Africa Tops In Business Ease Reforms

Not so long ago, doing business in Africa was regarded a tortuous process at best and downright impossible at worst. Everything, it seemed, conspired to stop you conducting your business with any measure of ease. No longer. The latest World Bank Doing Business report says that African countries are now among the world’s top reformers. Gabriella Mulligan reports.

Sub-Saharan African countries are progressing in leaps and bounds in terms of ease of doing business, with the continent accounting for five of the top 10 most-improved regulatory environments for doing business worldwide. A number of African countries are implementing multiple reforms in the space of a year.

Nonetheless, entrepreneurs in Africa are still faced with some of the world’s most time-consuming and costly set-up procedures, calling for further well-designed regulatory attention and reform.

According to the World Bank Group report, Doing Business 2015, sub-Saharan Africa has implemented the highest number of business regulatory reforms in the world over the past year, with 74% of the region’s economies improving their business regulatory environment for local entrepreneurs.

The World Bank Group found that over the course of the past year, 35 of 47 economies in sub-Saharan Africa implemented at least one regulatory reform making it easier to do business. Indeed, over the year covered by the report, only 21 countries worldwide made three reforms or more over the year, with six of these located in sub-Saharan Africa.

Out of a global 230 regulatory reforms occurring over the space of the year, 75 of these were attributable to the sub-Saharan Africa region.

Of these reforms made in sub-Saharan Africa, the data shows reform focuses on two areas:  39 of the reforms aimed to reduce the complexity and cost of regulatory processes, and the remaining 36 focused on strengthening legal institutions.

This divide in focus echoes reforms worldwide, with 63% of global business-oriented reforms looking to reduce the time-consuming, complicated and costly nature of regulatory processes, while the rest of the reforms aimed at strengthening legal institutions.

“Among reforms to reduce the complexity of regulatory processes, those in the area of starting a business were the most common, followed by reforms in paying taxes. In 2013/14, as in earlier years, many of the reforms making it easier to start a business focused on introducing a one-stop shop or eliminating the minimum capital requirement,” says Frédéric Meunier, co-author of Doing Business 2015.

“Globally, the most common features of tax reforms in the past year were the introduction or enhancement of electronic systems and the simplification of taxes,” he says, adding that the Republic of Congo, Senegal and Zambia were among those African countries to merge or simplify certain taxes.

On a regional level, sub-Saharan Africa is showing the biggest reduction in the overall tax rate since 2004, although this total rate is still higher than in other regions.  On average, the total tax rate dropped by 17% between 2004 and 2012, to 53.4% of commercial profit.

“Among reforms to strengthen legal institutions, the largest numbers were recorded in the areas of getting credit and protecting minority investors,” Meunier says.

Having measured the ease of doing business worldwide since 2005, the World Bank Group’s statistics show that all of the economies in the sub-Saharan Africa region have regularly conducted business-focused regulatory reforms across the indicators measured by Doing Business – namely, starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

Rwanda stands alone
In Africa, Rwanda is singled out as having implemented the largest number of reforms in the region over the course of the past decade – having made 37 ease of business reforms since the report was first published. The country currently ranks 46th out of the 189 countries included in the data, having jumped two places in the rankings since last year on the back of still-continuing reforms.

Most other countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region have, during this period, made between one and 25 reforms, but none of them nearing the regulatory industriousness of Rwanda.

What the figures distinctly suggest is an increasing willingness to address hindrances to ease of doing business from a regulatory standpoint in Africa; and, not only in the case of Rwanda but more generally across the region, the results are already showing.

A number of countries in the region were this year well within the top half of countries worldwide included in the ranking for ease of doing business, including South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana, Botswana and Namibia.

Based on their regulatory activity over the course of the past year, Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Togo were ranked among the 10 top improvers worldwide in terms of ease of doing business, having improved business regulation the most among the 189 economies covered.

Senegal performed particularly well, implementing regulatory reforms in six of the 10 areas tracked by Doing Business – a global high for the year – and achieving business standards comparable to high-performing economies of developed countries.

“Thanks to such reforms, Senegal is gradually narrowing the gap with best practices seen elsewhere. For example, in 2005, completing every official procedure to import goods from overseas took 27 days. Today it takes 14 days, the same as in Poland. Ten years ago, a budding entrepreneur in Dakar spent 59 days to start a business. Now, that same process requires a total of six days – the same as in Norway,” says Meunier.

