteur criminals were seen more as freedom ighters; the Benjamin Franklins of Africa—in the words of Bizos

Three of these words that winged their way drew smiles

on the night Bizos, the strategist in the legal team, says he made a slight change to the famous speech on behalf of all the accused that went down in history

“It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve But

if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die,”

Mandela concluded from the dock to a dramatic silence in court, according to eyewitnesses, in which you could hear a pin drop

“I felt the speech was too strong as it was It was an invitation to the judge to hang everyone and make them

Three Men You Can

Bet Your Life On

LIBERATION HISTORY

FORBES/FOCUS

The survivors of the legal team that helped Nelson Mandela

cheat the gallows were reunited on a warm summer’s evening at

liliesleaf in rivonia, near Johannesburg.

martyrs, so I recommended we put in

the words ‘If needs be,’” says Bizos

Jofe—a former chairman of Oxfam,

was made Lord Jofe by former

British Prime Minister Tony Blair—

remembered Mandela’s reaction to the

change

“I read my speech and there seems

to be an error, he said It is my sentence

and I want it back!” chuckled Jofe

On a more serious note, Jofe

recalled the handwritten note by

Mandela, now in a museum, in which

he wrote out his last words, if he were

to hang

“This handwritten note said: ‘I

apologize for nothing, I was ighting

for justice and there’s no sacriice I am not prepared to make in the cause of justice,’ that was Mandela, faced with hanging, no fear,” says Jofe

The lawyers have 150 years legal experience between them They say they would do it all again and support the new South Africa, with reservations

“In South Africa today, sadly the majority of the population is living

in poverty and unemployment and one believes there is much more that government could do about that and then these problems with corruption, incompetence and eiciency would disappear,” says Jofe

“I know that there are people, including me, who are disappointed with some of the failures of the government, some of which were very serious and unnecessary, but I don’t

go along with the idea that nothing has changed Things have changed in relation to education, health and the professions,” says Bizos

All three are as unassuming as they are sage You would not blink if you saw them in your corner shop buying a loaf of bread

When I double checked with Jofe, whether his title was Lord or Baron, he smiled

“Ag, just call me Joel.”

Joel Jofe, George Bizos, Denis Kuny outside the

thatched cottage at Liliesleaf.

Bunga Kiala left angola to escape the war

Now, he is blazing a trail in business in Berlin.

BY KRISTIN PALITZA

Being on top of your game is key to being

successful in business But when trading

internationally, there is an additional factor that

is at play: cultural diferences Understanding

these cultural diferences can have a serious

impact on business and may be the deciding factor for

signing or losing a deal

Bunga Kiala knows well about such pitfalls As an

Angolan working for a German company doing business in

Africa, he is at the coalface of juggling two fundamentally

diferent business cultures Kiala, who grew up in Angola

but has lived in Germany since the age of 16, had to quickly

learn that, for better or worse, many stereotypes about the

two nations contain an element of truth And that knowing

how to handle them can open many doors

“The business environments in Germany and African

countries are completely diferent,” explains Kiala

They are often the reason why potential business

opportunities fall through There are two common

deal-breakers, says Kiala: being late for a meeting, which

Germans interpret as being unreliable And focusing on

camaraderie instead of research, academic credentials and

skill

“To Germans, only the quality of the product counts

Liking somebody is not essential,” he explains

Those were tough lessons to learn for Kiala, who came

to Germany as a teenager in the early 1990s, to escape

Angola’s three-decade-long civil war After growing up in

a children’s home and attending high school in the city of

Karlsruhe, he trained as an electrician and started to work

for the city’s public utility company But Kiala wanted more

from life

“The dilemma was that I didn’t have the money to study

So I continued working and went to a technical college

in the evenings, for six years, to become an electrical

engineer.”

