Dakar, Senegal &#8211; The fast rate at which Africa is urbanising– one of the fastest in the world – is giving African decision and policy makers an opportunity to rethink the path urbanization has so far trod on and chose one which will contribute to Africa achieving the continental targets for inclusive growth and transformation.
The Economic Report for Africa 2017, which was launched this weekend during the Africa Development Week – with the theme “Urbanization and Industrialization for Africa’sTransformation” – says that Africa has so far followed its own path of urbanization, which is weakly linked to structural transformation. This has resulted in the loss of many opportunities for enhanced growth and productivity, for poverty reduction and for social development.
“Urbanization in many African countries has not been driven by improving agricultural productivity,” says the Report. “Most countries are urbanizing rapidly amid declining or stagnant industrial output and low agricultural poverty.”
But with Africa now approaching 50% urbanization, governments at all levels have to make hard choices for the scale and type of investments they need to make, and for the spatial pattern and urban form they want to see, says the Report.
Governments are encouraged to take advantage of the changing patterns of urban consumption and rising demand for manufactured and processed goods to conceive and implement industrialization policies to cater for such needs. The largely unmet urban housing needs also provide an opportunity to improve living conditions and generate construction and service jobs.
The report argues that because of its multi-dimensional implications, urbanization should be anchored in national development plans that would harness it through a strategic cross-sectoral policy framework.
Governments also need to better manage urban form, improve public land management and the efficient functioning of property markets, streamline social housing programs, prioritize strategic infrastructure investments and place industry at the front rank for local economic development, says the Report.
It would also be important to back urbanization and industrialization policies by financing and institutional set ups that allow for coordinated implementation and budgetary support.
Capacity building should also be givenconsideration in urbanization and industrialization projects since the paucity of knowledge and evidence remains one of the biggest challenges in harmonizing urban and industrial development. “It is vital to develop tools to guide policy makers, planners and practitioners in formulating and implanting urban and industrial policies in a coordinated way, as they focus on national targets of growth and transformation,” concludes the Report.

African Development Week: Africa’s tough choices for urbanization

Dakar, Senegal, (ECA) – It is imperative for African governments to adopt coherent strategies and national development plans that address the continent’s challenges of growth, inequality, and unemployment, Economic Commission for Africa’s deputy Executive Secretary, Giovanne Biha, said Thursday.
Ms. Biha said this in her opening speech to the Tenth Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
“The absence of decent jobs for young Africans has fuelled outward migration, both within and from Africa resulting in tragic loss of lives as young people attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of greener pastures.”
Ms. Biha said since this year is the year of harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend through investment in the youth, more needs to be done by all stakeholders to promote investment in job creation and human capital development.
“It is the imperative for African countries to adopt coherent strategies and national development plans that promote structural transformation and address the challenges of growth, inequality and unemployment within the context of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” she said.
Ms. Biha noted that discussions on unemployment in Africa were not new, adding it was now time for action on the ground.
African Union Commission’s Economic Affairs Commissioner, Anthony Mothae Maruping, said it was symbolic that the meeting was taking place in Senegal, where Africans were forcibly taken to work as slaves in America and Europe.
“We are in the right place to come up and work on strategies to make sure our young people don’t voluntarily and involuntarily leave the continent to look for opportunities elsewhere,” said Mr. Maruping, adding growth on the continent so far has not been inclusive.
“We need to grow Africa. The time to do so is now,” he said, adding Agenda 2063 is seeking to achieve accelerated, stable, inclusive and real economic job-creating growth in Africa. Mr. Maruping said no form of poverty was acceptable as he urged the continent to work hard to eradicate all inequalities.
He said Africa is clear on what needs to be done as it deals with challenges it is facing on the ground, in particular spurring economic growth that positively impacts everyone.
“Africa knows what to do, how to do it, with what and when to do it as we target this growth and inequality,” said Mr. Maruping. “We really want to transform our economies, raise our productivity, promote integration and trade and all.”
Senegal’s Budget Minister, Birima Mangara, in his welcome address to the meeting of experts said his country was doing all it can to structurally transform its economy for the benefit of every citizen.
He said inequalities and youth unemployment were being tackled as well as other related problems that lead to poverty, adding youth and women on the continent should be prioritized in job creation.
Mr. Mangara lauded the ECA, the AUC and their partners for convening a meeting to specifically tackle growth, inequalities and unemployment on the continent.
“It is these meetings which serve as outstanding platforms to discuss Africa’s problems,” he said. “I’m convinced that the debates will lead to very important recommendations that are important for the future development of our dear Africa.”
The Tenth Joint Annual Meetings will deliberate on the theme of “Growth, inequality and unemployment”.
The conference will explore measures for reducing inequality and extreme poverty on the continent in order to achieve the targets of the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan (2013-2023) of Agenda 2063 and the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, among other issues.
Among the high-level delegates present were the newly-elected African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the office of the committee of experts, Lizenga Maluleka, representatives of UN agencies, the African Union Commission, African Development Bank and civil society.

African Development Week: Emphasis on policies that cater for youth

Dakar, Senegal &#8211; Following the impasse on the objections raised by Morocco and other member States on the participation of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), and the legal arguments presented by the Secretariats of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Bureau of the 10th Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development recommended that the meeting be adjourned to a later date.
The Chair of the Bureau informed the meeting that despite the concessions made by some stakeholders, the Bureau and the two Secretariats of the AUC and the ECA had come to the conclusion that the required conditions had not been met for the continuation of the meeting. The Bureau apologized for the inconvenience caused and committed to undertaking the necessary consultations on a way forward on the issues.  He also thanked the Government of Senegal for hosting the meeting, and member states for their patience.
The Economic Commission for Africa notes that all the side events and other meetings, including the Regional Coordination Mechanism and the launch of key reports would continue as planned.

