The African Ambassadors - Celebrating African Success Stories in the Diaspora

Zambian Born Israeli Finance Minister and IMF director Stanley Fischer

2011-08-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

Stanley Fischer served as First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from September 1994 to August 2001 and as Special Adviser to the Managing Director from September 1, 2001 until January 31, 2002.

Prior to taking up his position at the Fund, Mr. Fischer was the Killian Professor and the Head of the Department of Economics at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). From January 1988 to August 1990 he served as Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist at the World Bank.
Mr. Fischer was born in Zambia in 1943. He took the B.Sc. (Econ) and M.Sc. (Econ) at the London School of Economics from 1962-1966, and obtained his Ph.D. in economics at MIT in 1969. He was Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago until 1973, when he returned to the MIT Department of Economics as an Associate Professor. He became Professor of Economics in 1977. He has held visiting positions at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and at the Hoover Institution at Stanford.
Mr. Fischer is the author of Macroeconomics (with Rudi Dornbusch), and of several other books. He has published extensively in the professional journals.

http://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/sf.htm

Zimbabwean Born Leon Kalvaria, vice chairman of the institutional clients group at Citigroup Inc.,

2011-08-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Leon Kalvaria, vice chairman of the institutional clients group at Citigroup Inc., has a penchant for emerging markets. The 51-year-old M&A banker and coordinator of Citi's boardroom-focused senior strategic advisory group believes that the locus of dealmaking is increasingly moving away from the developed world, and he seems more than prepared to help clients such as Dutch brewer Heineken NV on its $7.6 billion acquisition ofFomento Económico Mexicano SAB de CV's beer operations, Femsa Cerveza. "People are going where the growth is," he says.

For Kalvaria, the rise of the emerging markets, writ large, is a sort of return. Born and raised in Bulawayo in what was then Rhodesia but is now Zimbabwe, Kalvaria says his early experience has given him a greater sense of the potential of the developing parts of the world.

He left Africa in 1975 to study at Princeton, receiving his undergraduate diploma in 1979. Kalvaria joined First Boston Corp. right out of school, working first in the corporate finance department, then in the firm's then-booming mergers & acquisitions group. Kalvaria, in fact, participated in First Boston's attempt to cobble together a competing bid for RJR Nabisco, earning a place in the iconic chronicle of that struggle, "Barbarians at the Gate," where Bryan Burrough and John Helyar referred to him as "a cigar-chewing Rhodesian."

In subsequent years, Kalvaria moved to the buy side, in 1991 becoming vice chairman and director of Triarc Cos., an investment firm focused on the consumer industry. In 1996, he jumped to investment bank Schroders Wertheim & Co., where he started as fixed-income chief before becoming head of consumer investment banking. "I wanted to get back into the more fast-paced life of investment banking," Kalvaria says. He joined Citi in 2000, after the bank, then run by Sandy Weill, bought Schroders.

Over the years, Kalvaria has worked on several landmark deals, with much of the focus on international markets. The former global head of Citi's consumer and healthcare group (he relinquished the title in May 2009, when the head of Citi's institutional clients group, John Havens, named Kalvaria coordinator of the special clients group), has recently worked with Kraft Foods Inc. on its $19 billion acquisition of U.K. confectioner Cadbury plc, and with InBev SA in its acquisition of Anheuser-Busch Cos.

In a conversation with The Deal's Vipal Monga, Kalvaria spoke about the impact of the financial crisis on corporate boardrooms, the outlook for M&A and the growing influence of emerging markets.

The Deal: How has the tone within corporate boardrooms evolved since the financial crisis?

Leon Kalvaria: The conversation in the boardrooms at the time [of the crisis] was one of survival. People put all strategic plans on hold as they were trying to see how things would stabilize. There was in many cases a fear of the unknown. We all knew that we were going to get out, that the question was five years or five months. And obviously this turned out to be longer and deeper than anyone imagined. Boards were addressing issues that they had never really had to face — for example, refinancing debt at a point in time when the capital markets were frozen, so it was hard to predict necessarily where businesses were going.

But as the year wore on, people understood that there was some stability in the system, that in fact that the world was not coming to an end.

We did an IPO in February of 2009 [for baby formula manufacturer Mead Johnson Nutrition Co.], and that was an interesting early turning point that showed that the capital markets were beginning to operate again.

We co-led a financing for Altria on its acquisition of UST [in February 2009], having also advised UST on its sale to Altria. You also had Wyeth being sold to Pfizer, and you had Schering-Plough being sold to Merck.

So seeing an IPO that could be done in size, seeing some mergers and acquisitions getting done, and the way the financings were getting completed, showed us that we were starting to get some liquidity back in the system. It gradually allowed people to get more comfortable.

What lessons did Wall Street firms learn from the crisis?

I think Wall Street has obviously gone through some difficult times. But there's a lot of good that's come out of the creations that we've made here. I was one of the early founders of ISDA [International Swaps and Derivatives Association] going way back when. Derivatives are good instruments when used properly, if they're used for real hedging.

Private equity has also done some great things, and people shouldn't forget that. But I think that people will come out of this era with a little bit more of a sober mentality about not chasing every single latest trend.

Do you think this relatively sober mentality will be imposed upon the business through regulation?

It's hard to see. I think it's hard to impose behavior. The regulations will be whatever they are, but I think that from a cultural standpoint, people have got to focus on what's right for their client, not what's right for themselves.

What are your feelings about a structural regulation like the Volcker Rule?

We need to see how all this really evolves. When you look at it, some of those products are very good for clients. Clients in wealth management like to invest in PE, so you have to get the right product for them. But we'll have to wait to see how all those rules apply.

What's the tone like today in terms of dealmaking?

I don't think 2010 will be a knockout year for this, but I think you're getting gradual improvement. We had a very good beginning part of the year. We're selling Volvo right now for Ford, we worked for Heineken buying Femsa, and we did Mead Johnson's spinoff from Bristol.

People are cautious, people are careful, but the one thing they also have is that their equity has recovered enough for some people to start thinking more strategically. I think the spread between buyers and sellers has gotten a lot better by virtue of the fact that the market has gone up. Early last year, the bid-ask spread was very wide. All the things people are looking at right now are relatively plain vanilla. People are trying to keep things relatively simple. No one is looking to do anything that could be looked at as being too creative. And you've seen more interest into and outside from the emerging markets.

Does that presage even more cross-border deals?

You're seeing a reasonable number of cross-border stuff. This year we've had [Chinese automaker] Geely buy Volvo. Heineken — a family bringing in a significant outside equity investment for the first time — going down to Mexico. You're seeing some of that in the healthcare space: We're advising Astellas, the Japanese pharmaceutical company, on its potential acquisition of OSI, which started out as a hostile. You have the Prudential plc transaction, which is buying the [Asian life insurance company] AIA assets from AIG.

People are going where the growth is, so the emerging markets are back in vogue. And you're seeing people in the emerging markets buying technology or brands one way, and people the other way buying growth.

For Volvo-Geely, it's the opportunity for a Chinese company to get a great brand. Heineken is going into Latin America to get a high-growth asset.

What about the element of nationalism we'd seen in some deals? How is that affecting cross-border flow?

Obviously every country has things that they consider to be national security. Natural resources, defense, but I think it's very hard for countries to sit there and defend certain things that are effectively not really associated with defense of resources.

In Cadbury's takeover by Kraft there was an element of that, by virtue of the fact that it was an old U.K. brand even though it owned assets in India, Australia, South Africa and the U.S. But I'm not sure that national interests are going to be tied to yogurt.

How open are the developed countries to takeovers initiated by emerging markets acquirers?

I think it's a new world. You look at Volvo being bought by the Chinese. You saw Tata, which we were involved in, buying Jaguar and Land Rover. These are old brands.

People recognize that they're good buyers. And if people want their brands to grow and thrive, they will have to go to the places where there's capital and growth. People realize frankly that a lot of these companies have evolved. Novartis may be based in Switzerland, but it's got a huge amount of business all over the world.

Over the last 10 years, the world is much flatter, so I don't see any kind of backlash to that. You look at the growth that's sitting inside these countries right now, and people would be remiss if they didn't figure out how to both invest in those companies and access capital associated with them.

How has the attitude towards buyout firms changed among corporations?

When corporations were looking at buying assets of significance, at one point they worried that they may have had to compete with financial sponsors, but they're much less worried about that now.

On the sell side, for larger scale asset sales, what sponsors provided for corporations was a floor bid. They knew that, in the worst case, they could sell to a private equity group for X, but in the best case, they had three strategic buyers competing for their assets.

But now, if it's of any size, they're not really going to be thinking about sponsors. I mean, obviously if it's for a few billion dollars — and you've seen some recent stuff here that's creeping up a little bit in size — they can think about sponsors. But the concept of a floor bid from a sponsor for a $10 billion deal is not sitting inside of most board books I've seen.

What's your sense of the financing markets? Is the spigot back on?

With low interest rates, you have funds out there that are looking for yield, and as the economy recovers they're more comfortable looking for yield in the lower end of the credit spectrum.

As the economy recovers, the odds of default are lessened. This means you can creep up leverage ratios.

We'll see how far it goes. Hopefully not much further. But remember, as you're seeing this, you're not seeing huge deals. You're seeing things done, but the volume of deals is still pretty low.

What's your outlook for M&A among pharmaceutical companies?

My feeling is there won't be much more in terms of large pharma transactions occurring. You could always see one or two, but not much more. Companies looking for growth will continue to look for late-stage biotech assets.

These will continue to be attractive insofar as they're coming into disease areas that people will want to invest in. So the outlook for the biotech sector for late-stage companies continues to be good.

Some companies will diversify a little bit more. Johnson & Johnson is a very well-diversified model. Pfizer is beginning to diversify with the assets that they bought out of Wyeth.

I think pharma companies, too, are looking at the emerging markets. As the emerging markets get more organized, people demand healthcare, and as the demand for healthcare goes up, there will be demand for hospitals, insurance and drugs.

What about the patent expiration cliffs that pharma companies are facing? How will that affect them?

That's always a concern, but they're managing their way through it. There's a lot of patent cliffs coming in 2011, 2012, 2013, but all of these companies have got pipelines.

And the marketplace has learned to value these companies as they get closer to the cliff. If you've got a bunch of growth assets, you've got some assets sitting in your pipeline, you've got some assets running off, and if you add up all three, that's your value.

What about the consumer sector?

Consumer has had a steady pace of activity for years. It will continue with more and more of an emphasis inside the growth countries right now and away from the developed world. I think there's also a point in time, three or four years ago, where they were worried about inflation from a cost standpoint. That's gone away, but you'll see a few more consolidation plays in consumer as people cut out costs.

Family-owned businesses around the world, certainly in some emerging markets, are trying to figure out if they go it alone or if they should sell or consolidate for stock.

Are we going to continue to see more hostile deals?

Most deals are friendly at the end of the day, so it's just a question of how they start off. But I think that the concept of a hostile deal as something bad is now out the window because it's not hostile to shareholders. So I think you may see more of them. OSI is a hostile, Anheuser-Busch's acquisition by InBev started as a defense of a hostile, Kraft was a hostile. You'll certainly see some blue-chip companies willing to go hostile and not viewing it as something that is inappropriate.

How much of an influence, good or bad, will activist shareholders exert in the next M&A wave?

If you look at a lot of the pushing that activists were once willing to do, a lot of it was reliant on cheap money — leveraging up of companies and things of that nature. A lot of that's over. You've got to push strategically, which is more difficult.

Now it's not much of a conversation in boards. There's been one situation in the last six months I've been involved in on defense of activists that was dealt with relatively easily. A few years ago boards were a little bit more concerned. They did not want to end up in public battles so in most of the cases, people tried to appease.

Today they don't really care. They'll do what they think is right, and they're not going to get pushed into doing something because someone wanted to sell their stock.

http://www.thedeal.com/newsweekly/features/leon-kalvaria-emerging.php

NoViolet Bulawayo Zimbabwe's author of Hitting Budapest and winner of Caine Prize for African Writing, regarded as Africa's leading literary award.

2011-07-12T04:33:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo has won this year's Caine Prize for African Writing, regarded as Africa's leading literary award.
The £10,000 ($16,000) prize was given for her story Hitting Budapest about hungry children from a shantytown who steal guavas from an upmarket suburb.
She told the BBC: "I try to write stories that don't normally get told."
The chair of judges said the gang of "poor and violated" children were "reminiscent of Clockwork Orange".
"The language of Hitting Budapest crackles," said judge chair Hisham Matar, who announced the winner at a prize-giving ceremony in the UK city of Oxford on Monday evening.
"This is a story with moral power and weight, it has the artistry to refrain from moral commentary. NoViolet Bulawayo is a writer who takes delight in language."
At the beginning of the story, first published in The Boston Review last year, the narrator explains why the children are heading for Budapest: "There are guavas to steal in Budapest, and right now I'd die for guavas, or anything for that matter."
"There they encounter this lady from London who is more interested in taking their picture, which I guess happens when Westerners go to Africa, but she fails to realise that they are hungry," Ms Bulawayo told the BBC's Network Africa.
One of the children is a 10-year-old girl who has seemingly been made pregnant by her grandfather.
"It's very, very wrong but in this environment it's normalised," she says.
Ms Bulawayo says she identifies with the characters - Darling, Bastard, Chipo, Godknows, Stina and Sbho - and in the story she is "marrying the personal with the imaginary".
"Some of these incidents in Hitting Budapest are taken from my own life - the stealing of guavas to begin with, growing up less privileged and having these dreams."
NoViolet Bulawayo was born and raised in Zimbabwe and recently completed a masters degree at Cornell University in the US.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14120349?print=true

Sade - From Nigeria to world class singer

2011-06-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria, about 50 miles from Lagos, she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.

Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also doing some modeling on the side.

Around 1980, she started singing harmony with a Latin funk group called Arriva. One of the more popular numbers that the group would perform was a Sade original co-written with bandmember Ray St. John, "Smooth Operator," that would later become Sade's first stateside hit. The following year she joined the eight-piece funk band Pride as a background singer. The band included future Sade band members guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman (a key player in '90s urban soul singer Maxwell's success) and bassist Paul Denman. The concept of the group was that there could shoot-offs. In essence, a few members within the main group Pride formed mini-groups that would be the opening act. Pride did a lot of shows around London, stirring up record company interest. Initially, the labels wanted to only sign Sade, while the group members wanted a deal for the whole band. After a year, the other band members told Sade, Matthewman, and Denman to go ahead and sign a deal. Adding keyboardist Andrew Hale, the group signed to the U.K. division of Epic Records.

Her debut album, Diamond Life (with overall production by Robin Millar), went Top Ten in the U.K. in late 1984. January 1985 saw the album released on CBS' Portrait label and by spring it went platinum off the strength of the Top Ten singles "Smooth Operator" and "Hang on to Your Love." Her third album, Promise (November 1985), featured "Never As Good As the First Time" and arguably her signature song, "The Sweetest Taboo," which stayed on the U.S. pop charts for six months. Sade was so popular that some radio stations reinstated the '70s practice of playing album tracks, adding "Is It a Crime" and "Tar Baby" to their play lists. In 1986, Sade won a Grammy for Best New Artist.

Sade's third album was 1988's Stronger Than Pride and featured her first number one soul single "Paradise," "Nothing Can Come Between Us," and "Keep Looking." A new Sade album didn't appear for four years. 1992's Love Deluxe continued the unbroken streak of multi-platinum Sade albums, spinning off the hits "No Ordinary Love," "Feel No Pain," and "Pearls." While the album's producer Mike Pela, Matthewman, Denman, and Hale have gone on to other projects. The new millennium did spark a new scene for Sade. She issued Lovers Rock in fall 2000 and incoporated more mainstream elements than ever before. Debut single "By Your Side" was also a hit among radio and adult-contemporary listerners. The following summer, Sade embarked on her first tour in more than a decade, selling out countless dates across America. In early 2002, she celebrated the success of the tour by releasing her first ever live album and DVD, Lovers Live. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide

http://new.music.yahoo.com/sade/biography/

Tererai Trent from Zimbabwe Social Activist Featured on Oprah

2011-05-23T04:52:00.000-07:00

It's one of Oprah's favorite stories ever. Meet Tererai Trent, a woman who traveled more than 10,000 miles to make her greatest dreams come true.

A young girl in rural Zimbabwe, Tererai Trent lived without running water and electricity and had no hope for her future. "I remember very well my father pointing to my brothers and the other boys in the village and saying: 'These are the breadwinners of tomorrow. We need to educate them. We need to send them to school. The girls will get married,'" she says. "And that was just a painful experience for me."

Watch her story.

Desperate to learn, this little girl with big dreams secretly did her brother's homework. "I learned to read and write from my brother's books," she says. Soon, Tererai's secret was exposed, and the teacher begged her father to let her learn.

Tererai attended only two terms before she was forced to marry at age 11. By age 18, she was the mother of three. "When my husband realized that I wanted to have an education, he would beat me," she says. "I have nightmares of that time of my life."

In 1991, a visitor changed Tererai's life forever. Jo Luck, from Heifer International, asked every woman about her greatest dream—something many of them didn't know they were allowed to have. "I remember very clearly saying: 'My name is Tererai, and I want to go to America to have an education, and I want to have a BS degree. I want to have a master's, and I want to have a PhD," she says. "And she just looked at me [and said], 'If you desire those things, it is achievable.'"

Hoping her daughter could break the cycle of poverty, Tererai's mother encouraged her to write her dreams on a piece of paper. The 20-year-old placed them in a scrap of tin and buried them under a rock in the pasture where she used to herd cattle. "As a woman without an education, life will continue to be a burden," she wrote. "I truly believe in these dreams, and I hope one day to work for the causes of women and girls in poverty."

Tererai not only broke the cycle—she shattered it. In 1998, Tererai moved to Oklahoma with her husband and now five children. Just three years later, she earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural education. In 2003—the same year her husband was deported for abuse—Tererai obtained her master's degree.

After every achievement, Tererai returned home to Zimbabwe, unearthed her tin of dreams and checked off each goal she accomplished, one by one. In December 2009, the now happily remarried Tererai will realize her greatest dream of all—a doctoral degree.

Tererai is a symbol of hope in her village. On a trip home in 2009, Tererai and her mother encouraged a new generation of girls to dream, giving them pens, paper and tiny metal tins. "It makes me feel happy, but at the same time, it makes me feel empty that there are more women who could have the same opportunity but they are not getting it," she says. "My story is not about me, but it's about what can come out of my story."

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Nyasha Matonhodze Zimbabwean Super Model Face of Louis Vuitton

2011-05-23T04:38:00.000-07:00

A 16-YEAR-OLD Zimbabwean teenager has become the unlikely face of Louis Vuitton’s autumn/winter 2011 campaign.

Nyasha Matonhodze, who now lives in Northampton, England, joins five other up-and-coming models in the luxury French fashion label’s campaign.

Matonhodze, who was raised by her grandmother, moved to England with her mum at the age of eight.

It was not until 2009 that she got her break in modeling when she walked into prestigious Elite model agency in her school uniform – driven only by a dream.

But only in her wildest of dreams would she have dreamt that just two years later, she would be the face of a luxury brand like Louis Vuitton.

Now she follows in the footsteps of Madonna and Scarlett Johansson who have starred in previous campaigns for the fashion label.

"My eyes filled up with tears and I thought 'Lord you are lucky!'" she said of the moment she discovered she had been chosen to star in Vuitton's campaign, photographed in a vintage car at a disused Brooklyn aerodrome.

"It didn't actually hit me until I was sat in a Rolls Royce sitting eye-to-eye with Steven Meisel [renowned fashion photographer]. He is a wonder to work with, he and Marc Jacobs [Vuitton's creative director] made me feel beautiful".

In addition to the Vuitton campaign, Matonhodze has also been photographed for top US fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar, and Teen Vogue.

"Nyasha is not only very beautiful she has the little extra thing you can’t quite put your finger on," a spokesperson for Elite said, "She is intelligent, graceful and people who meet and work with her instantly fall in love with her. I have no doubt she has the potential to go all the way."

Matonhodze was booked for Vuitton’s autumn/winter 2011 catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week in March, starring alongside veteran models Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.

ZIMBABWEAN model Nyasha Matonhodze has been revealed as one of the faces of luxury French fashion label Louis Vuitton’s 2011 autumn/winter campaign. The confident Nyasha’s poise and maturity belies her 16 yearsof age.
It's her statuesque grace (she's five foot eleven) and sweet-as-pie personality that's made her the new favourite of fashion editor Katie Grand, who kick-started Matonhodze's career during her debut spring2011 season when she booked the young model for Louis Vuitton, Emanuel Ungaro, and Loewe — all shows that Grand styles.

After those key catwalk sightings, Matonhodze shot spreads for Harper's Bazaar, Teen Vogue, and V magazine. Better yet, she got the contract with Louis Vuitton, shot by renowned fashionphotographer Steven Meisel and styled by Karl Templer.

This is The Truth About: Nyasha Matonhodze

Born: July 31, 1995

Hometown: Harare

Current City: Northampton, England

Tell us a little about your childhood.
I was born in Zimbabwe and raised by my grandmother in a very cultural, traditional household. It's much different than the British culture where my mom lived. I moved to England when I was eight, so I do stillhave memories of Zimbabwe -- falling asleep in the sand, bathing outside, the warmth of the sun, and just the way of living.
Moving to England, I saw their perspective on Africa and what they think it's like, and it's completely the opposite. I went back to Zimbabwe three years ago and it's so lovely; they're happy with who theyare and their traditions. I love going back home.
How did you get discovered?
My discovery wasn't a discovery. At 14, my mum and my stepdad went into Elite Models to see if I could actually model. Since I was 12, I was tall and thin so I would always get the whole "you should be a model,"but I never really developed a serious interest about it until America's Next Top Model. Seriously, that’s when it all changed for me. Everything I wanted was pretty much based off that show.
I went into this career thinking I could be a model, but I never thought I'd actually become one. Once I signed with Elite, I was entered into the Elite Model Look competition, where I became a finalist. Assoon as I turned 16, I walked for Jonathan Saunders [Scottish fashion designer].
You've appeared in spreads for Harper's Bazaar and Teen Vogue, what do you make of it? Do you recognise yourself?
I find it difficult to see myself and think that I'm a model. I feel blessed and honoured to keep getting that next step in my career. I've met amazing people that keep supporting me and pushing me furtherand further. It's like a dream, no matter how good I do, it's still so surreal for me.
What can we expect from you in the coming months?
I'm going to surprise you. But I must say that Katie Grand [British stylist] has to be one of the best people I've ever worked with, and I hope that I never stop working with her. She's genius!
Who are some of your best model friends?
Ajak [Sudanese model]. Usually you have to try hard to make friends, but with her, we found a comfort zone and just clicked instantly. She's talkative and bubbly, kind of the opposite of me. I adore her.
Let's play favorites, what's your favorite:
Music: I love soul and gospel music. Music affects people's moods. If you’re going to listen to loud, angry music, you might want to go punch somebody. I like to feel more grounded, earthy.
Books: The Bible because not only does it tell people how good they are, but what we can do for others.

Film: Sister Act II, it's such a classic!

Artist: I love photography. I really liked working with Jason Kibbler and Daniel Jackson.
Foods: African foods like sadza, especially if my aunts make it. But I also love seafood, and Chinese food with all their intricate spices.
Tell us a secret.
I'm goofy. Models are often thought to be these glamorous creatures, but I don't think I'm so glamorous with me sitting on my bum eating Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream at home.
What's the last thing you bought?
Well, I didn't really buy this, but I got an awesome trade from Malandrino: a navy jumpsuit, a V-top, and a little cute leather jacket.
What's your most favourite and least favourite feature about yourself?
My least favourite feature are my ears; they're so small! For positive, though, a lot of people tell me I have a lot of compassion for others. I care a lot about people and when I help others, God blesses mewith other things. What I hate is seeing a person who doesn't appreciate themselves. Of course I have my insecurities; we all do, so I try my best to make people confident in who they are.
What scares you?
Oh my gosh, spiders. I have a little brother who's 12, and every time I see one I make him come over with his sneakers to squash them. He actually used to pick them in his palm and set them outside, and I wouldalways tell him to just squash them. Spiders are just so creepy.
Describe your style.
Plain, but bold. I love prints: leopard or any animal print. If I'm wearing black, I want a little bit of pop to my outfit.
Life motto?
Morally, I think one should be nice to everyone. There's no reason for anyone to feel like they're on top of the world.
I'm sitting here talking to you and I can't believe you're only 16-years-old, as you seem incredibly mature for your age. Are you really 16?
[Laughs] Thank you. I think most of my wisdom comes from my dad and my mum. My dad always taught me the Christian way of life. And for my mother, she was a single mother at 18 who moved to London withoutknowing anyone. She's always worked hard and seeing her overcome so much in life has been an inspiration for me. She's so successful now, and I want to be like her.
Tell us something about modeling most people don't know.
If you're not strong-minded, modeling can knock your confidence quite harshly. Every day you're judged on your look, and more so today you're judged on your personality. With that said, a lot of us are 15 or16-years-old, so some girls could really take the criticism personally. What we have to understand is that there's not something wrong with us per se, we just aren't a right fit with the client.
If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?
I'd have to say the media's perspective on modelling. They always make it seem as if it's an easy task, like models don't have to work hard — I'd like to change that. I want people to see the real side of modelling,and not just the glamorous.
Lastly, any goals in modeling?

Enjoy it.