His eforts paid of After his graduation, Kiala was soon promoted, irst to the position of project manager, leading a team of 40 people His ambition and drive were also noticed

by the competition In 2007, SebaKMT, a Bamberg-based developer and manufacturer of measuring equipment that locates faults and leaks in power, water and communication networks, headhunted him

“Like many other German companies, SebaKMT didn’t have an Africa division For a long time, European countries

Explaining The Unthinkable

To The Germans

believed that only South Africa and the Maghreb had

economic potential, while the rest of the continent wasn’t

deemed worth the investment But in early 2000, the

thinking somewhat changed,” says Kiala

Showing impressive economic growth igures of up

to 10%, African countries gained interest in the eyes of

foreign investors According to International Monetary

Fund (IMF) forecasts, the future continues to look rosy

for the continent Seven of the world’s ten fastest-growing

economies will be in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015, the IMF

predicts, thereby soon outweighing Asia’s economic growth

It was this trend that gave a boost to Kiala’s career

“SebaKMT decided to explore the African market,” he

says

As SebaKMT’s new sales director for Africa, Kiala, then

in his early 30s, set up a new export division from scratch

It was a challenging task, he says, but it helped to have a

product that met growing demand

“Few African countries manage their water and

electricity networks eiciently,” says Kiala

In most nations, 40% to 60% of treated water gets lost

on the way to the customer Finding leaks quickly can

therefore save millions of dollars The same goes for faulty

electricity and communications networks

In less than ive years, he brought SebaKMT’s equipment

to 25 African countries, practically half of the continent It

is during those trips, he says, that he has to draw on one of

his most valuable skills: understanding two very diferent

business cultures It all begins with the irst encounter,

when Germans’ famous virtue, punctuality, collides with

the African thinking that good things take time and making

someone wait is a sign of authority

“It’s common to have an appointment at 2PM but your

business partner won’t appear for another hour or so It has

even happened to me that my meetings were postponed for

two or three days,” he says

In a German business context, that’s an unthinkable

scenario And so, more often than not, Kiala inds himself

in the diicult situation of having to straddle the divide:

showing patience for “African time”, while trying to placate

his fervent German bosses

“It’s a diferent mentality You have to understand it and

treat people accordingly.”

It doesn’t end here Who doesn’t understand Germans’

need for surety might perceive their

let’s-get-down-to-business attitude as ofensive

“Small talk is kept to a minimum Nobody asks how your

family is doing,” Kiala explains

And those who hope to seal a deal with a handshake will

get a rude wake-up call, too

“Germans are incredibly accurate Their business culture

is about careful planning and sticking by the rules They

want 100% assurance.”

That comes with detailed written communication, which

is passed back and forth repeatedly before a contract is signed

After 20 years of living in Germany, Kiala can ofer sound advice on how to deal with Europe’s powerhouse He explains it in true, three-point German style: “First, it’s all about competence You need to have the best product, be

able to ofer maintenance plans and assistance.”

Second comes preparedness

“Be professional Have an excellent presentation ready Know your product inside out.”

And third—it can’t be stated often enough—be on time

It might seem to be hard work, but it’s worth the efort, says Kiala, who over the years has come to prefer Germans’ conservative approach to doing business

“In return, you get longer-term investments, stable economic activity and a business environment that is separate from political power and friendships Germans don’t take a lot of risk Everything is double secured As a result, you don’t see big losses, even in diicult economic times.”

Kiala didn’t always think this way When he irst arrived

in Karlsruhe, it took him time to appreciate the German mentality He struggled with people’s reserved attitude, which was so diferent from the outgoing nature of the people in his home country, Angola

“Germans take time to open up But once you get warm, it’s really a good friendship It has substance,” he says

He stresses that this also translates to the business environment The initial approach is cautious, but once a business relationship is built, it is sturdy

His appreciation for German culture has led to some snide remarks from his countrymen

“In Angola, people call me ‘the German’ because I have adopted a diferent way of life,” Kiala jokes

He believes it’s less about losing his roots, it’s about making the best of both worlds

“I try to pick the good things out of each culture,” he explains

In his professional life, this has certainly stood him in good stead And it’s something he plans to hold on to for

a while: “I might go back to Africa one day But for now, Germany is the place for me”

“For a long time, European countries believed that only South Africa and the Maghreb had economic potential, while the rest of the continent wasn’t deemed worth the investment But in early

2000, the thinking somewhat changed.”