African Development Week: Joint Conference postponed to a later date; Side events continue as planned

Dakar, Senegal,25 March 2017 (ECA) &#8211; The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is revamping its fellowship programme to ensure it is relevant and makes sustained contributions to Africa’s transformation agenda.
The new look fellowship programme was unveiled during Africa Development Week in Dakar under the theme “Growth, inequality and unemployment”.
Capacity Development Division Director, Stephen Karingi, said the ECA fellowships are being re-aligned with the organization’s greater mandate of promoting the economic and social development of its 55 Member States, fostering intra-regional integration and promoting international cooperation for Africa’s development.
“In October 2012, ever changing the ECA embarked on a strategic retooling and reorientation process to ensure continuous relevance to the ever-changing dynamics of Africa’s development,” said Mr. Karingi. “We want the fellowship programme to continue to provide an avenue for knowledge sharing and provide opportunities for Africa’s youth so they can contribute to shaping policy on the continent even at a young age.”
The new fellowship framework fits into the four key areas identified by ECA as fundamental to ensuring regular, relevant and sustained contributions to Africa’s transformative agenda. These are: cutting edge policy research, knowledge delivery, dynamics for an integrated and coherent approach and aligning corporate incentives and support systems.
Mr. Karingi said the realignment of the current fellowship programme is meant to ensure a better fit within the new Capacity Development Strategy and to respond proactively to the capacity development needs of Member States.
This framework is developed and fits within the four key areas identified by ECA as fundamental to ensuring regular, relevant and sustained contributions to Africa’stransformative agenda. These are: cutting edge policy research, knowledge delivery, dynamics for an integrated and coherent approach and aligning corporate incentives and support systems.
The main objectives of the fellowships include supporting young African scholars acquire professional knowledge and operational experience as fellows and to apply this new and innovative knowledge to help Africa’s transformative agenda; to provide opportunity for young African scholars to gain exposure working in an international environment; and to build a community of experts in Africa that can serve as a resource for formulating, implementing and monitoring development activities at the national, sub-regional, regional and international levels.
A minimum of 40 fellows shall be recruited, trained and mentored annually by the ECA. At least six of the students will be ECA Prize Fellows, 30 ECA Regular Fellows, and the rest would be partner-sponsored fellows.
The ECA prize fellowship is a high-level fellowship programme that will be implemented in conjunction with African universities and institutions of higher learning on African issues both within and outside the continent.
Its aim is to provide recently graduated African youth, both on the continent and in the diaspora, who have excelled in their fields of study, an opportunity to experience and be part of policy and research work at a pan-African level.

ECA revamps fellowship programme targeting African students

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) launched today in Dakar the second generation of its country profiles, on the margins of the African Development Week (Dakar, 23 &#8211; 28 March 2017). These reports, which offer a snapshot of economic and social development in African countries, identify policy challenges and provide recommendations to decision-makers, national and regional institutions to address those challenges, this year cover 21 countries.
“The 1st generation of country profiles has strengthened our evidence based policy engagement and dialogue with ECA’s members States. Based on data generated by national institutions, they address critical issues at the core of countries economic and social transformation strategies said Giovani Biha, ECA Deputy Executive Secretary for Knowledge Delivery . “They are easy to read and accessible to a large group of ECA’s constituencies. This second generation of country profiles builds on the success of the 2015 country profiles.”
The ECA Country Profiles were originally designed in 2015 in accordance with Resolution 917 of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (Abuja, 2014), with the aim to provide African decision-makers with an independent analysis of their countries’ economic and social development including the progress made to achieve regional integration.
The country profiles are based on data provided by member States and they complement ongoing ECA efforts to improve the collection and use of statistical data in Africa.
They include various innovations such as: the African Social Development Index (ASDI), which measures human exclusion in six key dimensions of wellbeing throughout the life cycle (survival, health, education, employment, means of subsistence and the capacity to live a decent life after the age of 60), the AGDI (African Gender and Development Index) and the African Regional Integration Index, based on the five pillars of regional integration (trade integration, regional infrastructure, productive integration, free movement of people &amp; financial and macroeconomic integration).
The countries covered in the 2016 Country Profiles are Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Chad, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland and Tunisia.
END
For more information about the ECA country profiles, please visit: <a href="http://www.uneca.org/publications/country-profiles">http://www.uneca.org/publications/country-profiles</a> .

ECA launches African country profiles at African Development Week

Dakar, Senegal, 25 March 2017 – (ECA) – Africa’s health experts gathered in Dakar Saturday to discuss health financing and social protection to ensure there’s universal access to health on the continent amid worries that commitments by most governments and stakeholders on this issue were not being translated into action on the ground.
Speaking at the joint Economic Commission for Africa-World Health Organization event on health financing in Africa, the ECA’s Social Development Policy Division Director, Takyiwaa Manuh, said though African governments committed through the Abuja Declaration of 2001 and more recently the Tunis Declaration and others to put more money into health, many such commitments remain untranslated into concrete actions for reasons that range from inadequate resources to weak administrative and institutional mechanisms.
“In recent years, investment in health has been getting a raw deal in comparison to other sectors of the economy,” said Ms. Manuh, who spoke on behalf of ECA’s Deputy Executive Secretary Giovanne Biha.
“Member states are on average still far from meeting key health financial financing goals of allocating 15 percent of their national budgets towards health.”
By 2015, only Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Togo and Zambia had met the Abuja Declaration target.
Ms. Manu highlighted a number of innovative options she said could be explored by the continent to finance health in Africa.
First, she said, domestic resource mobilization for health financing was one of the most viable options, especially through strong institutions that collect and manage tax revenues.
Secondly, Ms. Manuh added, Africa should use economic rents from its rich natural resource endowments to finance its social development, including health, in a more transparent and sustainable manner, adding it was also important for the continent to harness remittances from the Diaspora into the health sector.
She said the introduction of health insurance and social insurance schemes and ensuring effective and efficient use of both public and private resources for the health sector was of paramount importance to the continent.
“Sustainable health financing will only be realized if there’s political will from all stakeholders to translate words into action,” said Ms. Manuh, adding the ECA remains committed to undertaking evidence-based research to generate robust recommendations to support policy formulation and implementation by member states on health financing.
“We are all accountable to our citizens and our citizens expect more from us so it cannot be business as usual. In this context, high-quality, timely and reliable data becomes extremely important to inform policy intervention in Africa.”
WHO Afro Regional Director, Matshidiso Moeti, said all efforts have to be taken to ensure health financing works for Africa.
“It is important for us to put more resources into the health sector because it is good for economic development and economic development is what we all want for the African continent and we feel that the health sector has more to contribute towards human capital which is so essential for countries to be successful in that regard,” said Ms. Moeti.
She said it has been a long time now since experts have been pleading with political leaders that people should not be dying needlessly due to preventable diseases and that health was a human right.
“Investing in health is a smart investment, we could save almost half of our GDP in future if we invest in health and if we look at how much we should invest it would be far less than what we will save in future or the trillions we will lose if we do not invest in health,” said Ms. Moeti.
She said Africans should also demand that their governments invest in health care.
Senegal’s Budget Minister, Birima Mangara, said his country was doing all it can to ensure it achieved universal health access, adding since 2012 the government has been putting more resources into health to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.
Senegal’s health minister Amarie Coll Seck gave an impassioned plea to health ministers and experts present, calling on the continent to have a holistic and sustainable human development approach ensuring greater budgetary allocations go to health.
“Our investments in the health sector have to be long term and critically there has to be accountability, leadership, and governance because they are critical is we are to achieve universal access,” said Ms. Coll Seck.
A technical report prepared by the ECA and the WHO was presented to the meeting with panel discussions delving into issues related to financing for health systems and programmes, epidemiology and the economic burden of disease in Africa and related issues.
The experts are expected to come up with recommendations of key actions related to health financing for ministers of finance in Africa.