While some countries in sub-Saharan Africa are highlighted for the progress they are making, others receive recognition for the stable and business conducive climate they have achieved, through systematic reforms over the course of the past decade.

Mauritius is named the country in the region with the most favourable business climate for local entrepreneurs. According to the World Bank Group’s research, setting up a business in Mauritian capital Port-Louis takes less than a week, while transferring a property is completed within two weeks.

“Mauritius has been conducting reforms consistently over the past few years and has considerably improved regulations applicable to small and medium-size companies,” says Meunier.

Red tape still gets in the way
Nonetheless, despite the positive indicators that the regulatory environment shaping doing business in Africa is improving, many challenges remain, and sub-Saharan Africa still reflects poorly on the global scale, particularly in terms of bureaucratic procedures and costs.

“Despite all the efforts, doing business remains challenging for most local entrepreneurs. African entrepreneurs face the most cumbersome and expensive start-up procedures in the world,” Meunier says.

According to the latest research, starting a business in sub-Saharan Africa takes approximately four weeks, and is estimated to cost around 56% of income per capita. Compared to the global averages of three weeks and 26% of income per capita, the sub-Saharan Africa region still has some way to go before it can be said to be competitive in the global arena.

Meunier points out that difficulties do not only concern setting up businesses, but rather closing a business is also a very lengthy and costly process in the region. Lenders to firms that go through a bankruptcy process recover 24 cents on the dollar in sub-Saharan Africa, while the world average recovery rate is 40 cents on the dollar of their loan, making the region a risk-intensive place for lenders.

Further regulatory reforms could help promote private sector growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, says Meunier, by limiting bureaucratic obstacles, as well as reducing the cost and time factors impacting on ease of business – a category of reforms relatively easy to implement. However, the key to such reforms is that they should be well designed, and properly implemented, he says.

“Reforms aimed at cutting red tape and improving regulatory efficiency are generally easier to implement, because they rarely involve large institutional players and they yield relatively quick results. Reforms aimed at improving legal institutions are typically complex. Most entail substantial changes to legal frameworks, are costly to implement and can take years to yield positive results,” says Meunier.

Nonetheless, the data suggests governments worldwide – including across Africa – have recognised the need to improve the ease of doing business as a key catalyst to being a competitive player in the global economy.

“Over the past decade governments have increasingly focused on reforming business regulation as one way of maintaining competitiveness in an increasingly globalised economy,” Meunier says.

The post Africa tops in business ease reforms appeared first on African Business Magazine.

Search On For Johannesburgs Best 'Kota'

The City of Johannesburg wants you, dear resident, to eat a healthy kota.



On Thursday March 5 scores of informal traders – who sell kotas (bunny chows) at schools, spaza shops and on the streets – will gather at Metro Centre A-level lecture theatre at 10:00 to be briefed about the Kota Fortification Competition, a new City initiative aimed at improving the nutritional value of Jozi’s favourite food stuff.



The initiative is part of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Mpho Parks Tau’s flagship Go Jozi Healthy Lifestyle Programme that seeks to keep lifestyle diseases and conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and cancer at bay by, among other things, promoting a healthy diet.



The programme, whose main objective is to improve Johannesburg's life expectancy, also encourages residents to get off their cars to either cycle or walk to their destinations and keep their bodies in shape.



On Thursday a total of 150 informal traders will be briefed on how the Kota Fortification Competition will work, according to Nomsa Nkosi, one of the supervisors of the Healthy



Lifestyle Programme run by the City's Health and Social Development Department.

“The briefing session is to discuss the logistics of the competition with informal traders who sell kotas,” says Nkosi.



“We are looking at how we can have, say, healthy and fortified kotas because that is what people eat. This competition will help us come up with the healthiest kotas.”



The Kota Fortification Competition culminates in the winner being named on June 11.

Healthy eating forms an integral part of this initiative, which is in line with the city’s Growth and Development Strategy 2040 (GDS 2040).



“In the strategy, the City commits to working towards preventing communicable and non-communicable diseases, and encourages and promotes a healthy lifestyle by providing the necessary information to residents.



As key stakeholders in the city’s growth and development agenda, informal traders are at the coalface of the drive to create a culture of healthy eating in our communities," says Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development Councillor Nonceba Molwele.