ENTREPRENEURS

a plucky David Banking

On Beating Goliaths

From David and Goliath

to the giant in Jack and the beanstalk; who doesn’t like the age-old story about the little guy taking on the big guy and winning? This is the story of african banking wizard, riaan Stassen.

BY LERATO SEKO

On March 1, 2001, a

small bank opened in South Africa with the aim of providing easy and afordable banking services to its customers Attracted

by this alluring promise, in no time people were queuing up to open a Capitec account Today, the bank has more than four million customers;

clearly CEO Riaan Stassen’s move from the liquor industry to banking has been a fortuitous one

Born in Cape Town, Stassen earned a Bachelor in Commerce Honors degree from the University

of Stellenbosch He then did his articles and CA qualiication at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) PHO

before spending 14 years in the liquor

industry

The course of his career changed

in 1995, when Stassen was asked

to reengineer Boland Bank, a

conservative regional bank established

in 1900 After South African retail

billionaire Christo Wiese bought

Boland, it merged with Natal Building

Society (NBS) and Board of Executors

(BoE)

Stassen spent ive years at BoE

Bank, during which time he came up

with a diferent banking concept: a

retail bank for mid-to-lower income

people According to Stassen, the

incumbent banks were failing in

four areas: accessibility, afordability,

simplicity and personal service He left

BoE with his management team and

a goal to succeed where others had

failed

Stassen says that South Africa’s

existing banks had never transformed

to align with the cultural diversity of

the country

“So we saw that as quite a key

opportunity for us to create that

cement with our customer base,” he

says

Stassen and his team were

approached by PSG Holdings, a

company owned by South African

millionaire investor Jannie Mouton,

to manage PSG Specialized Lending,

its micro-lending company focused on

low-income customers The name was

changed to Capitec and the bank listed

on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

in 2002

It was no easy road for Capitec The

start-up capital was R250 million ($28

million), it listed with net assets of just

under R400 million ($45 million), at

R2 (around 2 US cents) a share Within

three months its market capitalization

dropped to just under R50 million

($5.6 million)

The irst few years of Capitec’s

life were dedicated to developing an

application platform that could handle

high-volume, low-value transactions,

eiciently and at a lower cost

The system is run from Bellville—a

small town just outside of Cape Town From there the bank runs the administration that usually takes place at branch level, shifting the branch focus to its customers The last fundamental of the technology component is the ability to conduct all processes in real time

The bank uses ingerprint biometrics to counter fraud and is currently testing new ATMs itted with the system Capitec is also the irst bank in South Africa to allow coin deposits at ATMs, further evidence of its focus on low-income customers

Stassen says other South African banks are rife with high costs, lack of transparency and confusing jargon

“We believe what a person needs from a bank is to move money, to park money and to get money,” he says

Capitec’s solution to this is its Global One account—a single account that can be used for transactions, including online purchases, as a savings vehicle and as a way to apply for credit Customers can get up to R230,000 ($25,700) in cash within minutes of applying for a loan

This amount is determined by an afordability assessment based on their monthly cash low and is repayable over one to 84 months, also based on personal ability The interest paid, 17% to 28%, also depends on the individual’s credit proile

A big bone of contention in South Africa has been unsecured lending

In the past, borrowers were required

to secure a loan with collateral With unsecured lending, clients do not need this security, “In South Africa nowadays unsecured lending has become a swearword, and that’s absolute nonsense,” says Stassen

He points out that as far as Capitec

is concerned, it’s not about the assets a person has, but their cash low

“There are 20 million active credit clients in South Africa There are 1.8 million credit clients who have any form of home inance, a mortgage grant Only 1.8 [million] So what are the other 18 million people doing to

improve their standard of living?” asks Charl Nel, the head of strategic communications at Capitec

Few deny the fact that South Africa, like most of the world, is

a consumption-driven society as opposed to a saving one, or that defaults are part of the territory, but

as it currently stands, over 95% of Capitec’s book is current Despite citizens’ household debt often being greater than disposable income, according to Capitec’s interim results from September, its number of arrears had decreased to 4.4%