Africa Development Week: ways to increase health budgets for universal access

If they want to have a lasting impact, innovators need to think about their local context and the Pan-African context from the very inception of their projects. Else Silicon Valley might cannibalise all we’re trying to do.
One of the most amazing strengths of African innovation has to do with how innovators are addressing their local context. They see local problems and come up with local solutions, often bringing technology in as the base from which to develop and provide the solution. In my book Disrupting Africa: The Rise and Rise of African Innovation, I speak of over a dozen innovators who have done just this and who have been quite successful at it. Part of the argument in my book was to showcase how African innovation looks.
Part of the argument in my book was to showcase how African innovation looks different to, say, innovation in Japan &#8211; which focuses a great deal on robotics and sci-fi like technology &#8211; and for this reason, African innovation needs to be taken on by its own merits. This is why we need to develop our own innovation index, rather than relying purely on outside authorities on the subject. Our innovation needs to be rated according to our own context and the home-grown solutions our innovators provide.
But there is a flip-side to this coin. In my last few articles here at CNBC, I’ve been exploring how the “big boys” of Silicon Valley have a keen eye on our continent, and when they come in they create disruption in many of our stable industries. Many times this disruption is unforeseen. For example, I’ve shown how Uber disrupts the car manufacturing industry more than the taxi industry (because if Uber is cheaper to use than buying a car, and it can be if you split fees or car pool, fewer people buy cars).
I also showed how Facebook could potentially pull the rug from under our telecommunications industries as they look to provide free satellite Internet access. Another example has been Amazon, which is poised to disrupt the remittance industry (in that case, the powers at Amazon may not have even seen this themselves, although I highly doubt that). The key point in all this is to show that these Silicon Valley innovators know how to think about local solutions that can also work in a Pan-African context. You notice how each changes the way it does its marketing or payments and adjusts its service with regards to local needs (seen that you can pay cash on Uber now?)
In order to compete with Silicon Valley, our innovators need to be thinking Pan-African from day one. Many of our home-grown innovations can actually work outside of their immediate context. I’ve spoken about South African-based Lifestock Wealth before. Founded by Ntuthuko Shezi, Livestock Wealth gives you the opportunity to invest in cows through its app. The company manages two farms. You invest in the cattle while they manage the cattle for you. It’s obviously an African solution, right? It makes much more sense to most Africans than other forms of investment. You can’t export that to most of America. But you can definitely export that to most of Africa. I would also argue that there may even be other places in the world that you can export it to as well. In fact, I bet there are.
The company manages two farms. You invest in the cattle while they manage the cattle for you. It’s obviously an African solution, right? It makes much more sense to most Africans than other forms of investment. You can’t export that to most of America. But you can definitely export that to most of Africa. I would also argue that there may even be other places in the world that you can export it to as well. In fact, I bet there are.
Livestock Wealth could easily go Pan-African and Shezi and his team ought to be thinking about that from day one. Here are three of our current and most successful innovators who already show this.
<ol>
<li>Jason Njoku</li>
</ol>
IrokoTV is a great example of an innovation that clearly had a Pan-African view in mind from its inception. IrokoTV surely competes against the likes of Showmax, Netflix, and even DStv. But when Showmax and Netflix arrived on our continent, Njoku didn’t seem to break into much of a sweat. He knows he has the core market that matters: Nollywood viewers. These viewers are all over Africa and throughout the world in the African diaspora. He captured an African need so well that IrokoTV is key in growing the Nollywood market &#8211; creating new markets for it where there may not have been before. So when the likes of Showmax come in they have to either partner with him or essentially just aim for taking second-place on the continent. That’s the kind of approach we need from our home-grown innovators.
<ol start="2">
<li>Fred Swaniker</li>
</ol>
Fred Swaniker, who founded African Leadership Academy, is on a mission to create the next generation of African leaders. He is not just looking at what’s going on now but is thinking about what things will look like in 50 years time. He has created infrastructure that can compete with Ivy League type of institutions and invests heavily in African youth to prepare them for the future. His vision is exactly what I think our innovators ought to be keeping in mind: create the next generation, create the future.
<ol start="3">
<li>Ashish Thakkar </li>
</ol>
Thakkar’s aim is to take African innovation to Silicon Valley rather than have Silicon Valley come here. Underneath his core vision with the Pan-African Mara Group is to make Africa a world-wide, tangible player in just about every market. Some people joke that Mara Group is the African version of Virgin. It’s not far off. But the vision is to soon see the joke work the other way &#8211; that Virgin is simply the American version of Mara. I think this is an important distinction that we have to think about; it shows us how we even need to change our language about these things.
Perhaps you’re saying to yourself, “I’ve heard about these three guys, and I’m pretty tired of hearing about them by now. Is there nothing new?” Well, that’s the point. We have to keep repeating the same people because actually we don’t have enough innovators thinking like them. See it as a challenge. We need our innovators to elevate their thinking and their view of innovation, and think home-grown and Pan-African at the same time, all the time.
In my view, our innovators need to do this if they want to have a lasting impact. Silicon Valley saw this a long time ago. It’s time we do the same &#8211; before Silicon Valley scoops up our industries for themselves. We’re poised, right now, to do some amazing things &#8211; but we have to be bold and big about it.