According to her, the Kota Day Competition is an opportunity for informal traders and other residents who love the kota to come together and share information on how they can make a difference in the promotion of healthy living in the city.



Adds Nkosi: “All the informal traders have to do to stand a chance of winning the challenge is to get fellow residents excited about eating healthy, leading a healthy lifestyle, raising awareness of how food affects their health and happiness and improving life expectancy by minimising the risk of non-communicable diseases.



“We believe that it all starts with getting children to be food-smart at a young age,” she says.



The competition is open to all kota sellers operating in Johannesburg, especially those who sell at schools, street corners, spaza shops and homes. To enter the competition, traders need to design, plan and prepare a healthy, fortified kota.



“Traders should think about the specific requirements of preparing a kota and show explicitly in the kota design how they catered for these requirements.



For example, they could show how they have catered for specific dietary requirements of the type of people eating kotas.



“The traders should embrace the ethos of healthy eating and base their entries on healthy nutritional ingredients with inspiration for their package in the city,” says Nkosi.



Entries will be judged – along the lines of the Masterchef – on creativity, presentation, nutritional balance and taste of the kota.

Tight Affair Expected In Big Soweto Derby

The Soweto Derby always proves hugely important for Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, but Saturday's installment could have a massive bearing on the outcome of the season - for both teams.

Just two weeks ago, Amakhosi fans were already preparing to welcome the Premiership title back to Naturena as the Glamour Boys held a 15-point lead at the top of the standings after having gone undefeated in 19 league matches.

However, worry started creeping in following the 2-0 defeat at SuperSport United last month, and those fears have since been compounded after Bidvest Wits' 1-0 win over Mamelodi Sundowns on Tuesday took the Students to within seven points of Chiefs.

Stuart Baxter's men do, however, have a game in hand, which they will play against Ajax Cape Town on Wednesday, meaning they could move back to the relative safety of a 10-point advantage, should they see off the Urban Warriors at the FNB Stadium.

However, defeat this week - or even a draw - could open the can of worms Chiefs have so desperately been trying to avoid this term as they prepare for the biggest game on the South African calendar on Saturday, against bitter rivals Pirates.

The Sea Robbers have managed to overcome a disappointing start to the campaign as they are undefeated in their last seven league outings, winning five of those, including their last four in a row.

That run has left Eric Tinkler's men fourth in the standings, and although they trail Chiefs by 12 points, the belief is well and truly flowing through the Buccaneers, who might just be smelling the blood in the water.

It is not only what the result could do for Chiefs and Pirates that matters, though, with Wits and Sundowns also expected to have their attentions glued to the Soccer City encounter.

However, favour still remains very much with Chiefs in the fixture, with the gold half of Soweto having taken bragging rights in the 147th Soweto Derby, in December, after cruising to a 2-0 victory.

That made it 65 Chiefs wins to Pirates' 35, while Amakhosi have now also scored 201 times against the Bucs, compared to their 158.

So, while defeat for the Glamour Boys this weekend could indeed spell disaster in their title quest, Soweto Derby victory number 66 could be all Baxter's men need to inspire them all the way this term and snatch back the title they conceded to Sundowns last term.

Falling In Love In Johannesburg

She was taking him a skaftien of dinner in the first days of their new relationship, when suddenly the car was surrounded by men with guns, writes Milisuthando Bongela

“So, will you be my girlfriend?” he asked, sitting on my couch the day before Valentine’s Day. I looked at him and laughed, wishing he would ask me again. “Yes, of course I will be your girlfriend,” I said. I felt like my 13-year-old self.

You should make him wait, you said it too quick, said the voice in my head. Now he knows you like him and you’re exposed.

He said next: “But since we are defying gender roles in this relationship, I would also like you to ask me to be your boyfriend.”

I shifted, struggling to find the balance between my pro-equality feminist self that was okay with his request – and the part of me that wasn’t so okay, influenced by formative education to be the docile receiver of male affection.

“I’ll think about it,” I replied.

…

We had known each other for eight days, had gone on several dates and I definitely liked him. But I had not been the girlfriend of a South African man in nine years. Between my last boyfriend at the age of 20 and this brave soul, my intimate involvement with a few men of my country had been nothing more than a series of “situationships” that grasped at varying degrees of mental and emotional trauma and one-dimensional sex, devoid of nuance and tediously sporty.