“The proile of our credit client is deinitely changing as we are seeing new credit clients with higher income levels attracted to our ofer,” the interim report says

According to a report by South Africa’s National Credit Regulator, unsecured credit in the irst quarter

of 2012 grew by 49.4% year-on-year This is a rate far higher than any of the other types of credit

Capitec has millions of customers, and Stassen attributes the bank’s success to widespread discontent with the big four banks among their customer base, as well as its strong proposition to customers His is the irst bank in South Africa to be open on Sundays, a move that persuaded one

of its large competitors, Nedbank, to follow suit

“We had to think a lot on our feet

We change things a lot What we thought was going to work had to be changed slightly And often in a very old, stale, established organization you get resistance and that’s dangerous because people kind of trip up the process,” says Nel

How does the bank manage to make money and a success out of low-cost banking, especially when they have kept their prices unchanged for the past three years? As most business minds know, you can only undercut your competitors for so long before it becomes costly Stassen says Capitec could only be priced signiicantly lower than their opponents if they took

smaller margins or lowered their cost

structure Their solution appears to be

running the bank like a production line

“Stassen is an exceptional CEO

One of the best that I’ve come across

because since he joined Capitec we’re

really focused They developed a

great computer system and it’s a great

success,” says Mouton

Stassen admits that they were

initially ignored by the bigger banks

because they started of as a micro

lending organization When they began

to look beyond this; their competitors

believed their primary focus would be

on the unbanked and the lower income

market Then around two years ago the

more established banks started to take

notice

Capitec now has around 9% of South

Africa’s banking market share and their

most important objective is to attract

primary banking accounts, those into

which salaries are directly deposited

The bank also plans to launch a credit

card at the end of this year

The interim results stated that

Capitec’s transaction fee income for

the irst six months of the inancial

year grew by 61% to R583 million

($65 million) year-on-year Headline

earnings per share grew by 35% to

R7.02 ($0.80) Income from credit

was R3.6 million ($403,000), which

the bank says is due to growth in the

unsecured credit market

The management team at Capitec had been part of a share incentive scheme, allowing them to buy into the company Last year, there were numerous reports and speculation as to Capitec’s health and suggestions that its captain, Stassen, was abandoning ship, and that other executives were oloading their shares too When asked about it Stassen says: “It was very bad reporting”

The truth of the matter is that Stassen sold most of the shares in his own name but that 95% of his investment in the bank is held by

a company in his family trust The private investment company owns more than R400 million ($44.8 million) worth of shares

“I believe it’s extremely dangerous for executives to be over-extended to the company they run,” says Stassen

He says this is because, when executives become over-exposed, they start making short-term decisions and manipulate numbers to protect the share price

Last year, Capitec sought to raise funds through a rights issue, which increased the bank’s capital base by R2.25 billion ($252 million) The funds were for the extension of the branch network, with 55 to 75 new branches proposed for this year, and to increase lending

Earlier this year PSG sold of

some of its stake in Capitec to repay debt incurred in the purchasing of approximately R724 million ($81 million) from the rights issue last year PSG’s stake in Capitec has dropped from 32.2% to 28.5%, and the company says it will not be selling of any more

of its shares

Then in February, the South African Public Prosecutor conirmed that it will launch a formal investigation into

a black economic empowerment deal, from 2011, resulting in a consortium with ties to the country’s ruling party acquiring nearly R1 billion ($122 million) worth of Capitec shares Nel says they will cooperate fully with the investigation

Capitec is currently focusing on South Africa but will start identifying opportunities in other countries on the continent Its long-term goal has always been to internationalize its banking model Infrastructure

is however a concern as the bank is highly reliant on technology As the fastest growing retail bank in South Africa for individuals, winner of Africa’s Top 100 JSE Companies for the second time, forging into an under-tapped market and making the big dogs follow suit, could mean Capitec will lose its underdog title

Goliath may not be down and out yet, but he is certainly taking notes on David

ENTREPRENEURS — CAPITEC

Share price

[18 March]

R194.42 ($21.50)

R114.01bn ($13.044bn)

R97.95bn ($10.837bn)

Not independently listed

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