Nyasha Matonhodze's Career Highlights

31 JULY, 1995

Born in Zimbabwe

2003

Moves to England with her mum

2009

She is discovered when she walks into Elite model agency in her school uniform

2009

Becomes finalist in Elite Model Look

2009

Signs contract with Elite Models in Paris and Milan

SEP 2010

Debuts at the spring Louis Gray show in London; also walks for Loewe, Jonathan Saunders, Emanuel Ungaro, and Louis Vuitton

NOV 2010

Appears in Wonderland editorial, photographed by Xevi Muntane

2010

Signs contract with Marilyn Agency

2011

Appears in spring issue of V, photographed by Peter Funch

FEB 2011
Walks the fall Halston, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Emanuel Ungaro, Loewe, and Louis Vuitton shows in New York and Paris
MAR 2011

Appears in editorials for Harper's Bazaar and Teen Vogue
APR 2011
Teen Vogue features Matonhodze as a face to watch

May 2011

She is chosen to appear in Louis Vuitton’s autumn/winter 2011 campaign, shot by renowned fashion photographer, Steven Meisel
(interview by New York Magazine)

Zimbabwean Vimbayi Kajese 1st African anchorwoman in Asia

2011-05-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

28-year-old Zimbabwean Vimbayi Kajese first came to China for a visit in 2004, then moved to Beijing in 2006. She now works as the early morning news presenter at CCTV-9, the English Channel of China Central Television. She is the first African news presenter on the Chinese Mainland and perhaps the whole of Asia too. Her bright smile, eloquent diction and elegant demeanor have impressed millions of TV viewers and Internet users around the world.

While doing her first degree in the U.S, Vimbayi Kajese won an all-expense paid scholarship trip to China. It was on this trip, in 2004 that she first fell in love with the country. She was fascinated by the culture, the food and of course the people. After completing her undergraduate degree, she chose to leave the United States and pursue a Master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy at China Foreign Affair’s University in Beijing. After graduating from CFAU, Kajese decided to stay in China and develop her career.

On November the 27th 2009, we sat down with Ms Kajese at CCTV.com’s headquarters to talk about her experiences. We got a chance to find out how this beautiful young lady views the world through some of the questions you the viewers have been asking about her.

CCTV.com: When people think of Africa, they think jungle, heat and adventure. But what’s the first thing you tell people when they ask you about your continent?

Vimbayi Kajese: You know, people normally associate Africa with wild life and the safaris. But the true essence of Africa that I’d like to stress first and foremost is the people. Unfortunately, through the one-dimensional lens of the media, we the people have been relegated to the background of the wild life spectacle. The real adventure and beauty of Africa is through engagement with us the people; understanding our vastness in terms of cultural, religious and racial diversity; it's too grand to be summed up in a few words, let alone be represented by one person and or one nation alone.

CCTV.com: You’ve had a global upbringing. In all the countries you’ve lived in and traveled to, which one/ones do you like most?

VK: Besides my home country, I can't say that I have a favorite; each country was pertinent for that stage of development I was in at the time.

For example: in Malawi - I was there as a 4 year old - my relationship with my siblings was solidified; In Belgium, I found my taste for classical & techno music, and my love affair with food especially French fries began; In Zimbabwe - as a teen - I was reconnected with my cultural values, my extended family, and in essence my ‘Zim’ identity; In the US, I truly found myself and honed my skills as a communicator and a writer; And in China, I feel here is where it's all coming together. It’s a big deal for me now at this point in my life… to make China my second home away from Zimbabwe and truly base myself here.

(China is about the 8th country Kajese has lived in, out of almost 30 she’s traveled to.)

CCTV.com: How did you get the job at CCTV?

VK: (Sighing) It took a lot of perseverance. While I was learning how to produce news pieces at one of the big international news agencies here in Beijing, I contacted CCTV in January this year, made calls and sent emails to let them know I was interested. My information got past around, and after many long silences, I wasn't sure if they'd actually put me, a Black woman on the main news. In fact many people, even those that worked here (at CCTV) were skeptical and thought it was highly unlikely, because I was African and it had never been done before. But, after a few screen tests, voice training sessions, prayer, positive thinking and the opening up of this new morning shift (5am – 9am)…eight months later I was anchoring my first program.

CCTV.com: What qualities do you think are necessary to have in order to be a news presenter?

VK: To do this job, it helps to love the news. And boy do I. I never get tired of talking about it. (Smiling) So now that I do it for a living, I can spare my friends having to sit through hours of my news monologues and current affairs opinions. It also takes a confident person who's willing to put themselves out there and someone that speaks with a fairly clear and articulate accent. Being from Zimbabwe and having a Zimbabwean accent, definitely helps in this respect.

CCTV.com: What did you expect when you got job?

VK: I’ll tell you what I didn't expect (laughing)… I didn’t expect that this schedule and literally ‘living in a parallel time zone’, would rule my life. And I must say, it's not been easy on my friendships, and certain relationships, but the people close to me are very supportive and we're slowly getting more in sync.

Also, I wasn’t expecting so much media attention, so soon. In the past month I've been inundated with interview requests and I've had to be quite selective with whom I talk to. I was very hesitant at first; I was even scared to tell my bosses because I'm still new, I'm still learning, I'm still figuring out my own style, and I have a long way to go before I feel I can be a credible spokeswoman for my role as the first African news anchor, let alone CCTV. CCTV has been here way longer than me. I just felt I needed more time to settle in before I deserved any acknowledgment. But, after getting my bosses ‘blessings’, per se to go ahead with the interviews - the reactions and responses have been so encouraging, especially from Chinese viewers and the African viewers that the interviews have attracted. I do feel now that I did the right thing by speaking to the media.

CCTV.com: You read the news very early in the morning. Can you describe your typical workday?

VK: (Smiling) I love talking about my schedule; it makes for great dinner party conversation, because I can’t believe how surreal my life is now. I broadcast between 5am and 9am on the hour, nearly every hour from Monday to Wednesday one week, and Monday to Thursday every other week.

So what this means is that I must be up and out of bed showering and eating breakfast between 2:00 - 3:00am.

3:40 - I’m in a taxi, telling a sleepy taxi driver to speed across the west side of town

4:00 - I’m in makeup

4:30 - If I’m lucky, I may have just a few minutes to check the script

4:50 - script gets printed

4:55 - script gets put in my hands

4:57- positioning myself in front of camera and going over stories with director through earpiece

5:00 - clearing my throat and reading headlines… making edits with my pen as I read the news to you. (Chuckling) Half the time I can’t even see the edits I’ve made on the teleprompter.

6:00 - 9:00 - the process repeats itself 30 minutes before every broadcast…

10:00 - 2:00pm - I arrive home from the subway, eat lunch do an interview, have a meeting or catch up with friends

2:00 – 5:00 – I’m in bed

5:00 – 9:00 – I work out, eat dinner, catch up with work and am back in bed

2:30 am – Wake up!

CCTV.com: What are your biggest challenges on the job?

VK: My biggest challenges are: One, managing my body clock and looking alert very early in the morning; Two, reading for extended periods at a time without a break to take a sip of water or clear my throat; Plus three, I don't write my own scripts. That can be challenging when you don't express yourself in the same way as the author of the script you’re reading. The CCTV newsroom is very international, I always joke it’s like having several dialects of English floating around. It definitely helps keep the writing varied and rich, and I’ve managed to identify a few writers that are familiar with the way I speak…so that helps make my presenting job easier.

CCTV.com: How has this job changed your lifestyle?

VK: These days I don't take things for granted and I’m very thankful for everything. I know it took a lot of generous people, especially in China to get me where I am today. This means that I have to make my health a priority, especially since I’m working against nature's clock.

I can't afford to be sick and especially lose my voice; this means I can't be around smokers during the week when I’m broadcasting. And if I feel a cold coming a long I rush to the doctor and sort it out immediately. Before I would wait it out, but when I get a sore throat, my voice normally disappears for a few days, especially with the air conditions in Beijing. I also work out and eat very healthy and have learnt to take much needed power naps in between those very early morning broadcasts.

Another big change, is I'm now a regular at massages, getting facials, buying tons of skin care products and worrying about pimples; these are things I normally wouldn't have cared about until now.

CCTV.com: How do your parents feel about all this?

VK: My parents are the best parents anybody could ask for. My mom and dad have always been so proud and supportive of everything I do, even if what I’ve wanted to do in the past didn’t make sense to them at first. They watch my every broadcast, even the rebroadcasts. This means, because of the time difference with Zimbabwe, they start watching at 11pm and stay up till like 3 in the morning. (They wake up at 5 am to start their day). They’re hooked, and have everyone in ‘Zim’ AND the whole of Africa tuned into CCTV.

CCTV.com: CCTV International won a Hot Bird TV award and you were the one who got to broadcast this news. What does this prize mean to you, and to CCTV?

VK: You know I was so lucky and honored that that story came on my shift. I was so excited, and I'm sure it showed when I finally got to read it. I wanted to smile the whole broadcast through, but I couldn't, because some of the stories before that were serious and sad. I felt so proud that I was part of something great. My parents were the first to send a congratulations message. It’s just a testament to the fact that CCTV is doing something right. Not everything about the channel is perfect; CCTV is transitioning and evolving, but that award is a definite indication that the channel is heading in the right direction.

I think this award should inspire all of us at CCTV to continuously better our game, so that we can be the first news destination people consider when they want news about China and Asia, and not turn to western media. It also means, being aware of where our audience is and who they are and making sure the ‘China story’ is made relevant to them. The reason I say this is because, China-Africa relations on a government to government level, far exceeds the reality on the ground, that is China-Africa relations on a people to people basis. We (Chinese and Africans) still don’t understand why we’re so important for each other or why we’re even in each other’s countries. So, we (the people) need to catch up with our countries’ bilateral relations and I see the media, especially CCTV playing a big role in this respect. To make the ‘China story’ relevant, for example, we could have an African cultural/travel show that showcases how different Chinese communities, have integrated in our (African) countries; their challenges, their hopes etc. This would be a great way to keep the different audiences engaged, learning about each other, and finding solutions to problems. Then the other side of this type of show could be African communities in different parts of China… the lists of how to make the ‘China story’ relevant are endless.

CCTV.com: How easy was it to stay rooted in your Zimbabwean culture while abroad and how do you feel about adopting another country’s culture as your own?

VK: It was easier for the first half of my life because, no matter where I was in the world, I always came home to a Zimbabwean home, to Zimbabwean food and to Zimbabwean values. So, although I was raised with many influences, my core, and the cultural lens through which these influences are filtered, is Zimbabwean. This is how I was raised. Now that I haven’t lived with my family for nearly 10 years, the best way for me to stay in rooted in my culture is to always to be in touch with home… to always go home. I try and do this twice a year, if I’m lucky. The reason why my siblings and I can even consider ‘Zim’ as our home, is because at some point in our lives, my parents decided to stop accepting job postings around the world, so that we kids could spend a significant time of our lives in a pure ‘Zim’ environment, reconnecting with the rest of our family.

As for adopting part of another country’s culture, I feel what’s the point in being in another country if you can’t integrate it with your own in some way? “When in Rome do as the Romans do”, right? This is why I wear traditional Chinese jackets on TV. It’s my way of showing the world my appreciation for Chinese fashion and culture, and making it a part of my daily life. I now have a lot of international viewers asking me where I get my clothes from, what’s the name of the cut, who the designer is etc.; I also have a Chinese name, ‘Kang Wen Ying’ (康雯颖) that I’ve used for the past six years. Creating these types of cultural intersections makes for great learning opportunities for those that want to learn more about China.

CCTV.com: Besides being the “Face of Africa for China and China for Africa”, what are your current endeavours and future plans to help promoting such relations?

VK: Well, I hope at some point my government sees it fit to post me here as Ambassador. (Laughing) I think I would have earned my ‘stripes’ by then. (Jokingly) It’s just a dream. In the meantime, I volunteer my time building certain organizations that are still in their embryonic stages. For example, I am the PR and Media Counselor for YAPS (Young African Professionals and Students). We essentially are one of those tools that I talked about earlier that can help China-Africa relations on the ground, catch up with the China-Africa relations at the top. We live the China experience, we speak Chinese and we have the technical skills and cultural know-how to work for China-Africa businesses as well as advise incoming delegations from our countries. If you think about it, we are Africa’s Ambassadors when we are here, and China’s Ambassadors when we go back to our countries. We want to promote everything positive about China-Africa relations, to help eliminate misunderstandings between our nations through interactive, entertaining and creative events.

I’ve also been asked to start an African Media Association here in China. We need to create a space to discuss how we are going to rebrand Africa in an alternative light to the media, to China and to the rest of the world.

I’m also involved in CSR, (corporate social responsibility) under the China-Africa umbrella. I volunteer my time with ‘The Charitarian’ magazine as a commentator. I think China is doing a lot to lead the way for emerging markets, and I enjoy thinking up ways and strategies, to advise companies here on how they can do business the right way: by engaging with communities; by developing communities… essentially making sure that the things that I’m passionate about, (woman’s issues, orphans, the environment etc) are taken care of. Eventually, these are the blueprints I hope to one day implement in my own country and others, when these same companies come a’ knocking.

Alexander Cummings, Chief Administrative Officer of the Coca Cola Company from Liberia, now in Atlanta Georgia

2011-05-14T05:15:00.000-07:00

Mr. Alexander B. Cummings is Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of The Coca-Cola Company. The CAO structure consolidates key global Corporate functions in a purposeful approach to effectively support the business operations of The Coca-Cola Company.

Key global Corporate functions include Legal, Human Resources, Global Community Connections, Strategic Planning, Information Technology, Research & Innovation, Science, Global Quality and Product Integrity, Transformational Productivity and Strategic Security.