Innovators need to think Pan-African from day one

Land is not only a controversial issue in certain parts of the continent, such as South Africa, where land expropriation is a hot topic; it is also a crucial tool to unlock economic potential in Africa. It is one of the main topics for discussion at Africa Development Week 2017, which is underway in Dakar, Senegal.
Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, along with private sector, civil society organisations and traditional authorities will deliberate on what should be done to achieve Africa’s Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063.
The CNBC Africa team caught up with Said Adejumobi, Director of the Southern Africa Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), who says the land question is a very important one, not only for South Africa, but for the entire region.
“The reason is very simple. It has to do with the historical legacy of apartheid and the kind of settler colonialism that they experienced in southern Africa. The point is how do we consummate it? I think there should be national consensus and national dialogue on how it should be done. And it should be done within a legal framework, in a very methodical, procedural way that does not create unnecessary tension, but that guarantees equality, justice and fairness for all the people of South Africa.”
Published in South Africa’s Government Gazette this week, is a new bill that makes provision for unique land ceilings for various districts in the country, as well as for the establishment of a land commission which will play a large role in determining these ceilings. Foreign ownership and leasing of agricultural land will be affected by the bill, as once this has been signed into law, foreigners will not be able to acquire agricultural land.
Land is central to boost productivity, alleviate poverty and eradicate hunger, and everyone is looking for solutions to the current problems hindering agricultural growth on the continent.
Joan Kagwanja, Coordinator for the Land Policy Initiative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), says while there are negatives such as issues hindering investment in land and the consequences of investment, there are opportunities for Africa, such as access to a lot of land.
“Sixty per cent of the land is still available for production, and can be harnessed,” she explains.
Since 2008, Africa attracted numerous foreign investors. But only 50% (around 200 000 hectares) of the land invested in has been harnessed for production. “We need to see that land actually coming to production so that we can feed the continent,” says Kagwanja.
Adejumobi says for Africa land is much more than an economic product: “Land is a spiritual product. People are tied to the land. The whole process of human living from birth to death has a linkage to land with Africa. If you are landless in Africa, the way you are viewed, no matter what kind of investment you have, what kind of stocks that you hold, if you are landless in Africa, you are deemed to be powerless. People don’t respect you.”
Kagwanja says the way land investment has taken place in Africa – even when land has been acquired from traditional authorities or Africans themselves – has had perhaps unintended consequences of pushing people off the land, while the land has not been used for production.
“And compensation has not gone to those that have also given up the land. But beyond that, we don’t want to see compensation per se we want to see models that include local communities as well as investors.”
Sixty percent of Africa’s land is managed under traditional authorities and this land is used communally, Kagwanja explains. This means that “we don’t have the majority of Africans in individual ownership of land and we’re not necessarily advocating for individual ownership of land. But on the other hand we need to examine how in the traditional authorities people can still receive secure rights to land. So where there are pressures coming from outside, do we have documented land rights? Do women have land rights?”
The African Union has a 30% campaign to ensure that by 2025 African women will have access to 30% of documented land rights. “You can see that 30% is a very low target, but at this point we don’t even know what is owned by African women and that is a problem because African women are the same one’s that contribute the majority to agriculture, to food security,” Kagwanja says.
Adejomobi agrees that the women’s dimension is very important, and that women should be involved in the process through a very specific agenda for landownership by women. This should be addressed both culturally and through policy making. Currently women play an important role in small scale production, even though they own less land.
Concerning land redistribution, Adejumobi says it is important to ensure that land is not left fallow. Through a “very organised process”, small land holders can be empowered “so that they move into transition straight away, so that they make the best use of the land that they eventually get, and not having the land for no purposes.”
Brazil is a good example of successful land distribution to accelerate agricultural production. Brazil moved from being a net importer of agricultural products to being a net exported. “They are the world’s biggest exporter of beef currently,” Adejumobi said.
This kind of success is dependent on national dialogue and consensus, he advises. People should not think there is a conspiracy agenda against land redistribution, but inclusivity should be achieved in which both the beneficiaries and those from whom the land will be taken will see the value and the justice in what is being done.
Speaking on behalf of the Land Policy Initiative, an initiative of the African Union Commission, UNECA and the African Development Bank, Kagwanja says: “We support member states to seek solutions in consultation with their own communities and their own stakeholders. It is true that despite many years of independence some of those who fought for the land still do not have the land. So this is a question that remains.
“And it doesn’t matter how long we put it off, it is something we have to confront, and I think the countries in southern Africa are examining different ways to do it. Some of the models that have been put in place haven’t worked so well, and so we support them in looking for solutions that will provide equal access to land for communities.”

Solving Africa’s land issues to boost productivity, alleviate poverty and eradicate hunger

Development of the youth, regional integration and industrialisation on the continent will be top of the agenda of African Development Week 2017, which kicks off in Dakar, Senegal today, 23 March. This is the 10th annual meetings hosted jointly by the African Union Specialised Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration, and the Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
That’s quite a mouthful. But there will indeed be a lot to be discussed over this jammed-packed week, which will keep delegates on their toes during long sessions, which include the formal programme and interesting and important side events.
Dr. René Kouassi, Director for Economic Affairs, Commission for the African Union, welcomed the media and put them in the picture of the main issues and talking points of the week.
The theme for the meetings is Growth, Inequality and Unemployment. These are important areas of discussion for the continent, as growth has been weak, at a rate of only 0.5%. The drop in commodity prices has severely affected a continent reliant on its resources.
Through the commodity boom years, Africa did not invest in industrialisation, preferring to concentrate on the service industries and agriculture.
Dr. Kouassi is of the opinion that the continent is in need of radical solutions of its problems, including food, economic and financial insecurity.
Fifty-two years after independence, African economies remain dormant. This has caused a wave of migration, especially among the youth, who go in search of job opportunities outside of their home countries, many leaving the continent. And then there is the issue of the stateless, the people who have never been registered at citizens of any African country.
“We need radical transformation, otherwise the migration factor will continue to haunt Africa,” Dr. Kouassi said. “Only by integration, can the continent absorb and deal with the external shocks” it is facing today.
Also addressing the media, Dimitri Sanga, Director ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, UN Economic Commission for Africa, said ordinary Africans are not being given the tools to generate enough income to support their families. Personal income can only be improved by countries putting a greater emphasis on processing and industrialisation, while not neglecting efficient utilisation of their natural resources.
The balance of trade for most African countries is in deficit as they import more than they export. Intra-African trade makes up less than 15% of the continent’s trade, and this trend needs to be reversed.
The conference and meeting of ministers will also discuss Sustainable Development Goals, which should be achieved not only by individual countries, but also by regional groupings, to make an impact on structural transformation.
Other hot topics are a single regional currency, diversification of economies and investment funding.
Currently, $50 billion leaves African countries annually through illicit flows of money out of the continent, offsetting the foreign direct investment that comes into the continent.
Said Sanga: “We must mobilise our domestic resources and stop the haemorrhage of local money.”
Watch CNBC Africa from today until Thursday next week for full coverage of Africa Development Week &#8211; in daily markets show interviews and five highlights specials.