So, by the day after Valentine’s Day, I had still not uttered the words “my boyfriend” to anybody.

It’s a difficult fact for a black woman to believe and a dangerous position to claim, let alone say out loud. A lot of black women give their lovers social-media monikers such as “My Smile Keeper” or stick to pronouns such as ‘him’ or ‘he’ instead of actual names. It has to do with a trust that is pathologically lacking in our romantic relationships and a fear of being let down, either by being unfairly treated or violently hurt.

…

In an effort to navigate my new status as a girlfriend, I did something a girlfriend in love is likely to do. I decided to make dinner, put it in a skaftien and deliver it to his home. It was more about my enjoyment of playing this role than about feeding him.

My intuition wasn’t so keen on me going there, because I had already seen him that morning. It would have preferred me to pine passively, away from him. When I parked my car on the street and watched him come out, the emotions I had made the food with were overcome by feelings of awkwardness.

I stayed in the car to signal that I was just coming to drop off the food. He asked me to get out, close the door and stand with him in the street. His dog came to greet me and I melted into the moment.

I felt good about my gesture. We decided to sit in the car to talk about the new status of our relationship and how awkward the first days could be.

It felt like a scene from my childhood, when I would watch the older girls sitting in cars with boys, talking in soft tones, their smiling faces lit by the orange haze of street lamps.

…

We were sitting in the car talking in these soft tones, windows open and music humming, when I saw him look above my shoulder and mouth the words “No, no, no”. When I turned, I saw a man whose face I can’t remember cocking a gun in my face and opening my door.

Another man with a gun opened the passenger door and the pair of long legs I had been caressing leapt out of the car. I screamed and bent to look for my glasses, my head firmly under the steering wheel. The slightest sensation of a gun on my back and the words “keep quiet” made me get out with my hands up.

Another man jumped into the driver’s seat and struggled to start the car. “How do you start this car?” he asked. I can’t remember whether it was in English or isiZulu. I stood on the passenger side shouting instructions with three guns pointed at us. The weapons were so used they had turned grey.

The bearded man in a conspicuous jacket couldn’t hear me and I told him I was going to get inside the car. One of the men pushed me into the passenger seat and put his hand on my shoulder while I helped his associate start my car. I had left my apartment wearing a house dress with food stains on it, braless and in flip-flops.

As two men jumped into our seats, a third frisked me from shoulder to ankle, ever so gently, and said something followed by the words “my sister”, while the fourth did the same to my companion, who kept asking them to at least leave my house keys.

…

As soon as they left, with my car still smelling of the food I had made for him, he held me closely under a tree while I heaved into his chest. He grabbed my hand and didn’t let go, even while we drove to the police station in his car, skipping robots and flying to safety. He held it as we climbed the stairs to the Jeppe Police Station, and grasped it even tighter as we sat across from three detectives taking my statement. “Who is this man?” asked one of the detectives eventually, looking up from writing my statement, straight into my eyes, then his and back to mine again. I froze, not wanting to be too presumptuous – and the words couldn’t come out.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“Yes,” I said. “This man is my boyfriend.” And I proceeded to state his name and surname while he held my hand.

…

A week later, my new boyfriend and I laughed about our love docket in which the words “my boyfriend” appeared four times. We were thinking of going back to the police to ask for it so we could frame it and remember the daily South African moment that helped us fall in love.

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The post Falling in love in Jozi appeared first on City Press.

Three Key Financial Areas For Every African Entrepreneur

Budgeting

If you budget in January every year, you’ve actually already lost a month. You should be budgeting in September for the next year so that you can implement any changes by the time it comes to performance reviews in November, and hit the ground running the following year.

What many business owners do is to decide on a revenue target and simply divide that amount by 12 to get to monthly goals. They don’t, however, measure their progress at the end of every month and tweak their strategy according to their results. If, for example, you set your goal as R10 million a month, but you only bring in R8 million, that R2-million shortfall needs to be accounted for elsewhere in order to hit your annual target. Think of it like a 12-hole game of golf. If you want to end the year on par, but you’re two over par on the first hole, you need to be two under come the next hole.

Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that you get six months into the year and realise you’re not going to make target, so you lower it. Don’t change the goal! Change your plan to achieve the goal. This takes discipline. It means tracking your progress every month and tweaking what you’re doing along the way. You need to have sight of your income statement and balance sheet, but not the one your accountant has just completed from two years back.