Born in Liberia, West Africa, Mr. Cummings joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1997 as Region Manager, Nigeria. In 2000, he was named President of the Company's North & West Africa Division. In March 2001, he became President and Chief Operating Officer of the Africa Group, responsible for the Company's operations in Africa, encompassing a total of 56 countries and territories across the continent.

Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Cummings held several positions with The Pillsbury Company in the U.S. In his last role as Vice President of Finance for Pillsbury International, he had financial responsibility for a growing $1.2 billion international branded food business with operating companies in 16 countries.

Mr. Cummings serves on the boards of Africare and Clark Atlanta University. Mr. Cummings also is a board member of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, a publicly traded (Athens and NYSE) bottler of The Coca-Cola Company, and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, also a publicly traded bottler of The Coca-Cola Company (NASDAQ). He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council.

In addition, Mr. Cummings has previously served on the Advisory Board of The African Presidential Archives & Research Center, The Corporate Council on Africa, The African-America Institute, The Center for Global Development's Commission on U.S. Policy toward Low-Income Poorly Performing States (LIPPS), and the following bottling partner entities of The Coca-Cola Company: Coca-Cola Sabco (Pty.) Ltd., Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Egypt.

Mr. Cummings holds a B.S. degree in Finance and Economics from Northern Illinois University and an MBA in Finance from Atlanta University.

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/bios/bio_17.html

Alek Wek From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel, Designer, Fashion Model and Human Rights Activist, New York,USA from Sudan

2011-05-14T05:13:00.000-07:00

Alek Wek it is pronounced Uh Lek was born into the southern Sudanese Dinka tribe in 1977. Named "the-black-and-white-cow" after a tribal good luck symbol, she was raised in a large but close-knit family in the small village of Wau.

Along with millions of other Sudanese, her life was turned upside down by the outbreak of civil war in 1982. After their house came under fire from an unknown group, the Wek family fled. When they returned a month later, they found the village ravaged and its inhabitants living in the local school, without amenities or food.

Eventually, Alek was sent to the capital, Khartoum, where she was joined three months later by the rest of the family. Here, her father, an education administrator, underwent a hip replacement procedure, but as a result of complications following the operation, he died. Shortly afterwards the Weks decided to leave their homeland.

Alek's older sister had moved to Britain before the civil war, and applied on behalf of her family for refugee status. In 1991 Alek and her younger sister were accepted, but it was two years before they were joined by their mother and two more of their nine siblings. The remaining family members were finally given refuge by Australia and Canada.

While living with her sister in England, Alek supported herself with odd jobs outside school hours and sent money back to her mother. She learnt English quickly, and went on to study fashion technology and business at the prestigious London College of Fashion.

The African beauty's big break came in 1995 when she was discovered by a model agency scout while shopping in a London market. She signed to Models One, and it wasn't long before she appeared in a Tina Turner video and on the pages of cutting edge publications Vibe and i-D.

One of the hottest new faces on the scene, she was soon courted by top design houses for their runway shows. Her distinctive looks, so different from the usual catwalk fare, caused a stir in the world of fashion, and garnered a raft of awards, including "Best New Model" at the Venus de la Mode Fashion Awards, 1997 MTV model of the year, and "Model of the Decade" from i-D.

Alek's success has redefined the traditional understanding of beauty, as US chat show host and actress Oprah Winfrey underlined in an interview with the model. "If you had been there when I was growing up, I would have thought of myself as beautiful," the presenter confessed.

Outside her modelling commitments, Alek draws upon her own experiences as a refugee to help highlight the plight of the world's dispossessed and, as a member of the US Committee For Refugees' Advisory Council, campaigns to raise the profile of the humanitarian disaster in the Sudan.
http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/alek-wek/

Oluchi Onweagba Victoria's Secret Angel and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model from Nigeria

2011-05-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Early life
Onweagba grew up in the suburbs of Lagos, Nigeria with her two brothers and sisters. She is the daughter of a civil servant father and mother who was a nurse.^[2] When Onweagba was 16 years old, she won the "Face Of Africa" contest.^[2]

She was urged by a family friend to enter into the M-Net "Face of Africa" preliminary screening at the M-Net office in Victoria Island, Lagos.^[3] The agency groomed her to be one of Nigeria's entrants for the 1998 competition (now called the Nokia Face of Africa). This despite the fact that, growing up, she had maintained a relative ignorance towards fashion and modeling.^{[citation needed]} With the support of her family and friends, she decided to compete in the inaugural edition of the Face of Africa in 1998. This was the first-ever continent-wide model competition, organized by the South African channel M-Net in collaboration with Elite Model Management.^{[citation needed]} She won the competition.^[4] She was just seventeen years old. Elite Model Management awarded Onweagba a three-year modeling contract.

Career

After moving to New York City, where she still lives, Onweagba graced the covers of Italian Vogue, i-D, ELLE, Untold, and Surface; she also was featured in Nylon, Marie Claire, Allure, and other national editions of Vogue around the world.^{[citation needed]} She became the face of campaigns for Gianfranco Ferré, Gap, Express, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor, as well as working for Victoria's Secret.^{[citation needed]} Onweagba's runway experience has been with John Galliano, Christian Dior, Costume National, Chanel, and Giorgio Armani, amongst others, in London, Milan, Tokyo and Paris.^{[citation needed]} She has worked with such notable photographers as Steven Meisel, Nick Knight, and Patrick Demarchelier.^{[citation needed]}
Beyond modeling, she tries to serve as a role model for other aspiring talents in Nigeria, especially young girls.^{[citation needed]} She volunteers her time and her image for such NGOs as LEAP Africa (an entrepreneurship incubator) and NIPRO. She also is continuing her higher education, having studied for an associate's degree in the New York City educational system.^{[citation needed]}
After her three-year contract with Elite expired, she signed with DNA Model Management.^{[citation needed]} A highlight of her career so far was when she was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue four times, from 2005 to 2008.^{[citation needed]}
In 2008, she launched a modeling agency in South Africa, OModel Africa, with offices in Johanesburg and recently in Cape Town.^{[citation needed]} The 2008 winner of M-Net Face of Africa, Kate Tachie-Menson, was awarded a US $50,000 modeling contract by OModel Africa.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Onweagba is married to Italian fashion designer Luca Orlandi. They have a 3-year-old son.^[1] Onweagba's first name comes from the Igbo language and means "God's Work".^[2]^[5]

Dave Matthews Vocalist and Acoustic Guitarist New York, from Johannesburg, South Afr

2011-05-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

Search Amazon.com Amazon Instant Video for dave matthews band

Musician. Born David John Matthews on January 9, 1967 in Johannesburg, South Africa. A self-taught musician, he and his family moved around the world throughout his childhood. When he was two years old, they moved to the New York suburb of Yorktown Heights, where Matthews' father, a physicist, worked for IBM. In 1977, Matthews' father died of lung cancer, and the family returned to Johannesburg to be with relatives.
To avoid South Africa's compulsory military service, Matthews moved back to the United States after high school, where he became a bartender at a jazz club in Charlottesville, Virginia called Miller's. It was there that he began to dream about starting his own band.

In 1990, Matthews decided to put together a demo tape and approached his favorite jazz musicians to accompany him: sax player Leroi Moore and drummer Carter Beauford. For bass, he signed on Stefan Lessard, a 16-year-old local prodigy. Violinist Boyd Tinsley was recruited just weeks after the band formed. Early local gigs were an immediate success, and the band quickly developed a devoted following. The band's manager, Coran Capshaw, utilized grassroots marketing to move the band to the national stage.
The Dave Matthews Band was soon playing at frat houses and beach clubs around the country. People began to make bootlegs of their shows and word of the band spread quickly among the college crowd. In 1994, the band released its major label debut, Under The Table And Dreaming, which went to No. 11 in the Billboard 200. The band's second album, Crash, was released two years later, debuting at No. 2. Though the album didn't receive as much critical praise, the band's follow-up concert sold out New York's Madison Square Garden in three hours.

In October 1997, the band put out an official double-disc live album entitled Live at Red Rocks. Without any marketing or promotion, it debuted at No. 3, providing a high-quality and reasonably priced alternative to illegal live CDs that were beginning to flood the black market.

After taking some time off in 1997, the Dave Matthews Band went back into the studio to record Before These Crowded Streets, which debuted at No. 1. The next album was repeatedly delayed before the band announced, in 2000, that they would be scrapping it and parting ways with producer Steve Lillywhite. Though an amicable break-up, Matthews felt that the music sounded tired and the band needed fresh input. They hired Glen Ballard, who had worked with Alanis Morissette and Aerosmith, a few months later. Their next album, Everyday, released in 2001, lived up to its promise. The following year, Busted Stuff delivered a smoother, jazzier sound and a similarly successful debut. Their 2005 album, Stand Up, topped the Billboard charts in its first week.

Matthews made his big-screen debut in 2005's Because of Winn-Dixie with Jeff Daniels and Eva Marie Saint.

After an eight-year courtship, Matthews married wife Ashley in August, 2000. Their twin daughters, Stella Busina and Grace Anne, were born one year later. They had a son August Oliver, born in June 2007.

© 2011 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved.

Djimon Honsou Blood Diamonds Award Winning Hollywood Actor from Benin, Africa

2011-05-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

Actor Djimon Hounsou first gained acting attention in Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997). Born in West Africa, he moved with his family to Paris, France, at age 13. When he left school, he became homeless and spent a couple of years wandering the streets of Paris before being discovered by fashion designer Thierry Mugler. After he resettled himself, Hounsou moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at acting.

While on the way to stardom, Hounsou appeared in music videos, including those of Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Steve Winwood. After his turn as a rebellious slave in Amistad, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, he found increasingly steady employment on both the big and small screens, becoming a semi-regular on the hospital drama ER and appearing in such films as the historical epic Gladiator (2000). After such high-profile projects, Hounsou's success in the following two years would prove no surprise to anyone who glanced at his filmography. Aside from prominent roles in such high-profile French films as 2002's Le Boulet (Dead Weight) and the following year's Muraya -- l'Expérience Secrète de Mike Blueberry (The Adventures of Mike S. Blueberry), Hounsou's bid for screen stardom was simultaneously on display in such stateside features as The Four Feathers (2002), Biker Boyz, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -- The Cradle of Life (both 2003).

In 2003, Hounsou received his first Oscar nomination for his acclaimed supporting role in Jim Sheridan's In America. And while he spent much of the next three years appearing in films that earned mixed reactions from both audiences and critics, he was back in top form in 2006's Blood Diamond, which found him opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. The film appeared on a number of Top Ten lists, garnered Hounsou accolades from countless critics groups and snagged him his second Oscar nod. - Ryan Shriver, Rovi

Maimah Karmo Breast Cancer Survivor Founder and Executive Director of the Tigerlily Foundation, USA, from Liberia

2011-05-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

Maimah Karmo is the Founder and Executive Director of the Tigerlily Foundation, which she
founded after being diagnosed with breast cancer. While going through chemotherapy, Maimah
made a promise to God and her daughter that she would change the landscape of young women
and breast cancer and that she would spend her life working to effect this change. That promise
is Tigerlily Foundation. Tigerlily Foundation’s mission is to educate, empower, advocate for, and
provide hands-on support to young women affected by breast cancer.

Breast cancer changed the way Maimah saw life and the way she lives. After being diagnosed,
and facing her own mortality at 32-years old, she realized she had to create the life she desired
and not wait for life to happen to her. She also realized that a challenge could be a gift.
Through her advocacy, Maimah has been able to touch women and men around the world. She
speaks nationwide, and has been featured in various magazines, including Essence, Ladies Home
Journal, Cure Magazine, Women and Cancer, Washington’s Finest and in numerous webbased
and regional print publications. She has also been featured on Fox 5, WJLA 7, News
Channel 8, the Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, and many local and national
radio shows, including on XM and Sirius stations.

Maimah is a member of several national cancer advocacy organizations. She serves on the
Young Survival Coalition’s Diversity Outreach Committee and a speaker for The Breast Cancer
Network of Strength. She is a member of the Intercultural Cancer Consortium and the D.C.
Cancer Consortium. She supports the African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association
(AWCAA), and is on the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) Young Adult Alliance (YAA).
Maimah is a breast cancer grant reviewer, and a supporter of many local and national women’s
health initiatives specific to breast cancer. One of Maimah’s proudest advocacy moments to date
is her work on behalf of the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning
Young (EARLY) Act, along with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman’s Schultz’s Office. This
legislation would provide nationwide awareness, education and funding specifically targeting
young women and breast cancer.

She is also writing a best-seller about how her breast cancer diagnosis transformed her life.
Maimah is a dedicated breast cancer and women’s activist. She has dedicated to helping women
around the world. Maimah believes in living an extraordinary life every day; that is the birthright
of every woman.

King of Bling Chris Aire in Hollywood, USA from Nigeria

2011-05-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

They call Chris Aire the ‘King of Bling’ with good reason. Chris dreams BIG! He saw how neglected the urban demographic was and designed styles that helped lead the urban jewelry market into a multibillion dollar industry. Chris keeps his collection fresh and exciting, and always a step or two ahead of the rest. He is responsible for key jewelry trends from his diamond dog tags that were worn in Bad Boys starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, tri-tags, and the oversized Aire traveler timepiece series.