African growth, inequality and unemployment under the spotlight at Dakar meeting of ministers

On 11 March, at least 82 people died after a mountain of rubbish collapsed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Is rubbish a ticking time-bomb in the county?
One&#8217;s trash is indeed another person’s treasure. That has been the story of Koshe, a 54-year-old area, known as the dumping ground of the capital. Home to too many people and a destination for dwellers that frequent the area scavenging for food and goods to sell on the open black market, it became known by its nickname, literally meaning &#8220;trash&#8221; in Amharic. The British academic, Caroline Knowles, described it as the “redistribution center which indexes the differences between people’s life journeys, refracted through material cultures at their point of disposal.”
Then, the tragic landslide episode from a week ago managed to change its narrative forever. It has also become a dumping ground of the dead, as more bodies are recovered and the death toll rose into the hundreds. No longer just home of trash to an outsider, it is now a classic example of human-made disaster.
As more than a hundred people perished and are being laid to rest and the blame game is certain to begin, broken lives, the broken dreams have become the black eye of the tight-knit community. It has all the marking of a modern community in transition in an Ethiopian society that is considered as one of the fastest growing economies in the world and where the poor has been pushed to the brink to accommodate the urbanization of a once struggling and doomed nation.
There is a mixture of extreme poverty and middle-class wealth, the working class and the elitist, the mini mansions and the shantytown, the old and the young. Heartbreaking yet still standing, poor but striving, home to the dying but the living – Welcome to Koshe.
Its fabric is still rich, with kind people, modern homes, dotted buildings, some finished and most partially completed aging buildings, busy bars, donkeys and modern automobiles competing for space, far from the international boutique hotels of the capital, yet only 30 minutes away.
The public roads, with crumbling pavements, are full of people selling second-hand clothes, anything and everything and struggling to survive. There are two room bars, calling themselves &#8220;hotels&#8221; and one roomer as &#8220;clinics&#8221;. It looks like this is a community in need of direction and compassion.
Even from a distance, the odour of the dump is overwhelming.
But this home for many people and was home to the more than hundred that have perished. In the shadow of a national declaration of mourning, what is left of the community are mourners dressed in all black or the beautiful Ethiopian scarves worn upside down, to demonstrate the sadness, the loss of the moment.
In a rush to find survivors and connect lost families, it seemed all is lost. Perhaps, this is the Tsunami of Addis Ababa. The local hospital, Alert, has accommodated many, Abune Aregawi church, which is located next door, has provided a refuge to mourners and became a resting place for many victims in an unmarked grave. “There are too many mourners to say each person’s names”, an official told mourners. “But all will be missed”.
But, they have a name, a story, and a family. They were loved, respected and valued. In reflection of all the mourners, there were too many, and enough to celebrate and remember the lives well lived. Dented in poverty, weak to cry and scream, but nevertheless crying and fainting in sorrow, is how I saw the community in mourning.
There was a sermon reminding the mourners to cry and hurt less and told them the victims were now in heaven, out of their misery. Dozens of people have been buried on each day this week. The utter sadness, the rush to bury and accommodate more dead bodies was the scene of a busy mill factory scene rather than real life. But that is the life of this community these days.
There was no CNN, no New York Times or BBC to report. They have all decided to share the same article from the Associated Press from a distance. There is no Angelina Jolie, nor George Clooney to catch their attention. This episode will soon be forgotten; no pity will bring back the dead, construct broken lives.
Before Saturday’s disaster, the landfill was home to more than 300 people, some of whom lived in makeshift cardboard and plastic shelters near its edges.
Hundreds more climb the mounds of trash each day, looking for items they can use or sell as vultures circle overhead. There is always more trash to inspect, as the city adds about 300,000 tons of waste to the dump each year.
The death toll has risen to more than a hundred and ten and rescuers are still discovering more.
But who is counting? Even the rescuers seemed overwhelmed, untrained and not equipped to answer the demands of the task that is before them. No trained dogs to locate bodies, little equipment to support the effort, no scant media attention from the world. Even at the transition ceremony of the leadership of the African Union, there was absolutely no mention of this tragedy.
Boris Johnson, the flamboyant and controversial British Foreign Minister visited Ethiopia this week, but decided to do a photo-op with Olympian Haile Gebreselassie, rather make his visit worthwhile by visiting the location and paying a tribute to the dead on behalf of the British people.
The garbage is a mountain and it will take a while to navigate it fully and completely. There was a pause to store more garbage here last year as the dump became dangerously high. In 2016, authorities decided to close the site and relocate dumping to a new landfill site at Sendafa, Finfine Special Zone, Oromia Regional State but opposition by local farmers caused the rubbish collectors to move back. Consequently, Koshe started accumulating more garbage months ago. The poor still gather to sleep next to this dump still and collect anything worthwhile to own and sell.
How do other nations handle their garbage?
Famine, war, extreme poverty are not new to Ethiopia, another tragedy of the nation is a footnote, a page in its progress forward. An official told CNN how, &#8220;This is the result of the search because this is a vast area. It is also deep. The amount (that) collapsed, it is deep, it takes time”. But time is the essence to these people. Crippled and lost lives, missing bodies and nowhere to go are everywhere here.
Indeed, broken lives, broken dreams.
&#8220;Instead of suffering the stench of the waste disposal site sitting at our home, we can sit with added electricity in the grid, that gives us light at night,&#8221; Tewoldeberhan Gebregziabher (PhD), director general of Ethiopia&#8217;s Environmental Protection Authority promised in 2013, with the help of the United Kingdom.
According to Cambridge Industries, the Koshe waste to energy facility will be the first of its kind in Africa and process around 350,000 tons of waste annually. Once the facility is operational, which is located alongside the 50-year-old dumpsite, it was expected to power as many as 30 percent of the Ethiopian capital’s households.
What happened to that promise?
Back at Koshe, the memorial service was overwhelming. People cried, fainted and prayed. The pictures of the dead, the child who is missing and the old was burying the young and it looked like a war zone. Parents, teachers, children have all perished. So overwhelming and the community looked like a ghost town for a moment. But it is not.
How did she survive? She was at work, laboring to bring her 1,000 birr salary to fruition. She cried a mountain of tears, but she can never afford to mourn for long. She has no home, no family, and little future.
“I buried my parents, my uncle and my siblings&#8221;, one woman told me. &#8220;I have no one, I have no home&#8221;.

Op-Ed:  Ethiopia’s rubbish dumps – a ticking time-bomb?