Within a week of the month-end, you need to be looking at the management accounts from that month to be able to get an accurate picture of where your business stands.

Cash flow

You might be hitting your budget according to your books, but cash flow may still be a problem. You need to build your cash-flow into your budgeting process, which means you need to understand it. For example, we had a client in Cape Town who thought his clothing business’ biggest problem was that a large retail group was pushing his 90-day account into 120 days. In actual fact, the issue was that he was buying stock three months in advance to take into account import times, so his “cash-flow gap” was actually six to seven months, which was difficult to sustain. Once he understood this, he was able to re-strategise and renegotiate contracts and payment times where necessary.

Debtors’ accounts

It astounds me how few businesses make managing debtors’ accounts part of their financial process. In fact, many don’t manage debtors because they don’t see them until their accounts are at 120 days (which goes back to the point of checking your financials every month).

We had a client – an accounting firm, would you believe it – that was ready to write off R800 000 in bad debt. Within four weeks, however, we had managed to bring that amount down to R200 000 just by following up with debtors.

Document a process of how you handle debt – what happens when, from the first polite reminder to a final letter of demand – and stick to it. You’ll be amazed by how much lower your bad debt is.

Harry Welby-Cooke is the Co-Master Franchisor for ActionCOACH in Southern Africa. The fastest growing and largest business coaching company globally. Harry developed ActionCOACH across South Africa which now boasts 30 franchisees. He is also a certified, leading Business and Executive Coach. He has successfully assisted countless business owners to significantly grow their profits and develop their entrepreneurial skills.

Seven Fears That Keep You From Being A Great Leader

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” — Thomas Edison

There are seven primary areas of life that you are capable of empowering and mastering – your mental, vocational, financial, familial, social, and physical and spiritual areas or quests.

Each of these areas can be empowered depending upon how congruent your intentions are with your highest individual values and life mission, and their cortical influence on your perceptions, decisions and actions relative to each of these areas.

There are also seven associated fears that can disempower or weaken your full potential in each of these seven areas. The difference between you doing what you love and becoming a master of your life or not, is your ability to identify your fears and have a strategy to break through them or at least wisely utilise them and live congruently.

The first fear is the mental fear of not knowing enough. This fear can immobilise you and keep you from doing what you truly love. In fact, you have the capacity to do whatever you dream of doing, regardless of the level you’re at now, or the level you are planning to grow to next. You attract opportunities according to your level of knowing. As you know more, you grow and empower more. By loving yourself even when you don’t happen to know something that is lower on your list of values, you can liberate yourself to learn even more. Whatever is truly highest on your list of values is where you efficiently learn the most. And you know something most when you have a more balanced awareness.

The second fear is the vocational fear of failure. You must be able to love your illusive perception of failure as much as your illusive perception of success since you probably perceive yourself to shamefully fail and proudly succeed equally and constantly and both act as feedback loops to help you ever refine your more balanced daily actions.

I know that my fears are incomplete views of what is actually happening and are offering me great feedback to my incongruencies, or unrealistic expectations, so I identify my fears, bring them to balance, and then utilise or walk through them

Have you ever set yourself goals and yet haven’t managed to fulfill them? Everyone does. Throughout your life you’ll perceive yourself to be a success and failure. Neither of them has to disempower you or distract you from your highest mission.

The third fear is the fear of financial poverty or loss of money. You fear that if you go out and do what you truly love to do, you won’t make enough money. If you love something and are committed to doing whatever it takes to achieve it, and you also truly value money, follow the financial laws of success and save, you can certainly build wealth doing what you love. By caring enough about humanity to discover how you can most effectively serve others you can more effectively access your financial fortune.

The fourth fear is the fear of losing your loved ones. Many people feel that if they do what they love, they will either not have enough time for or lose someone they love. I think what stabilises a relationship is not needing each other as much as loving each other. There’s a big difference. When you both have an independent and empowered life there is less of a fear of loss. If either partner decided to leave, the other would still be able to function.

The fifth fear, the fear of social rejection is a big one. Some people are not doing what they love because they’re afraid people will reject them. Actually, both acceptance and rejection consistently occur throughout your whole life, and the more extraordinary and empowered you become, the more you will receive of both. Learn to appreciate both equally. People come and go, they’re transient, but you’re with yourself for the whole journey – it’s your life. Never sacrifice the eternal for the transient. Embrace both sides of your social life equally.