He made history when he was the first jeweler to put on a show during New York’s fashion week showcasing jewelry as fashion. Chris Aire fashion shows have become highly anticipated events. Everyone waits to see what freshness Chris has to offer and what cutting edge piece will be worn down the runway.
Everyone from Halle Berry, Oprah, Angelina Jolie, Jamie Fox, 50 Cent, Will Smith, and Nelly have worn Chris Aire designs. Chris very well could be caught up with Hollywood and all the screens and mirrors that it brings but he is not. The ‘King of Bling’ wears very little bling and remains humble. Jamati Online had a chance to catch up with this innovator and he filled us in on how it all began and what’s next for his company.

Jamati: Some say you are from Benin and some say you are Nigerian. Can you clear this up and tell us which part of Africa you are representing?
I am a Nigerian who grew up in Benin city. I consider myself a citizen of the world and speak to the similarity in all mankind.

Jamati: You have quite a story. You started off in the music business and acting. Can you tell us about those days?
I think every artist goes through a period of soul searching in trying to find the instrument that best expresses their inner light. I went through the same experience. Music, acting and designing are really all the same art form. They all express that which is embedded in your subconscious. I am very glad I settled on the one that most expresses who I am and I am truly blessed to have been embraced by so many people.

Jamati: You are known as ‘the King of Bling’ and ‘the Ice-Man’ and your jewelry has been worn by the biggest names in Hollywood. How did you go from acting and music into the jewelry business?
It was a conscious decision to concentrate all my efforts in designing and marketing fine jewelry and to succeed or fail doing it.

Jamati: Most rappers are more known for their bling than their music. This is the norm today but it wasn’t too long ago when no jewelers were catering to the urban crowd. You saw the void and found your niche. Can you elaborate on this?Yes. The Urban Crowd was a grossly overlooked market. They are unique and most of them express themselves in ways that were not overly commercial. I recognized this growing and unserviced niche and decided to cater to them when no one else was.

Jamati: You are a trendsetter! You have patented Red Gold. Wow! Congratulations my brother. Can you take credit for the dog tags? Were you the first jeweler to bling them out?
Thank you. We hold the trade mark to Red Gold and yes we were indeed the first company to introduce diamond decorated dog tags to commerce.

Jamati: Award season is once again upon us. Will your jewels be on the red carpet at the Oscars or the Grammys this year?It is our hope to continue to be embraced by the entertainers and the entertainment industry. As long as they keep seeking us out, it will always be an honor to provide them with their jewelry needs for the red carpet and other occasions.

Jamati: I must applaud you for your prices. You have the half million and million dollar pieces and you have pieces that are affordable at $1500 and less. Was this intentional?Yes. We understand that all fingers are not created equal, yet each individual finger performs a very special function that is important to the efficiency of your entire hand.

Jamati: There is much talk about blood diamonds and conflict diamonds. I think what some don’t understand is that not all diamonds are conflict diamonds. The message isn’t that no one should wear diamonds but that they must be aware of where diamonds come from, right? What are your thoughts on this?
Very well said. It is important that people understand that not all diamonds are conflict diamonds and boycotting diamonds can actually have a reverse effect on the people they are trying to help, as it is their only means of feeding themselves and their families. We have always prided ourselves in using conflict free diamonds. It is important that we are socially responsible and that you ask your jeweler about the source of their diamonds.

Jamati: Do you have a favorite design out of all your designs?
I smile whenever I get that question. It is akin to asking a parent which child is their favorite. Some designs are more challenging than others, but they all have their own different rewards. Even if I had a favorite I won’t tell you (smile).

Jamati: February is the month of love with Valentine’s Day. A lot of engagement rings will be bought this month. Have you collaborated with some celebrities on that special ring?We are working with some of our clients on their special gifts for Valentine’s Day and all I can tell you is that not all of them are engagement rings.

Jamati: What is next for Chris Aire?
Expansion of the business and creating a network of support that can sustain what we have been blessed with thus far.

Jamati: Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with Jamati Online Chris. Any advice for our readers and those who aspire to grow up and be the next King of Bling?
For those who are living their dreams, give thanks regularly and for those who aspire, dream big and trust that the force that brought you here has everything you need for your greater joy, greater peace and your greater success in all you do.
What great advice from such a humble man! For more information on Chris Aire, visit his website.

http://www.jamati.com/online/style/exclusive-interview-with-king-of-bling-chris-aire/

Akosua Busia Ghanian Actress featured in Colour Purple

2011-05-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Akosua Busia is an actress, and writer. She was born on December 30, 1966 and is the daughter of Kofi Abrefa Busia, the ex-prime minister of the Republic of Ghana. Her sister is the poet and academic Abena Busia. Akosua grew up in Ghana and attended the prestigious Central School of Drama and Speech in London where she graduated early and went on to star in projects for the stage and screen throughout Europe.. She was also educated at the University of Oxford, England. She graduated early and went on to star in projects for the stage and screen throughout Europe.

She has appeared in films such as Ashanti (1979), The Color Purple (1985), Crossroads (1986), Rosewood (1997), Mad City (1997), Tears of the Sun (2003), and Ascension Day (2007).

Akosua has written The Seasons of Beento Blackbird: A Novel (Washington Square Press, 1997). In addition, she was one of three writers who co-wrote the screenplay adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, for the 1998 Beloved directed by Jonathan Demme.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala World Bank Managing Director, Washington DC, USA, from Nigeria

2011-05-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is presently a Managing Director of the World Bank.

From June to August 2006, she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, overseeing Nigeria’s External Relations. From July 2003 to June 2006 she served as Minister of Finance and Economy of Nigeria and Head of Nigeria's much acclaimed Presidential Economic team responsible for implementing a comprehensive home grown economic reform program that stabilized the macro-economy and tripled the growth rate to an average 6 percent per annum over 3 years. Her achievements as Finance Minister garnered international recognition for improving Nigeria’s financial stability and fostering greater fiscal transparency to combat corruption. In October 2005, she led the Nigerian team that negotiated the cancellation of US $18 billion or 60 percent of Nigeria’s external debt with the Paris Club. The debt deal also included an innovative buy-back mechanism that wiped out Nigeria’s Paris club debt and reduced the country’s external indebtedness from US$35 to US$5 billion. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala oversaw Nigeria’s first ever Sovereign credit rating of BB- from Fitch and Standard and Poor’s—a rating that grouped Nigeria with other emerging market countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, Venezuela, and Philippines.

Previously, she pursued a 21-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, where she held the post of Vice President and Corporate Secretary. This included two tours of duty (six years) working in the East Asia Region, the last tour (1997-2000) as Country Director Malaysia, Mongolia, Laos and Cambodia during the East Asian financial crisis; two duty tours in the Middle East Region, the last (2000-2003) as Director, Operations (deputy vice-president) of the region. Dr Okonjo-Iweala also served as Director of Institutional Change and Strategy (1995-1997). In this post she assisted with the implementation of the Bank’s reform agenda. From 1989 to 1991 she was Special assistant to the Senior Vice President, Operations, an assignment that enabled participation in high level policy formulation and discussions for countries as diverse as China and Burkina Faso.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Harvardand has a PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is fluent in French, Ibo and English with working knowledge of Yoruba. She has received numerous awards, including Honorary Doctorate of Letters from University of Dublin, Trinity College, 2007, Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Colby College, 2007 and Brown University, 2006, Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica, 2005, Time Magazine’s European Hero of the Year Award, 2004, for her work on economic reform in Nigeria, Euromoney Magazine Global Finance Minister of the year, 2005, Financial Times/The Banker African Finance Minister of the year 2005, This Day (Nigeria’s premier newspaper) Minister of the Year award 2004 and 2005.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is a member or chair of numerous boards and advisory groups, including DATA, the World Resources Institute, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Nelson Mandela Institution, Friends of the Global Fund Africa, and the African Institute of Science and Technology. She has served as adviser to several international investment groups working in emerging markets and lectured on Africa and development all over the world. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was the founder of the first ever indigenous opinion research organization in Nigeria (NOI Polls) in partnership with the Gallup organization, which strives to strengthen democracy and accountability in Nigeria. She was co-founder of the Makeda Fund, a US$50 million private equity fund designed to invest in women-owned and women-influenced small and medium enterprises in Africa.

She is married to surgeon Dr. Ikemba Iweala and they have four children.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21687298~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html

John Obi Mikel a Nigerian footballer, English Club Chelsea and the Nigeria National Team.

2011-05-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

Mikel John Obi (born April 22, 1987) is a Nigerian footballer. He is a attacking midfielder who currently plays for Chelsea.

He was born John Michael Nchekube Obinna, the son of a former civil servant. Mikel was playing top-flight football for Plateau United aged 15 and, by 2003, was gaining headlines for his country at the FIFA Under-17 World Championships held in Finland. After a brief spell in South Africa with Ajax Cape Town, Mikel gained global recognition in 2005 by starring at the FIFA World Youth Championship where Nigeria were beaten 2-1 in the final by Argentina.

During the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World Championships, commentators continually misspelled his middle name of "Michael" as "Mikel." He decided to keep the new name, saying that it had a special ring to it.

Controversy regarding transfer to England
On April 29, 2005, a few days after Mikel turned 18, English Premier League side Manchester United F.C. announced that it had struck a deal with Lyn Oslo to sign the player. United's website also claimed that they had done a deal directly with the teenager and that he had signed a contract to join them. Mikel's agents were bypassed as the club persuaded the youngster to sign a 4 year contract without representation. Lyn Oslo allegedly sent a fax to his agents abroad, claiming their services were no longer required by Mikel. Reports said the deal was initially worth Â£4m,[3] and would see the player arrive at Old Trafford in January 2006. Rival Premier League side, Chelsea F.C., later issued a counter-claim suggesting that they already had an agreement with Mikel and his agents, but Lyn Oslo denied this claim. However, subsequent reports indicated that Chelsea claimed to have been involved in arranging the player's original move to Europe with a view to signing him at a later date.

Mikel expressed his delight at joining United in a hastily arranged press conference, where he was pictured holding up a Manchester United shirt, which bore the squad number 21. Following his signing of the contract to join Manchester United, there were claims from Norway that he had received a number of threatening phone calls from unknown sources. Mikel was assigned a security guard and moved to a safe hotel. However, on May 11, 2005, the midfielder went missing during a Norwegian Cup game against Klemetsrud; he had not been selected for the match but had been watching from the stands. Whilst the player was believed to have left with one of his agents, John Shittu, who had by now flown in to meet Mikel, his disappearance sparked massive media coverage in Norway and also provoked a police enquiry after the Lyn Oslo director Morgan Andersen made claims in the Norwegian media that Mikel had been 'kidnapped'. These claims were later repeated by Manchester United's assistant manager Carlos Queiroz, who accused Chelsea of being involved in the alleged 'kidnapping'.

It subsequently emerged that Mikel had travelled to London with his agent John Shittu. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson considered travelling to Oslo to visit Mikel, but decided against this after Mikel was reported to have left the country. Staying in a London hotel, and some nine days after disappearing, Mikel stated on Sky Sports News that he had been pressurised into signing the contract with United, claims furiously rebuffed by both Manchester United and Lyn Oslo. Mikel also claimed that he had asked the clubs for a week to think about it, but that this request was refused and the clubs pressured him into signing without his advisors being present. Mikel's claims, if true, would mean that Manchester United had acted in breach of FIFA and FA rules. Mikel told the British media that Chelsea were the club he genuinely wanted to sign for. In response to these events, United made an official complaint to FIFA about the behaviour of both Chelsea and the player's agents, John Shittu and Rune Hauge, already infamous for his role in the George Graham bungs scandal. FIFA replied to this complaint in August 2005 stating there was insufficient evidence to bring a case against Chelsea FC.

In the summer of 2005, Mikel played for Nigeria at the FIFA U-20 World Youth Championships held in the Netherlands. He had an excellent tournament as Nigeria reached the final, where they were unlucky to lose 2-1 to Argentina. Mikel won the silver ball after being voted the tournament's second best player.

Following the tournament, Mikel failed to return to Lyn Oslo, and the club lodged a complaint with FIFA. On August 12, 2005, FIFA ruled that Mikel should return to Lyn Oslo to see out his contract with the Norwegian club, whilst they would decide at a later date whether the contract he signed with United should be upheld or cancelled. After a delay of over a month, Mikel complied with the FIFA decision and returned to Lyn Oslo in early September 2005 after a three month absence.

Transfer to Chelsea resolved
Rather than leaving FIFA to determine the validity of the contract signed with Manchester United, Chelsea FC intervened by volunteering to settle the transfer saga through negotiation with Lyn Oslo and Manchester United.

On June 2 2006, Chelsea, Manchester United and Lyn Oslo reached a settlement to resolve the future of the player. Mikel's registration was to be transferred from Lyn to Chelsea; Manchester United agreed to terminate their option agreement with Mikel. Under the terms of this agreement Chelsea agreed to pay Manchester United Â£12million, half paid upon the finalisation of the contract and the other half in June 2007, and Lyn Â£4million, half payable immediately, and half payable in June 2007. As a result of this settlement, all claims in this matter were withdrawn. On July 19 2006 Chelsea were granted a work permit for the midfielder after they completed the Â£16million signing in June 2006. On July 31 2006 he stated that he prefers to be called Mikel John Obi instead of John Obi Mikel, as he had most commonly been called.