What is the retirement industry doing to improve the financial outcomes of those saving for retirement? Is the retirement sector being innovative enough or simply doing what it has been doing all along, asks Graham Knight, Certified Financial Planner at Alexander Forbes Financial Planning Consultants.
Many people will hardly be able to replace their current income come retirement. In most cases, the replacement value for every R1 saved in a pension fund is about 30c. The term “replacement value” means the percentage of their final employment remuneration which a retired employee will earn from pension fund savings.
Cashing in funds before retirement is the number one reason most people can&#8217;t retire with a replacement value near their final salary.  Some retirement funds have launched in-fund solutions to seamlessly encourage employees to leave their money invested with their current employer when they change jobs as opposed to cashing in their funds.
The biggest problem that advisers encounter is fund member’s lack of understanding that contribution rates to the employer pension funds are usually based on  ‘pensionable salary’ which is often a smaller percentage than the ‘Total cost to company’ package of the employee.  This lowers the replacement value at retirement because the member has been saving a lower percentage of total remuneration than pensionable salary and the member is used to living on the full remuneration package.
The retirement industry has started making some changes like adding member education sessions to employees to explain how to save, for how long, and to further create awareness around the benefits and options available to them within the retirement fund.
Some retirement fund companies have added a replacement value calculator on their websites so employees can calculate their replacement value at retirement.
A few funds have been marketing the fact that they charge lower fees, which is beneficial to the member’s replacement ratio because high fees over a long period of time affect investment growth and erode the amount of capital in retirement. It is important to know that fees are not the only factor which should be considered when investing. There are many factors which will affect the growth of your retirement capital such as how active the investment portfolio management is, as well as the asset allocation of the portfolios and the performance of the asset classes over time, and the contribution rate. That’s why it is helpful to consult with a financial adviser during your retirement planning journey to understand whether you are on track to secure a sufficient replacement value. The more you are able to save each month the more likely you are to achieve your goals.
Retirement funds and companies have increased the percentage they allow employees to contribute, thus allowing them to save a bigger portion of their earnings.  This definitely increases their replacement value.
Employees who have had their contributions invested for their whole working life and who preserve their retirement funds when they leave and start new employment, end up with a far better replacement value than those who cash in their funds along the way.
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Innovation in the retirement sector improves financial outcomes for retirees

Eskom and AFD today signed a R 6 billion (€400 million) multi-tranche framework agreement to support Eskom investments in the extension and reinforcement of its power transmission grid.
Eskom’s Chief Financial Officer Anoj Singh said: “This multi-tranche loan facility will contribute towards Eskom plans to strengthen and refurbish the transmission infrastructure while diversifying our funding structures.”
AFD’s funding will focus on transmission lines and substations that support grid strengthening in areas where the development of future renewable energy sources are envisaged as well as to support the facilitation of cross-border transmission projects. As such, the funding will contribute to AFD’s global objective of dedicating 50% of its funding to development projects that have a climate change co-benefit.
AFD’s Chief Executive Officer, Rémy Rioux, said: “This new funding to Eskom reiterates the willingness of AFD to be a key financial partner of the South-African utility. Since the beginning of our engagement with Eskom, almost 10 years ago, we have made the choice to focus our support on targeted areas where we believe a development finance institution like AFD can provide the most value-added, i.e. renewable energy production, renewable energy related grid reinforcement and expansion, as well as technical knowledge sharing.”
This funding represents the first multi-tranche facility approved by AFD in the African continent. This new instrument recently developed by AFD opens a 3-year window during which the funding is made available to Eskom to finance projects that are compliant with eligibility criteria that have been agreed upon between AFD and Eskom, namely: be part of Eskom’s Transmission Development Plan, contribute to the evacuation of the renewable energy (existing or future) and/or facilitate the development of cross-border transmission networks.
This multi-tranche facility provides Eskom with mid-term visibility on the availability of funding for its Transmission Development Plan. It also reinforces AFD’s position as a long-term partner of the South-African power utility &#8211; since its first €100 million financing approved in 2007 for the Sere wind farm, and the recent signing a €150 million (R2.3 billion) facility to support Eskom investments in the distribution network.
The multi-tranche facility has been approved while the partnership between Eskom and Électricité de France (EDF) &#8211; that was entered into in November 2015 &#8211; is completed. The partnership grant provided by AFD and the French Ministry of Finance focused on knowledge, experience and expertise sharing between the two utilities, on various areas, including smart grids. The partnership has produced recommendations that will improve performance in terms of system efficiency and reliability. The multi-tranche facility will build on the results of this partnership to develop projects.
“We appreciate AFD’s long-standing commitment and support and are pleased that we can continue the valuable partnership with this organisation whose mission is to improve and support Africa’s energy development goals and mobilise resources for the continent’s economic and social development”, said Eskom’s Interim Group Chief Executive Matshela Koko.

S.A’s Eskom signs R6bn deal with France’s AFD

King Mohammed VI has sacked Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane.
On Wednesday, March 15, the palace issued a statement which read, in part: “His Majesty has decided to name another political figure from the Party of Justice and Development [PJD] as the new head of government. […] His Majesty will, very shortly, receive this person and will charge him or her with forming the new government.”
The statement makes reference to the political impasse that has dragged on since the general election in October: Mr Benkirane’s inability to bring together a majority coalition in Parliament with which to form a government.
His PJD had won the most votes but was well short of a majority, for which he needed to partner with the National Rally of Independents (RNI), led by tycoon and Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch, as well as the two other parties that formed the ruling coalition in Mr Benkirane’s previous term: the Party for Socialist Progress (PPS) and the Popular Movement (MP).
Mr Akhannouch, however, insisted on bringing with him the Constitutional Union (UC) and the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), which Mr Benkirane did not want.
The royal palace’s communique is politely critical of the prime minister, “recalling that HM the king had exhorted, on several occasions, the designated head of government to accelerate the formation of the new government” and alluding to “the absence of signals that augur [the government’s] imminent formation,” but Mr Akhannouch hobbled Mr Benkirane on purpose.
It should not have been his place to coerce the leader of the biggest party in Parliament to form a coalition he did not want.
Mr Akhannouch is part of the old boys’ networks through which power is channelled in Morocco, and his party is made up of highly educated technocrats who tend not to look fondly on the Islamists of the PJD.
The whole blocking manoeuvre was calculated to get rid of Morocco’s first bearded prime minister and to cut the PJD down to size.
The new prime minister-designate (who will be a PJD member, as required by the constitution) will get the message and will agree to Mr Akhannouch’s big-tent coalition with the UC and the USFP.
While it is early to judge, this should be positive for policymaking, as there will be fewer forces outside government resisting its direction, and this will make negotiations over further reforms to the pensions system easier.
The downside risks are in the areas of social stability and possibly on security.
The Islamists will certainly interpret Mr Benkirane’s sacking the way we do: as a sign that the palace and the old guard are reasserting control at the expense of the democratically elected ruling party.
Their resentment will tend to find expression in wider perceptions of government illegitimacy, and may, in more extreme cases, contribute to young men’s decisions to join terrorist networks.