The sixth fear is the fear of ill health, death or disease. Some people don’t live their dream because they’re afraid they will become ill or die if they do. But the greatest cause of illness, disease, and death is not being inspired and not living your dreams. That will kill you faster than anything else. Inspiration and gratitude heal and empower, and if you’re not doing what you love, you’ll feel ungrateful and desperate. Your illness may be your wakeup call to start living according to your true highest priorities.

The seventh and last fear is the spiritual fear of breaking the ethics of some perceived authority. Morals are the rules you impose on yourself, and ethics are the rules others impose on you. Many people let those fears stop them from doing what they love and expressing their mission because they fear that others may not ethically approve of them.

You can break through or break down in all seven areas of life. If you break down, you’re listening to your fearful self, if you break through you’ve listened to your empowered and masterful self. But there will always be fears in your life. Fear means you’re growing and challenging yourself beyond your comfort zones. Your fear is a feedback response to assure you set more congruent and inspiring objectives.

I have fears almost every day, but I know that my fears are incomplete views of what is actually happening and are offering me great feedback to my incongruencies, or unrealistic expectations, so I identify my fears, bring them to balance, and then utilise or walk through them. I suggest you give yourself permission to do the same.

Dr. John Demartini is a human behaviour specialist, educator, international bestselling author and the founder of the Demartini Institute. Visit: www.DrDemartini.com

The Wealthiest Person In The World Is....

Forbes said on Monday that Bill Gates’ net worth rose to $79,2 billion (R904 billion) in 2015 from $76 billion (R890 billion) last year. This put him at the top of the magazine’s list of the world’s billionaires for the second consecutive year. The co-founder of Microsoft has topped the list for 16 of the last 21 years.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan joined the list for the first time this year, thanks to his ownership of basketball team, the Charlotte Hornets and payouts from his Nike brand – Jordans. Jordan had a net worth of $1 billion (R11,7 billion), the magazine said.

In second place is Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, with a net worth of $77,1 billion (R902 billion). He had topped the list in 2013.

Next is investor Warren Buffett, who moved up one slot this year with a net worth of $72,7 billion (R852 billion). In fourth place was Amancio Ortega, the Spanish co-founder of clothing retail chain Zara, with a net worth of $64,5 billion (R756 billion). Rounding out the top five was Larry Ellison, founder of technology company Oracle Corp, with $54,3 billion (R636 billion).

Forbes said there were 1 826 billionaires on its list this year, up from 1 645 in 2014. Added together, they were worth a combined $7,05 trillion, up from $6,4 trillion last year.

Twenty-nine Africans remain on the list as Nigerian business magnate Aliko Dangote retains the top spot as Africa’s richest man with a  net worth of $14,7 billion (R172 billion) down sharply from $25 billion (R29 billion) in 2013. Tanzanian-born Mohammed Dewji made his debut on the list with a net worth of $1,25 billion (R14 billion) while Femi Otedola, 78%-owner of Forte Oil returned to the list after falling off in 2009, CNBC Africa reports.

According to the Forbes Africa’s Fifty Richest list released recently, the richest 29 Africans – from just nine of the 54 countries on the continent – are worth a combined $94 billion (R1,1 trillion).

The wealthiest group of Africans hail from South Africa with a combined net worth of $28,5 billion (R334 billion).

While men continue to dominate the latest rich list, 197 women featured on the list this year, up from 172 women last year.

The highest-ranking woman was Christy Walton, the widow of John Walton, a son of the founder of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. She has a net worth of $41,7 billion (R488 billion), according to Forbes.

The world’s youngest billionaire is 24-year-old Evan Spiegel, the CEO and co-founder of mobile messaging company Snapchat, with a net worth of $1,5 billion (R175 billion). Snapchat’s other co-founder, 25-year-old Bobby Murphy, had the same net worth as Spiegel. Other tech billionaire newcomers are two co-founders of taxi-ordering app Uber, and one of its executives. Three co-founders of Airbnb, the vacation-home rental website, also made the list.

This is the 29th year that Forbes has released its billionaires list. The magazine said it calculated each person’s wealth based on stock prices and exchange rates on 13 February 2015.