International career
Mikel made his debut for Nigeria's senior team on August 17 2005, when he came on as a second-half substitute in a 1-0 friendly win over Libya. He did not play for the national team again prior to being named in the squad for the 2006 African Cup of Nations. In Nigeria's first group game, which was against Ghana, Mikel was an unused substitute. However, he was introduced into the second game, against Zimbabwe, early in the second half. Within ten minutes of coming on, he had supplied both the corner that resulted in Christian Obodo heading the game's opening goal, and scored Nigeria's second goal. He made his first international start in Nigeria's final group game, a 2-1 victory over Senegal. As of February 7 2007, Mikel has earned five international caps and scored one international goal. During the cup, Mikel said that he had been instructed not to make any public comments about his club career.[14] FIFA is to investigate claims that Mikel had received death threats.

2006 - 2007 season

On September 12, 2006, Mikel made his first start for Chelsea in the Uefa Champions League against Levski Sofia and took a powerful shot which the goalkeeper failed to save and Didier Drogba pounced on the rebound. Mikel received many positive comments for his performance in the match. However, since being sent off in a match against Reading on October 14, 2006, Mikel was fined on three separate occasions by Chelsea for turning up late to training. At the time Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was also believed to have strong reservations about his lifestyle outside of Stamford Bridge and the club were reportedly considering offloading the player. Mikel was dropped for over a month, during which his father Michael voiced his concerns over his son's behaviour. After improved punctuality and showings at training sessions, Mikel earned a recall for Chelsea's Champions League group away game against Werder Bremen on the November 23, 2006. Mikel scored his first goal for Chelsea in their 6-1 FA Cup victory over Macclesfield Town on January 6, 2007. He also scored against Nottingham Forest in the following round of the competition. During Chelsea's triumph in the League Cup in 2007, Mikel was sent off in injury time after clashing with Kolo Toure, the incident was followed by a huge fracas, in which Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal was sent off, Francesc Fabregas and Frank Lampard were booked and Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger were involved in a kerfuffle on the pitch.
source: wikipedia.org

DIKEMBE MUTOMBO NBA Legend and Philanthropist Atlanta, Georgia from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

2011-05-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

Dikembe Mutombo and his wife Rose Nseya Mutombo

NBA Legend DIKEMBE MUTOMBO was born in the capital city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mutombo is the seventh of ten children born to Samuel and the late Biamba Marie Mutombo. He arrived in the United States in 1987 on an academic scholarship to attend Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. In his second year at Georgetown, Coach John Thompson invited the 7'2" Mutombo to try out for the university's renowned basketball team. After joining the team, Mutombo re-directed his pre-med ambitions and graduated from Georgetown with dual degrees in Linguistics and Diplomacy. Mutombo is fluent in nine languages, including five African languages.

Dikembe Mutombo is the first Youth Emissary for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and he also served on the Advisory Board for the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health and presently serves on the boards of UNICEF, National Constitution Center and Opportunity International. In 2009, Mutombo was appointed as the NBA’s first Global Ambassador.

Honored with USA Weekend Magazine's "Most Caring Athlete Award," and from FOXSports.com as the most generous athlete in the world, NBA All-Star Dikembe Mutombo of the Houston Rockets has long been dedicated to improving the health, education and quality of life for the people in his birthplace, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Created in Atlanta, Georgia 1997, the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation is attempting to eradicate many childhood diseases that have virtually disappeared in developed countries while those diseases are still life threatening to children in the Congo everyday.

Having played basketball in the NBA for the better part of a decade, Mutombo spends the off-season traveling throughout Africa on behalf of the NBA, performing at free basketball clinics for as many as 2,000 children per day. Giving back has always been a trademark of Mutombo ever since he entered the NBA in 1991. A former spokesman for CARE, the international relief agency, Mutombo visited the Somali refugee camps in Northern Kenya in 1993 and traveled with NBA Commissioner David Stern and Georgetown colleagues Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning to Cape Town and Johannesburg.

In 1996, Mutombo paid for the Zairian women's basketball team's trip to Atlanta for the Olympics and also picked up the tab for the track team's uniforms and expenses. Recently, Mutombo and Hall of Famer Bob Lanier led a contingent of current and former players who served as coaches for the Basketball Without Borders Africa initiative, which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was the second year of the program and the 100 participants were selected from more than 20 countries in Africa, based on their basketball skills, leadership abilities and dedication to the sport. In addition to the on-court instruction, the program featured extensive community outreach and incorporates educational seminars addressing important social issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention and education.

The highlight of the trip was the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation's dedication of refurbished dormitories at Ithuteng Trust, a school for troubled and underprivileged youth in Soweto that Mutombo first visited during the summer of 2003 for the first Basketball Without Borders camp. Children who once slept on the floor and did not have bathrooms now have a safe and comfortable place to live.

Dikembe Mutombo is the first Youth Emissary for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and as an Atlanta Hawk, he was actively involved with Strong STARTS (Schools Taking Action to Reach Troubled Students). He also served as a spokesman for the Atlanta Hawks Team Up program, often visiting children at local hospitals and held a basketball clinic with on-court drills for the Georgia Special Olympic athletes.

In August 1999, Mutombo and his delegation which included the CBS News Senior Correspondent for 60 Minutes, the late Ed Bradley traveled to Kinshasa, DR Congo on a medical fact-finding mission. As part of the Polio Eradication Campaign in the Congo, Mutombo administered oral polio vaccine to newborns at the Kalembe-Lembe Pediatric hospital and distributed t-shirts with a written personal message encouraging parents to get their children immunized. Despite civil unrest and electricity cuts during the two weeks of the National Immunizations Days, 8.2 million children under the age of five were successfully vaccinated against polio in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

http://www.dmf.org/dikembemutombo1.php?show=bio

Ngugi Wa Thiong’o: Author and Social Activist y Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, from Kenya

2011-05-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

Ngugi Wa Thiong’o: A Profile of a Literary and Social Activist.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o, currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine, was born in Kenya, in 1938 into a large peasant family. He was educated at Kamandura, Manguu and Kinyogori primary schools; Alliance High School, all in Kenya; Makerere University College (then a campus of London University), Kampala, Uganda; and the University of Leeds, Britain. He is recipient of seven Honorary Doctorates viz D Litt (Albright); PhD (Roskilde); D Litt (Leeds); D Litt &Ph D (Walter Sisulu University); PhD (Carlstate); D Litt (Dillard) and D Litt (Auckland University). He is also Honorary Member of American Academy of Letters. A many-sided intellectual, he is novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist, editor, academic and social activist.

The Kenya of his birth and youth was a British settler colony (1895-1963). As an adolescent, he lived through the Mau Mau War of Independence (1952-1962), the central historical episode in the making of modern Kenya and a major theme in his early works.

Ngugi burst onto the literary scene in East Africa with the performance of his first major play, The Black Hermit, at the National Theatre in Kampala, Uganda, in 1962, as part of the celebration of Uganda’s Independence. “Ngugi Speaks for the Continent,” headlined The Makererian, the Student newspaper, in a review of the performance by Trevor Whittock, one of the professors. In a highly productive literary period, Ngugi wrote additionally eight short stories, two one act plays, two novels, and a regular column for the Sunday Nation under the title, As I See It. One of the novels, Weep Not Child, was published to critical acclaim in 1964; followed by the second novel, The River Between (1965). His third, A Grain of Wheat (1967), was a turning point in the formal and ideological direction of his works. Multi-narrative lines and multi-viewpoints unfolding at different times and spaces replace the linear temporal unfolding of the plot from a single viewpoint. The collective replaces the individual as the center of history.

In 1967, Ngugi became lecturer in English Literature at the University of Nairobi. He taught there until 1977 while, in-between, also serving as Fellow in Creative writing at Makerere (1969-1970), and as Visiting Associate Professor of English and African Studies at Northwestern University (1970-1971). During his tenure at Nairobi, Ngugi was at the center of the politics of English departments in Africa, championing the change of name from English to simply Literature to reflect world literature with African and third world literatures at the center. He, with Taban Lo Liyong and Awuor Anyumba, authored the polemical declaration, On the Abolition of the English Department, setting in motion a continental and global debate and practices that later became the heart of postcolonial theories. "If there is need for a 'study of the historic continuity of a single culture', why can't this be African? Why can't African literature be at the centre so that we can view other cultures in relationship to it?" they asked. The text is carried in his first volume of literary essays, Homecoming, which appeared in print in 1969. These were to be followed, in later years, by other volumes including Writers in Politics (1981 and 1997); Decolonising the Mind (1986); Moving the Center (1994); and Penpoints Gunpoints and Dreams (1998).

The year 1977 forced dramatic turns in Ngugi’s life and career. His first novel in ten years, Petals of Blood, was published in July of that year. The novel painted a harsh and unsparing picture of life in neo-colonial Kenya. It was received with even more emphatic critical acclaim in Kenya and abroad. The Kenya Weekly Review described as “this bomb shell” and the Sunday Times of London as capturing every form and shape that power can take. The same year Ngugi’s controversial play, Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want), written with Ngugi wa Mirii, was performed at Kamirithu Educational and Cultural Center, Limuru, in an open air theatre, with actors from the workers and peasants of the village. Sharply critical of the inequalities and injustices of Kenyan society, publicly identified with unequivocally championing the cause of ordinary Kenyans, and committed to communicating with them in the languages of their daily lives, Ngugi was arrested and imprisoned without charge at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison at the end of the year, December 31, 1977. An account of those experiences is to be found in his memoir, Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary (1982). It was at Kamiti Maximum Prison that Ngugi made the decision to abandon English as his primary language of creative writing and committed himself to writing in Gikuyu, his mother tongue. In prison, and following that decision, he wrote, on toilet paper, the novel, Caitani Mutharabaini (1981) translated into English as Devil on the Cross, (1982).

After Amnesty International named him a Prisoner of Conscience, an international campaign secured his release a year later, December 1978. However, the Moi Dictatorship barred him from jobs at colleges and university in the country. He resumed his writing and his activities in the theater and in so doing, continued to be an uncomfortable voice for the Moi dictatorship. While Ngugi was in Britain for the launch and promotion of Devil on the Cross, he learned about the Moi regime’s plot to eliminate him on his return, or as coded, give a red carpet welcome on arrival at Jomo Kenyatta Airport. This forced him into exile, first in Britain (1982 –1989), and then the U.S. after (1989-2002), during which time, the Moi dictatorship hounded him trying, unsuccessfully, to get him expelled from London and from other countries he visited. In 1986, at a conference in Harare, an assassination squad outside his hotel in Harare was thwarted by the Zimbwean security. His next Gikuyu novel, Matigari, was published in 1986. Thinking that the novel’s main character was a real living person, Dictator Moi issued an arrest warrant for his arrest but on learning that the character was fictional, he had the novel “arrested;” instead. Undercover police went to all the bookshops in the country and the Publishers warehouse and took the novel away. So, between 1986 and 1996, Matigari could not be sold in Kenyan bookshops. The dictatorship also had all Ngugi’s books removed from all educational institutions.

In exile, Ngugi worked with the London based Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners in Kenya, (1982-1998), which championed the cause of democratic and human rights in Kenya. In between, he was Visiting Professor at Byreuth University (1984); and Writer in Residence, for the Borough of Islington, London (1985) and took time to study film, at Dramatiska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. (1986). After 1988, Ngugi became Visiting Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Yale (1989-1992) in between holding The Five Colleges (Amherst, Mount Holyoke, New Hampshire, Smith, East Massachusetts) Visiting Distinguished Professor of English and African Literature (Fall 1991). He then became Professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies at New York University (1992 –2002) where he also held the Erich Maria Remarque Professor of languages, from where he moved to his present position at the University of California Irvine. He remained in exile for the duration of the Moi Dictatorship 1982-2002. When he and his wife, Njeeri, returned to Kenya in 2004 after twenty-two years in exile, they were attacked by four hired gunmen and narrowly escaped with their lives.

Ngugi has continued to write prolifically, publishing, in 2006, what some have described as his crowning achievement, Wizard of the Crow, an English translation of the Gikuyu language novel, Murogi wa Kagogo. Ngugi’s books have been translated into more than thirty languages and they continue to be the subject of books, critical monographs, and dissertations.

Paralleling his academic and literary life has been his role in the production of literature, providing, as an editor, a platform for other people’s voices. He has edited the following literary journals: Penpoint (1963-64); Zuka (1965 -1970); Ghala (guest editor for one issue, 1964?); and Mutiiri (1992-).

He has also continued to speak around the world at numerous universities and as a distinguished speaker. These appearances include: the 1984 Robb Lectures at Auckland University in New Zealand; the1996 Clarendon Lectures in English at Oxford University; the 1999 Ashby Lecture at Cambridge; and the 2006 MacMillan Stewart Lectures at Harvard.

He is recipient of many honors including the 2001 Nonino International Prize for Literature and seven honorary doctorates.