Morocco’s Prime Minister Benkirane gets the sack

Africa needs to focus on improving infrastructure, technological readiness and health and primary education in order to become more competitive and create more job opportunities for its burgeoning young population; that’s according to KPMG’s latest <a href="https://home.kpmg.com/za/en/home/insights/2017/03/african-capital-markets-series.html">Report</a> on Africa in a changing global environment.
This Report documents how Africa, as a continent, regionally and by individual country, compares to its main Developing and Transition Economy competitors as an investment prospect for the limited available foreign direct investment (“FDI”) and considers what steps could potentially be taken to encourage FDI inflows into Africa.
John Geel, Managing Partner, Deal Advisory for KPMG in South Africa, says that the Report considers Africa’s position in the current global economic environment and measures how Africa ranks, by individual country, by region and as a continent, with competing Developing and Transition Economies.
“This Report gives insights into what direction the world economy is expected to take in the context of the current trust crisis by Developed and other economies as identified in the Edelman Trust Barometer 2017, resulting in the recent increase in populist views by the general populations of the world,” says Robbie Cheadle, Associate Director, Deal Advisory for KPMG in South Africa.
The current global economic environment
The global economy, and in particular the Developing and Transition Economies, is currently facing two major challenges. The first challenge is sluggish growth leading to stagnant global trade, subdued investment and increasing policy worldwide uncertainty. The second challenge being that the world is on the brink of the fourth industrial revolution which is expected to drive significant change to global industry and business models and possibly lead to a net loss of jobs.
A further impact of the lacklustre global economic environment is the lower gross domestic product (“GDP”) growth, reduced FDI inflows and higher inflation being experienced by Developing and Transition Economies. For Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically, this also comes at a time when these countries have also been, and continue to be, impacted by lower commodity prices, adverse weather conditions and political and security challenges.
“In order to become more competitive and improve their future growth prospects,” says Cheadle, “Developing Countries need to invest in human and physical capital and FDI inflows are vital in order for them to do this. The recommendations that Emerging Market Developing Economies implement a comprehensive, consistent and co-ordinated approach to policy making, address economic vulnerabilities and enhance international integration by promoting trade and FDI are certainly worth implementing.&#8221; 
Comparing Africa to other Developing and Transition Economies
From an overall global competitiveness point of view, Africa’s average competitiveness ranking is 21% compared to Latin America and The Caribbean’s average ranking of 40%, the Transition Economies average ranking of 45% and Asia’s average ranking of 57%. This implies that Africa is significantly less competitive than Asia, Latin America and The Caribbean (grouped as one) and the Transition Economies.
In order to encourage competitiveness and growth, the Report suggests that the legal and administrative framework within which government, business and individuals operate must be efficient and of a good quality. The institutional environment must encourage investment by protecting the legal rights of investors and enabling them to fully leverage information and communication technologies in daily activities and production processes resulting in increased efficiency and innovation.
Corruption in Africa continues to be an impediment as it reduces the efficiency and quality of the institutional environment in a country and this impacts on the relevant country’s ability to be competitive. Africa has a low ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Survey 2016, which means that it is difficult for companies to start and maintain a business in many African countries.
GDP growth for Emerging Market Regions is forecast to continue to be subdued during 2017 and 2018. Africa has the highest forecast average GDP growth at 4.3% in 2017 and 4.4% in 2018. Asia has the second highest forecast average GDP growth at 3.4% in 2017 and 4.0% in 2018. These growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty, particularly with regards to global policy uncertainty regarding trade and increasing protectionist tendencies.
Finding solutions 
“African countries need to focus on improving their rankings in the Corruption Perceptions Index, which dropped significantly during 2016, and the Ease of Doing Business Survey thereby promoting their countries as the country of choice for the limited available FDI inflows,” says Geel.
African countries should also continue to focus on utilising all available funding to improve education, health and infrastructure so that they are prepared, to the best extent possible, for the fourth industrial revolution and to derive the best benefits available from the changes to come.

Report: Africa is less competitive than its main rivals

Vibrant, driven young leaders emerge from the 2017 Laureus ‘Youth Empowerment through Sport’ programme
Laureus recently launched its sixth annual Youth Empowerment through Sport (YES) programme with an educational training camp hosted from 26 February to 4 March 2017 in Cape Town at The Team House in Noordhoek.  17 young leaders from various Laureus-funded and affiliated programmes participated in a 7-day interactive training workshop where young leaders from across the country were provided with the necessary tools to ignite positive change in their lives and local communities.
The list of influencers involved in motivational sessions included Laureus SA Chairman Morné du Plessis, Laureus ambassador and one of South Africa’s leading female mountaineers, Deshun Deysel as well as members from the Laureus SA Foundation Board of Trustees and YES programme funders Mercedes Benz.  Some of the themes explored at the training camp included: sport for development, the importance of personal development, the art of goal setting and conflict resolution.
A number of training and skills focused agencies were recruited to assist with the training component at the camp, including: Laureus’ global partner, Active Communities Network (ACN) and eta College.
The training camp also provided a platform for young leaders to transfer knowledge and share different ideologies. Some of the YES graduates were selected to be a part of the YES Expert group and formed part of the content delivering team. Two of the 2016 YES Experts, Bongi Nhleko and Katlego Malaka, took on the role as Head Facilitators this year.
‘An incredible milestone for the YES Programme and Laureus Foundation South Africa to see the programme lead and run by previous participants and graduates. The true definition of sustainability and succession! Looking forward to seeing these Sport for Development Agents in action!’ – Gita Carroll, Laureus YES Programme Lead
Launched in 2012, the programme focuses on equipping the youth with the technical, vocational, entrepreneurship and life skills needed to develop sustainable livelihoods. The programme targets school leavers, ages 18 to 25 with particular attention given to young people who are passionate about sport and the upliftment of local communities.
The overriding goal of the programme is to create a critical mass of youth leaders who have the skills to use sport to champion social programmes in their communities with the aim to progress into further education and employment. YES is based on the belief that young people are the greatest force to bring about social change in other young people and that these youths are potential champions for positive social change and are essentially able to inspire and motivate other youths to become positive role models.
The YES training camp forms part of the first phase of the 2017 YES programme. The young leaders will now go back to their respected communities and seek to do good, using the knowledge and tools gained at the YES training camp, to help tackle some of the most pressing issues facing their communities. The group will meet again later in the year to complete the second phase of the programme before finally graduating from the programme by the end of 2017.