Sources: Sapa AFP

Good News Africa: Now You Can Charge Your Phone By Merely Placing It On A Table

Tired of stringing up with sockets and switches just to charge your phone, redemption is here! Furniture giant Ikea has just unveiled a range of furniture fitted with wireless charging spots for mobile devices. Calling it the Home Smart range, the Swedish company has fixed wireless charging pots into a new range of products which includes lamps, bedside and coffee tables, as well as charging pads for any surface.
Who needs all those long things they call chargers?

Ikea said in a statement that “By adding wireless charging to home and office furniture, we minimise the amount of separate chargers needed.” its wireless charging products are “easy to fraction at end of life”.  The company used the wireless charging standard QI, which is also supported by Samsung in its latest handset, the S6. According to QI’s backers the Wireless Power Consortium, an industry body whose members includes Belkin, Motorola, Panasonic and Sony, there are currently more than 80 QI-compatible handsets and 15 QI-enabled cars on the market. Ikea says it will sell .Wireless charging is currently one of the hottest things on tech, as well as on phones; some existing users have complained that their devices get hot while charging wirelessly.
The charge pads are designed for use on any surface

“The wireless charging standards are evolving,” Ian Fogg, an IHS analyst, told the BBC. “The industry has no incentive to allow devices to go hot because it means the charging isn’t as efficient as it might be. “If a device gets hot, power is being lost through heat rather than being efficiently added to the battery.”

Africa will have to wait

Sadly the Ikea furnitures are not coming to Africa yet, it will only go on sale in the UK and North America in April 2015, the firm said. With the product still testing the market, it will only be a little while before the swedish company brings some down here; after all, no one can neglect Africa for so long.

Outgoing Namibian President Wins $5 Million Leadership Prize

Namibia’s outgoing president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, has won the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s $5 million African leadership prize, an award meant to recognise good governance that had only been presented only three times before in eight years.

To win the prize, set up by the Sudanese telecoms tycoon in 2007, a leader must have been democratically elected and have left office in the last three years, serving only their constitutionally mandated term. The winner must also have displayed “exceptional leadership”.

The prize committee praised Pohamba’s commitment to the rule of law and respect for the constitution, as well as his promotion of gender equality.

“His ability to command the confidence and the trust of his people is exemplary,” said committee chair Salim Ahmed Salim, announcing the award in Nairobi.

Although elections have now become common on a continent once better known for military coups and instability, some leaders have stayed in office long after their original mandate, often pushing through constitutional changes to hold to power.

Since its inception, the prize has gone to three former presidents, from Cape Verde, Mozambique and Botswana. In other years, no one was found to have met the criteria.

Pohamba, 79, was first elected president in 2005 and steps down this month. The elections held under his leadership were considered by observers to be free and fair.

Pohamba was a founding member of the now ruling South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO), playing a central role in decades of struggle for independence from South Africa.

He was imprisoned in the 1960s for political activism but continued to fight against South Africa’s apartheid government until the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

He held home affairs and marine resources portfolios in cabinet prior to becoming president.

The winner receives $5 million, given over 10 years, and after that $200,000 a year for life.

Ibrahim said most Africans lived in better governed, more just countries than a decade ago, but the improvement was “not vast”.

“If you look at the development of Europe or the United States, it’s a long process,” he told Reuters. “We need to appreciate it’s a tough job, it can’t be done overnight.”

The previous recipients were former presidents Pedro de Verona Rogrigues Pires of Cape Verde, Mozambique’s Joaquim Chissano and Festus Mogae of Botswana. South Africa’s Nelson Mandela was also given an honorary award. — Reuters.

The Most Attractive African Business Leaders On Twitter

VENTURES AFRICA – Social Media has indeed come to stay. By reshaping interactions and enhancing business-to-customer communications, the innovation expected to creep into, and subsequently dominate discussion channels in the coming years. The next economic frontier, Africa, has quickly embraced this medium. From earlier high-fliers like Hi5 to current table toppers like Facebook, Africans have flocked in their numbers to exploit the newly found freedom and flexibility offered by these platforms.

Besides social engagements however, brands and more tellingly business leaders have sought out these channels in communicating ideas, plans and justification for certain actions and decisions. In the last two years, most of these leaders have championed their causes true twitter, the 140-character snap interactive app. Below is a list of 10 leaders you must follow on twitter if you really want to know what is happening on the continent.