Patrick Soon-Shiong Billionaire Cancer Treatment Pioneer from South Africa, now in Los Angeles, CA, United States

2011-05-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

Patrick was born in 1952 in South Africa during the time of apartheid. His parents were Chinese immigrants who were compelled to leave their land following the Second World War. At an early age of sixteen, Patrick attained his graduation from his school. At the age of twenty-three, he attained his graduation degree from the University of Witwatersrand.

He completed his internship at the Johannesburg General Hospital and acquired his Master of Science Degree from the University of British Columbia. He also happens to be the first resident to collect multiple research awards from a host of premiere institutions like the American College of Surgeons, Royal College of Physicians, Surgeons of Canada and the American Association of Academic Surgery.

He then immigrated to the USA for his surgical training at the University of California, Los Angeles. He became a member of the Medical School faculty at the UCLA as an assistant professor at a young age of 31. In 1991, he left UCLA to come with VivoRx, a diabetes research firm.

He founded the American Pharmaceutical Partners in 1997 and owns around 80% of the shares. His fortune is an estimated $5.2 billion. He is currently the founder, chairman and CEO of Abraxis BioScience, a bio-technology company that is working towards the development of effective cancer treatment. This nanotech drug is believed to be extremely potent with fewer side-effects.

Soon-Shiong holds a degree in Medicine from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and a Master of Science from the University of British Columbia. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Soon-Shiong performed the world’s first encapsulated islet transplant in a diabetic patient. He developed the first FDA approved protein nanoparticle delivery technology for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and this drug is being developed for lung, melanoma, gastric and pancreatic cancer. He is a co-inventor of over 50 issued U.S. patents, has published more than 100 scientific papers, and founder of 2 publicly traded pharmaceutical companies, American Pharma Partners and Abraxis Bioscience.

Dr. Soon-Shiong’s research has been recognized by national and international awards such as the Association for Academic Surgery Award for Research, the American College of Surgeons Schering Scholar, the Royal College Physicians and Surgeons Research Award, the Peter Kiewit Distinguished Membership in Medicine Award, and the International J.W. Hyatt Award for Service to Mankind. Dr. Soon-Shiong received the 2006 Gilda Club Award for the advancement of cancer medicine and is a recipient of a 2007 Ellis Island Medal of Honor as well as the St. Mary Medical Center Life Achievement Award in 2007 and the St. John’s Health Center Caritas Award in 2007.

In 2008 he received the Medical Visionary Award from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network for his work in pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Soon-Shiong currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Institute of Transplantation as well as the Technology Council for the new Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Northwestern University which is part of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) five-year initiative for nanotechnology in cancer research. He also serves on two advisory boards for the RAND Corporation, the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy and the RAND Health Board of Advisors. Dr. Soon-Shiong recently joined the Board of Trustees for the Saint John’s Health Center in Los Angeles, California and the Advisory Board of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. He also recently joined the Advisory Board for the Institute for Technology Advancement (ITA) at UCLA School of Engineering & Applied Science, as well as the Board of Councilors of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

In 2009 he was appointed to the President’s Council at RAND Corporation, Chairman of the Steering Committee of Life Sciences of the X-Prize Foundation and Founding Board member to Dossia Foundation.

Jonathan Butler,Singer-Songwriter and Guitarist, Los Angeles, USA, from Capetown, South Africa

2011-05-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

JONATHAN BUTLER
Every now and then, an artist creates a special project so rich in content, so joyous in
emotion, so fresh and inspired, that it becomes almost impossible to find a title that fully
embraces the range and heart of the project. Such was the challenge when the gifted singer,
two-time Grammy nominated songwriter, guitarist, and producer, Jonathan Butler, delivered
his latest CD to his new label, Rendezvous Entertainment.

After numerous creative meetings between artist, managers, and the label, to find just the
right title to convey the essence of the music, it became evident that the challenge was so
difficult because Mr. Butler is such a truly unique talent. So, the album is simply titled
Jonathan, reflecting exactly what this album is: pure Jonathan Butler.

And that says it all. Jonathan is the product of South Africa. Born and raised in Cape Town,
Jonathan Butler spent his youth under the shroud of apartheid, an official government policy
of political, legal, and economic discrimination against non-whites.

His escape was music. The youngest of twelve children, he began singing publicly in South
African townships at the tender age of seven. Not even in his teens, Butler's talents as a
singer and guitarist were recognized and he soon found himself touring his poverty-stricken
country in a traveling variety show.

Though his musical abilities would soon take him away from the world he grew up in,
Jonathan would neither forget the plight of his fellow South Africans nor the man who
ultimately led them to freedom. "Mandela Bay," the second track on Jonathan, is a lively
instrumental tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela. The song exudes optimism - the joy of
liberation, the celebration of life. Akin to a musical sunny day, "Mandela Bay" will raise spirits
and stamp a smile on faces, guaranteed to last at least four minutes and eleven seconds,
though no one will be blamed for putting it on repeat.

Jonathan is the product of the Western World.
At thirteen, Jonathan's talents caught the ears and eyes of British record producer Clive
Calder. He was signed to Calder's Jive Records and as the old cliche goes, the rest is history.
Jonathan's first single broke down racial barriers, becoming the first song by a black artist to
be played by white radio stations in South Africa.

Because Jive was headquartered in England, Jonathan decided to move there to focus on his
recording career. His commitment to his craft paid off with his self-titled debut album, which
received a Grammy nomination for the pop hit "Lies." Jonathan's ability to blend his roots in
African music with western pop sensibilities would be a trademark of many albums to follow,
though never more refined than in his latest release. For example, the first single from
Jonathan is a rendition of the folk-rock classic "Fire and Rain." Butler breathes new life into
this classic, infusing the vocals with intensity, as subtle as it is powerful.

The musical arrangement is lively and soulful, indicative of his roots in World music. "Fire and
Rain" is already garnering accolades from top radio programmers. Lori Lewis, program
director for WSMJ in Baltimore states, "It literally gave me a lump in my throat. I walked into
the studio and introduced it live on air. Vocals this great are really rare."
British record producer Clive Calder signed Butler as a teenager to Jive Records. His first
single was the first by a black artist played by white radio stations in South Africa and earned
a Sarie Award, South Africa's equivalent to the Grammy’s.

Jive was headquartered in England, so Butler moved there and called it home for seventeen
years. His self-titled debut album introduced him internationally and scored a Grammy
nomination for the pop hit "Lies." An instrumental, "Going Home," earned a Grammy
nomination and the mid-tempo ballad, "Sarah, Sarah," confirmed Butler's place in popular
music. A collection of diverse albums followed.

Through them and extensive concert tours, Butler solidified his presence in the 1990s with a
body of music that crossed color and age lines.
Was he a jazz instrumentalist that sang soulfully or a passionate R&B singer that played a
cool jazz guitar? "I came to the West seeking artistic freedom to express myself," he recalled.
"While my albums have always offered vocal cuts and instrumentals, for me it was never
about creating music for a particular format or type of audience.
That's too narrow and restrictive. For me, it's about surrendering to the will of the music and
just letting it flow through me, whichever direction it may go."

http://www.jonathanbutler.com/

Mark Shuttleworth Chairman of Ubuntu Foundation London, United Kingdom from Welkom, South Africa

2011-05-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

Mark Shuttleworth is an African entrepreneur with a love of technology, innovation, change and space flight.

Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973) is a South African entrepreneur who was the second self-funded space tourist.^[1] Shuttleworth founded Canonical Ltd. and as of 2010, provides leadership for the Ubuntu operating system. He has a net worth of £150 million ($225 million).^[2] He currently lives on the Isle of Man^[3] and holds dual citizenship of South Africa and the United Kingdom.

He currently lives in the Isle of Man, and is an active member of the Ubuntu community – working to create a universal, freely available high quality desktop software environment for everyone. He funds HBD Venture Capital, an investment company based in South Africa, along with The Shuttleworth Foundation, a non-profit organisation that accelerates social innovation in Africa with a particular focus on education.

Mark was born in the dusty gold-mining town of Welkom in South Africa, and grew up in beautiful Cape Town. While studying towards a degree in Finance and Information Systems at the University of Cape Town (UCT) the Internet first came to SA, and he became intrigued by the changes it would bring in business and society.

In 1995, his final year at UCT, Mark founded Thawte as an Internet consulting business. The focus of the company quickly shifted to electronic commerce and Internet security. Thawte became the first company to produce a full-security encrypted e-commerce web server that was commercially available outside the United States. This brought Thawte to the world of public key infrastructure, which is the basis for all encrypted and authenticated Internet transactions. Thawte was one of the first companies to be recognized by both Netscape and Microsoft as a trusted third party for web site certification, and it quickly established a leadership position helping businesses around the world accept secure transactions over the web. By 1999, when it was acquired by VeriSign, Thawte was fastest-growing internet certificate authority worldwide, and the leading certificate authority outside of the USA.

Believing that investment is an important part of development, Mark formed the HBD investment company. The name is a reference to the phrase “Here Be Dragons”, which legend has it was used to describe uncharted territory on early maps. HBD primarily invests in Africa, but has a global perspective and seeks opportunities worldwide.

Bringing risk capital to civil society, Mark created the Shuttleworth Foundation, which funds people that have the potential to bring about dramatic improvements to some aspect of society. The Foundation has worked in all 9 provinces of South Africa, underwriting initiatives from teachers, small businesses and private individuals. The Foundation is a catalyst for accelerated change in society, with the general theme of greater openness and effectiveness. It seeks to identify people that have the potential to create tremendous change for good, and amplifies their own investment in their vision.

In April 2002 Mark realised a lifelong dream to fly in space. He spent a year working on the project, including seven months of formal training at Star City in Russia, and almost as much time in medical testing, science program development and negotiations. The First African in Space project was without doubt the most challenging and exciting project any geek could wish for. He was a member of the crew of Soyuz TM-34, launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and docked with the International Space Station two days later. The mission included 8 days working on the ISS, conducting a program of South African science experiments and enjoying the extraordinary environment of weightlessness before coming back to earth with a bump. Since then, he has worked on a roadshow to share that experience as well as his excitement about science, mathematics and technology with pupils across South Africa. The science and maths show has been seen by more than 100,000 pupils from nearly 2,000 schools. It has spawned a plethora of initiatives under the Hip2BSquare brand, which aim to make mathematics and science sexy to pupils who are choosing their subjects for high school.

In early 2004, Mark founded the Ubuntu project, which aims to produce a high quality desktop and server operating system that is freely available all over the world. The project brings together the very best of the free software stack, with cutting-edge desktop and handheld innovation and very solid server-side infrastructure. Ubuntu aims to be beautiful, easy to use, free, and complete. Related projects include specialised desktop environments for schools, and for the needs of people in specific countries or industries, such as Edubuntu and Kubuntu.

Likes: spring, cesaria evora, slashdot, chelsea, finally seeing something obvious for the first time, daydreaming, coming home, sinatra, sundowners, durbanville, flirting, string theory, particle physics, linux, python, mp3s, reincarnation, snow, mig-29s, travel, lime marmalade, mozilla, body shots, leopards, the african bush, rajhastan, snowboarding, russian saunas, weightlessness, broadband, iain m banks, alastair reynolds, skinny-dipping, fancy dress, flashes of insight, inexplicable happinesses, post-adrenaline euphoria, convertibles, country roads, clifton, the international space station, artificial intelligence, wikipedia, kitesurfing, manx lanes.

Dislikes: admin, legalese, salary negotiations, public speaking.

He has a private jet, a Bombardier Global Express,which is often referred to as Canonical One but is in fact owned through his HBD Venture Capital company. The dragon depicted on the side of the plane is "Norman", the HBD Venture Capital mascot.

http://www.markshuttleworth.com/biography

David Karangu Owner of Merdeces Benz Franchise in Augusta, Georgia from Kenya

2011-05-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

If growing up in a third-world country taught David Karangu one thing, it was how to focus on his goals.

Mr. Karangu, owner of Fairway Ford of Augusta, said his hard-knocks upbringing in the east African nation of Kenya turned him into the ambitious businessman he is today.

In Kenya, a country of 10 million people, there are few elementary schools, even fewer high schools and only one university. Only the best students are allowed to move up the educational ladder.

The difference between a comfortable life and poverty is only one mistake away at times.

``From day one you knew you had to compete,'' he said. ``You grow up knowing your whole life depends on your ability to maximize your potential.''

Mr. Karangu has certainly maximized his potential -- at age 31 he is the youngest owner in the entire Ford dealership network.

He was merely a sales manager at an Orlando dealership when he purchased Fairway Ford from its retiring owner in late 1997.

He has taken Fairway, then a struggling low-volume dealership, and doubled its inventory to 300 vehicles, expanded service department hours and hired more qualified sales staff.

In just two months, sales doubled from the previous year, and the area's self-proclaimed ``new volume dealer'' was born.

And the improvements aren't over yet, Mr. Karangu said.

``We're definitely looking to expand even more,'' he said. ``We want to increase the inventory to 500 vehicles by the end of the year.''

Mr. Karangu was born in Atlanta to Kenyan nationals in 1967. His father, an economics professor, moved the family back to Kenya when David was 5 years old.

At 16 the family moved back when the father accepted a teaching job at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md.