S.A: Meet vibrant, driven young Laureus leaders

On 10 March, the metered taxi drivers took to the streets of Johannesburg and severely impacted traffic to and from O R Tambo International Airport. They were protesting the ride-hailing app Uber which they say is ‘stealing their jobs’. They state they had exhausted all avenues in government as their appeals for the government to use force, failed; it was, therefore, time for them to take matters into their own hands and use their own force instead to prevent voluntary trade between Uber and its customers.
The government started to regulate metered taxi prices shortly after the 2010 World Cup when they imposed a fee of R15 per kilometer, and this regulation has never been repealed. Seeing an opportunity in the market, Uber moved in, and the metered taxi drivers are upset because Uber can provide a better, cheaper and more easily accessible service than they can.
While the taxi drivers are in favour of government using force against their competitors, they do not enjoy falling victim to that force. Sadly, this is the nature of government protection. Different groups will always vie for the power that government protection gives them, because then they do not have to compete so hard on an open market with others who might provide a better service. To demand that government steps in and rigs the market against one competitor is not justice, it is not fair and it is not moral. You cannot demand government protection without recognising that that same protection will restrict your job prospects as well, perhaps not immediately, but definitely in the future.
The metered taxi drivers have a legitimate concern, but they are focusing their frustration on the wrong target. Price controls always entrench one group over another – all too evident from how the government tried to control business under Apartheid socialism. The taxi drivers would be able to compete with Uber if they could charge the price they thought best. The market, made up of their passengers, would provide reliable information when what they offer is either accepted or rejected and steer them in the right direction to better their service even more. The drivers ought to be protesting the amount of power government holds over their industry and the price controls it imposes. They should not be attacking a competitor that has a right to enter the market and try its hand at running a profitable business.
Contrary to popular belief, and perhaps that of the taxi drivers, no one has a right to a job. A job is a voluntary contract into which you enter either with an employer or a customer. You fulfill your side of the agreement by providing a service in exchange for reward from the other party. No-one is compelled to provide you with a job. An employer, just like a customer, has a right to use their resources as they see fit. It is immoral to demand that they do x with their time, money and other resources, simply because you or anyone needs or demands it. This is a moral argument. To say you have a right to a job means that you are prepared to use force when you deem it necessary to force people to act in a way you want, or to give their money to you whether they wish to or not. It is claiming that your needs, whims and desires have precedence over their free will. To argue in this way will lead, one day, to you being displaced when the next powerful group succeeds in using government power to force you to make way so that they can operate without having to compete with you.
Uber drivers, just like the metered taxi drivers, are working people, trying to make a living and put food on the table for their families. Through Uber, they just happen to provide an easily-accessible, cheap service that customers voluntarily choose to use. Uber drivers are not moustache-twirling barons who reside in cigar smoke-filled rooms.
As in any industry, not just the taxi industry, government should not have so much power that one group can use it against another. The power should be in the hands of the customer who will decide which service is the better.
Author Chris Hattingh is an intern at the Free Market Foundation. The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Free Market Foundation.

Op-Ed: S.A taxi drivers call for higher consumer prices

Who would you need to be in order to run a business 10 times your size?
From the get-go, many entrepreneurs dream of growing their businesses and building larger, more successful ones that generate substantial profits and are household names.
The unspoken rule (sometimes erroneous) of all businesses is that we must grow year on year, even if it’s just to compensate for inflation. When I started my business, I believed it would automatically grow annually. What I didn’t know back then, was that I myself would also need to grow on a personal and psychological level if I wanted my business to expand.
Who do you need to be?
“Who would you need to be in order to run a business 10 times your size?” my mentor asked me when I started out. And when my business achieved 10 times its size, he asked me this question again. The process of him continually asking me this same question forced me into a state of self-reflection and personal gap analysis that drove my personal development agenda, ensuring that my business would grow as far as I would grow.
I don’t have any heroes; and yet, if you walk into my office you’ll see a framed magazine mounted on the wall with Adrian Gore, CEO of Discovery Ltd, on the cover. My high regard for him is not only based on what he has achieved, but more specifically on who he has become in order to achieve what he has. He took an idea and turned it into a listed multinational business with a market cap of R67.4 billion*. Gore clearly had the ability and commitment to grow into someone who could lead a multinational business, from the first day that he started Discovery.
It has to do with your mindset
“Do you have the personal characteristics of someone who is running a business your size, or those of a person running a business 10 times your size?” he would ask. A very valuable lesson I learnt was that the person that you need to be to run a small business is not the same as the person that you need to be to run a medium-sized business, or the person that you need to be to run a large business.
If you are small minded then your business will remain small; if you are large-minded then your business will have to catch up to you. It’s less about the size of the business and more about who you are at a point in time. It takes constant work, personal development, struggle, and commitment, to being a better leader and business person than you were the year before.
I recently had to make a tough business decision that was right for my business and its future. Had I been faced with the identical set of circumstances 5 years ago, I know I would have made a different decision, because in the past my decisions were based on things that would keep staff happy and make them like me. Over the last 5 years, I’ve done work on myself and learned that my decisions must be based on the right things for the business and its future, even if they leave staff feeling momentarily upset.
It’s a constant journey
Practice self-reflection and embark on a personal journey that will help you discover who you have to be. If you don’t do this, YOU will be the largest impediment to your business’ growth.
Ask yourself
The secret to shifting your mindset and therefore your business, is asking yourself the following questions, and answering them honestly:
<ol>
<li>Who would I need to be in order to run a business 10 times my size?</li>
<li>Do I have the commitment to do the personal development work to run a business 10 times my size?</li>
</ol>

Jill De Villiers

African Development Week: Africa’s tough choices for urbanization

African Development Week: Emphasis on policies that cater for youth

African Development Week: Joint Conference postponed to a later date; Side events continue as planned

ECA revamps fellowship programme targeting African students

ECA launches African country profiles at African Development Week

Africa Development Week: ways to increase health budgets for universal access

Innovators need to think Pan-African from day one

Solving Africa’s land issues to boost productivity, alleviate poverty and eradicate hunger

African growth, inequality and unemployment under the spotlight at Dakar meeting of ministers

Op-Ed: Ethiopia’s rubbish dumps – a ticking time-bomb?

Innovation in the retirement sector improves financial outcomes for retirees

S.A’s Eskom signs R6bn deal with France’s AFD

Morocco’s Prime Minister Benkirane gets the sack

Report: Africa is less competitive than its main rivals

S.A: Meet vibrant, driven young Laureus leaders

Op-Ed: S.A taxi drivers call for higher consumer prices

Your business will only grow as much as you grow

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Jill De Villiers

African Development Week: Africa’s tough choices for urbanization

African Development Week: Emphasis on policies that cater for youth

African Development Week: Joint Conference postponed to a later date; Side events continue as planned

ECA revamps fellowship programme targeting African students

ECA launches African country profiles at African Development Week

Africa Development Week: ways to increase health budgets for universal access

Innovators need to think Pan-African from day one

Solving Africa’s land issues to boost productivity, alleviate poverty and eradicate hunger

African growth, inequality and unemployment under the spotlight at Dakar meeting of ministers

Op-Ed: Ethiopia’s rubbish dumps – a ticking time-bomb?

Innovation in the retirement sector improves financial outcomes for retirees

S.A’s Eskom signs R6bn deal with France’s AFD

Morocco’s Prime Minister Benkirane gets the sack

Report: Africa is less competitive than its main rivals

S.A: Meet vibrant, driven young Laureus leaders

Op-Ed: S.A taxi drivers call for higher consumer prices

Your business will only grow as much as you grow

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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