Ashish Thakkar @AshishJThakkar

Ugandan businessman Ashish Thakkar is the founder of Mara Group, a conglomerate with interests in real estate, tourism, financial services, information and communication technology, renewable energy and manufacturing. His group operations spans across 20 countries. In 2013, Ashish, in partnership with Bob Diamond, launched a company called Atlas Mara. Atlas is keenly focused on driving investments within the banking institutions in Africa.

Tony Elumelu @TonyOElumelu

Nigerian-born Tony Elumelu is the founder of Heirs Holdings, a proprietary investment company based in Lagos. The proactive investor is leading the charge for a private sector-driven society for Africa through his Africapitalism institute and his recently launched Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Fund (TEEP). Most of these courses he champions through twitter.

Chris Kirubi @CKirubi

Chris is a Kenyan businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist and industrialist. He is the current chairman and largest shareholder of Centum Investment company Limited, a multifaceted business conglomerate. He is also the owner of Capital FM, a Nairobi based radio station. Kirubi has been known to be cocky when interacting with people, particularly to the younger generation, hence the nickname Mr. “Ponye”. which translates to a windbag in Swahili language. He is a proactive Twitter user, using the hashtag #askkirubi to discuss with customers, leaders and fans regarding his business activities.

Mohammed Dewji @moodewji

Mohammed is ranked Africa’s youngest billionaire. The politician and businessman is the CEO of METL group, one of Tanzania’s largest industrial conglomerate, which produces beverages, bicycles, detergents, edible oils, soaps and textiles. METL also has interests in energy distribution, financial services and logistics. Dewji is also the founder of Mo Dewji Foundation, an institution that provides scholarships for Tanzanian students whose parents are poor. He believes the future of Business is in Africa and champions this course through campaigns on twitter.

Bob Collymore @bobcollymore

Bob has been the CEO of Safaricom Limited since 2010. Safaricom is the largest mobile service provider in Kenya and the owner of the largest mobile money transfer service in Africa, MPESA. Safaricom has a staff of over 1500 and as at the first half of 2014 its total revenue was around $868 million. Bob often uses twitter to discuss plans for Safaricom and the mobile market across Africa.

Elon Musk @elonmusk
The Entrepreneur born in South Africa is the founder of Space Exploration Technologies (SPACEX). Elon Musk, have proven the result of creativity and innovation when blended. His company SpaceX, successfully launched its first commercial cargo mission to the international space station in 2012. He is the co-founder of PayPal and Tesla Motors. Elon Musk is an active user on tweeter who focuses on using the platform to inform and update people about his work. He has about 1,634,613 followers.

Donald Kaberuka @DonaldKaberuka

Donald is the outgoing president of Africa Development Bank. He was first elected president of the Bank in 2005 and re-elected for another five year term in 2010. Donald regularly moderates, or is in involved in debates on twitter regarding Africa’s economic landscape; identifying challenges, listing progresses and proffering solutions.

Monica Musonda @monicamusonda

Monica has over 15 years of experience in corporate finance and has worked as a director of legal and corporate affairs at Dangote group in Nigeria. After learning the ropes while working with Dangote, Africa’s most successful industrialist, Musonda moved back to Zambia to set up her own food processing company called Java food. The company manufactures the eeZee brand of instant noodles. She uses twitter to talk about entrepreneurship and issues relating to Africa.

Trevor Ncube @TrevorNcube

Trevor is the chairman of Alpha Media Holdings (AMH), a company that owns four newspapers in Zimbabwe: The Zimbabwe Independent (business weekly), The Standard (Sunday), NewsDay (daily) and Southern Eye (regional daily). He is also a controlling shareholder and Executive Deputy Chairman of the Mail & Guardian Media Group in South Africa, publishers of one of the leading weekly newspapers in South Africa. He is the Chairman of the African Media Initiative (AMI) a continent wide organization focusing on strengthening the sectors viability and enhancing its professionalism.

Trevor uses twitter to talk about trending issues affecting Africa.

Folorunsho Alakija @alakijaofficial

Africa’s richest blackwoman, Alakija is the owner of Famfa oil, a company that owns 60 percent of the most prolific oil block in Nigeria. She is also one of the major players in the Nigerian and European real estate markets. Alakija recently purchased four apartments in Hyde Park in the UK, known to be the most expensive apartment building in the UK.

She actively engages her followers on twitter with motivational quotes and inspirational stories.