The school would eventually become the junior Mr. Karangu's alma mater. He graduated with degrees in accounting and marketing and soon found work in sales jobs at dealerships.

``It was something I just sort of fell into,'' said Mr. Karangu, adding that he once wanted to be a lawyer. ``I discovered it was something I really enjoyed.''

Soon after learning the ropes, he started dreaming of owning his own dealership and started building a nest egg for that very purpose. In 1996, he enrolled in the industry's national dealer training program, a requirement for all dealers.

``I went from living very comfortably in a nice house and everything to going to half my income level so I could attend the training,'' he said.

For a while after he completed the course, he had nothing to do but wait for the right opportunity to come along.

The thought of starting his own business didn't worry him, but the waiting was driving him crazy.

``Knowing I was ready but unable to start was tough,'' he said.

He got his break a year later when a friend in Orlando told him of the opportunity at Fairway Ford, a six-acre lot off Washington Road in the booming bedroom community of Evans.

Mr. Karangu saw potential in the dealership. It was modern looking, in a prime traffic location and had an upper-income customer base.

He quickly purchased it using his savings and a line of credit through Ford Motor Co., which he used to leverage a bank loan.

Since then, business has been so brisk that he plans to pay off his creditors in full this spring.

Little touches like adding a children's play area and keeping the grounds spotless make customers feel comfortable, he said.

``Repeat business has been the biggest thing with us,'' he said, adding that about 1,500 new and used cars rolled off the Fairway lot in 1998. ``Being out here in Columbia County, people in Evans and Martinez know this is the place to come.''

He's even considering opening a second dealership somewhere in town although no formal plan is in the works, he said.

So far the strategy has been to market the dealership aggressively using broadcast advertisements to highlight its wide inventory of vehicles. Mr. Karangu has steered clear of trumpeting the ownership change and has kept himself out of the advertisements.

Fairway, located in the heart of the metro area's growth zone, is not concerned with drawing in customers from other dealers or from other areas of town, he said.

``We're not trying to compete with the dealerships on Washington Road and Gordon Highway,'' Mr. Karangu said. ``About 20,000 people drive by our dealership every day -- that's who we want to capture.''

Mr. Karangu works 12-hour days, six days a week so he doesn't have much time for a social life, he says. However, one group he does make time for is the Boys and Girls Clubs of Augusta, a nonprofit organization dedicated to disadvantaged youth.

Although he doesn't consider himself a role model, Mr. Karangu said he hopes he can light an entrepreneurial fire in at least one child.

``I want them to start dreaming about whatever it is they want to do,'' he said. ``I want kids out there to know they can achieve their dreams.''

David Karangu at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
David Karangu a self-made entrepreneur and businessman was a guest speaker at one of the WPI - Kenya Investment Conference. Below are highlights on key points he talked about in his presentation that was followed by questions from the audience.

Getting started in Business
It is no different than being in Kenya. The first thing you have to have is ambition.

Ambition
I got started when I was 17yrs when I came to this country. People who knew me then in Baltimore will tell you that I used to walk around saying, "I will be a millionaire before I'm 30 years." They would say, "That Karangu kid is crazy!" This is something I wanted than anything else. So the first thing you have to have in business is ambition.

The right business to venture in
After ambition, you have to go about looking to see what you can do. By that I mean, there are so many businesses you can do, but you have to start narrowing them down. Always the best thing to do is to do something you are familiar with. For example, we have a lot of Kenyans who work in the IT industry or medical field; it is easy to start your business in the field you are familiar with.

I do not have any money!
I'll normally tell someone that I started with no money. I came to this country just like anybody else. Yes! I was fortunate to have brothers and sisters; but none came to me and said here is a batch of money go and invest. I started going to conferences like this one, and I started talking to people who were doing what I wanted to do. I heard their stories. I was also able to meet people who finance businesses, and was able to grow this way.

The key thing
If you want to be a doctor you have to go to school. You have to read and research. A lot of times people will start a business without doing research and then wonder why they failed. By research, I mean if you want to open a restaurant you have to go talk to people who own restaurants. It is amazing that we Kenyans are so shy of picking up the phone and going to talk to someone with specific questions. People will tell you how they became successful. Talk to people and listen to how they did it and you will learn different things.

Choosing a business model
When we want to start a business we look for a business that will cater for Kenyans. I always ask people, "Would you rather have a business that caters to 20,000 Kenyans or 20 million people?" This country offers so many opportunities. There are over 3 million millionaires in this country, Why? Because it is so easy to become a millionaire. Quite frankly when I opened my business, 10 years ago, if we had the Internet the way we have it today, I would be 10 times richer. This is because when I open up a business and I do a lot of research, then it used to be you would go to the library and bureau of commerce. Today you can learn say things about Kenya through the Internet and then open up a business.

Specialization
Another thing I see with us Kenyans is we try to do too much. We try to build a house in the rural area. Another in Nairobi. We want a plot here and there, and then we want to come and do something here in the U.S. I think when you do that, you diversify your capital so much and you can't do one great thing.

Where to invest
There are a lot of opportunities in Kenya. But don't lie to yourself if you have children born in this country you may never go back to Kenya. But if you plan to go to Kenya then you can build up your capital there. This is my opinion, for I have done things in Kenya and found I did not have enough money to do what I wanted to do here.

Q&A
Q. Have you ever considered becoming a venture capitalist?
A. That is a good question. Always what happens is people come to me with ideas I call half baked. People will come up with an idea and they have not done their research. For example, If you come to me and say, "We will make a lot of money opening a radio station in Kenya." I will ask, "What kind of research have you done." And then someone will say, "There are a lot of people who listen to radio stations in Kenya." The next question I will ask is: "Where is your data? Where are the numbers?" Just like anyone else will ask you. Someone will say, "I don't have that." And I will ask, "How do you know the business will be successful?" Someone will say, "I think it will." The other one I usually get is: "I have this idea and I want to do it." I will ask, "How much money are you putting in?" And someone will say, "I'm not putting in any money", "Are you still going to keep your day job?", "Yes.", "What are you risking?", "Nothing!" But if somebody is really committed for example if someone asks you to invest half a million dollars, if you are doing this part time it will not be successful. But if you are committed, believe in the idea, are willing to give up your day job then this is something I would look at. But what I find about so many people is that the commitment is not there. If I will do the research myself then I better do the business myself. If you have a concept I will say develop the numbers. Numbers don't lie. If you are truly committed other people will believe what you believe and that is what happened to me. When I started my business I really knew this was what I wanted to do. I did my research and was able to show hard numbers. I left my job that was paying me over $120,000 a year to start business. The first year I made $40,000. Which brings me to another point. You better be married to someone committed to the ups and down of business. Imagine going from $120,000 to $40,000. From living in a nice four bedroomed house to living in an apartment. These are the sacrifices you have to make when you are getting started. This country can offer you a lot of comforts that you forget about sacrifices.

Q. Looking at the country Kenya from a business perspective. What fails Kenya that we don't have so many businesses and what can be done?
A. I have done quite some business in Kenya and there are some Kenyans here who are more experts, but I will just give my opinion. The first thing is security. If people do not feel secure they will not open businesses. The second thing is corruption. I have bought land in Kenya and waited 3 years for the title. I have bought land in Kenya and worried whether I have a real title. But I have seen a lot of changes since the new president. One thing that has happened that is good is that ministers have become very accessible. If someone is looking to do business in Kenya talk to them and they have being coming. Especially in the IT industry, they are looking to invest capital and there are a lot of ideas. For example, the PS for communications was telling me they need 1 million CDMI mobile phones. Where are these phones made? China. Why is someone not jumping into the plane to go find them? One can get a government commitment and then go to the manufacturer and say, "I'm going to order a million phones." This is a deal somewhere but nobody is doing it. Does this involve money? Not necessary. If you go to China and say, "I have a million orders!" They will find you the money.

Q. When you try to start business one of the big things we face is trying to get money. When you were starting your business how many times were you told, "No!" before you got a "Yes!"
A. Let me walk you through. I was working for the Ford Motor Company and I was very comfortable doing what I was doing. Then I decided I wanted to go out and do something else. I couldn't think of anything and I would see all these info-commercials at night on buy a house with zero down and become a millionaire. Guess what, I bought to this stuff. I realized that you cannot get rich this way, but I do not regret for this got me started. The next thing I did was I identified I wanted to buy an automobile dealership and I went to the people in the industry I knew and they turned me down. They asked, "How old are you anyway?" I said, "25 years." And they said, "Get another 15 years before we can take you seriously." I would ask, "You want me to turn 40 years before you could take me seriously?" And they would say, "Yes." Then I went to a bank. I will never forget when I went to SunTrust bank with a nice package prepared and the guy did not open the package. After this I started reading biographies of rich people and one thing I came up with is partnerships. I had 150 clients. My clients were mainly car dealers. I thought, Out obf the 150 there is someone I can partner with. As I went through my day job I would ask those I was close to "What do you think of you and I starting a business together?" Eventually I ended up with a list of 3 people. The last person I said to, "Look at this give me the capital to get started I will own 51% you do not have to do anything I will do all the work and you own 49%" and he said, "What are you giving up?", "I will give up my house. I will give up my 410K and I will quit my job." For the last 10 years we have made a lot of money before I decided I wanted to do something on my own. That's when I went and bought the dealerships. Right now I have banks that come to me and ask me, if I want money, and I tell them, no, and I think 10 years ago when nobody would talk to me. But it is because I did not have a proven record. But all I will tell you is a strong idea prevails. In my case the idea was more powerful. Think about it, even in Kenya when someone gets started who gives them money. Actually the banks in Kenya, and they require more than the banks out here.

Q. How would you compare investing in the stock exchange market here in the U S verses in Kenya?
A. Good question. The stock market has been very good and has made people very wealthy. I invested in the Kenya stock exchange very heavily and some of my stocks did well and some did not do well. I think the stock market has a lot of speculators. You cannot invest in any stock market for the short run.

Q. To reach where you are what would you say is your biggest mistake?
A. I have made a lot of mistakes. I have lost a lot of money. I have trusted the wrong people. But mistakes and regrets are two things; I don't regret anything I have done. I know I have never tried to pursue money in a corrupt way. I have made mistakes in business that I did not fully research. I lost a lot of money in the Kenya Stock Exchange. I was in the process of buying the BMW dealership and people were making a lot of money in the Kenya Stock Exchange. I threw in a lot of money trying to make a quick buck and get out and I lost.

Q. What makes you a good businessman?
A. Discipline. I work every week 70 to 80 hours and not because I have to but because I want to. I take my business extremely seriously. When it comes to business I am very strict. I do not hire people because they are my friends. I have always protected my reputation and my integrity. If I do something to hurt my business, I feel a responsibility to the Kenya community and black community of this country.

Q. What makes one successful in business? Is it talent?
A. To succeed in business you have to know and like people. For example I'm successful because I have good employees. You have to know how to hire, keep and discipline. This is one talent you have to have. People relations are very important. For example, How to deal with your customers? The other thing where people fail, is not knowing how to manage money. This is where education and going to college comes in. In business the first thing you learn is that profit and cash are two different things. If you are not managing your money properly and there is a lot of cash tied in inventory you can be cash poor which happens to a lot of people. Managing money and managing people are the two biggest things.

Conclusion
I think we all need to spend a lot of time with our children. I look at it this way the things I don't achieve especially in this country then I want my children to achieve. The next time you come to a conference like this, if you have a teenage child bring them! Let them see, let them hear so that what you didn't achieve they may achieve. Ambition is something created when your child is exposed to different things. If your child is exposed to nothing else but TV then that is what your child will grow learning from. What is amazing is that I'm normally asked to speak in high schools in this country and normally I talk to 12th graders who are in their last year of high school and it is amazing to see how many of them are not going to college. I will ask them, "Don't your parents say you have to go to college?" They will say, "My parents have never talked to me about college." And I'm shocked. Now we have some Kenyans living in the U.S and I believe the same way your parents made you go to school, go to college, you too should make your children.

VITALS

Name: David Karangu

Born: May 5, 1967, Atlanta

Family: Married to Jane, one daughter

Title: President, Fairway Ford of Augusta Inc.,

School: Morgan State University, Baltimore, Md.; bachelor's degree in accounting/marketing

History: Mr. Karangu was born to Kenyan natives residing in Atlanta. He grew up in Kenya but received his higher education in the U.S. He aspired to own his own car dealership shortly after going to work at several car dealerships in Florida. With help from a commercial loan and financing from Ford, Mr. Karangu purchased Fairway Ford in Evans from its retiring owner in fall 1997.

Civic:

Boys and Girls Clubs of Augusta; board member

Djibril Diallo, PhD (Lon), Senior Advisor to the Executive Director United Nations , New York, USA, from Senegal

2011-05-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

As Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr. Djibril Diallo is based at the New York Office and helps advance the priority of universal access to HIVA/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support. He works to mobilize support of prominent personalities, Member States, the media and other partners on key issues and strengthen the global response to the epidemic. He also coordinates a global network of youth leaders who are committed to efforts to the fight against HIV/AIDS and the achievement of the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Dr. Diallo was the Director of the United Nations New York Office of Sport for Development and Peace from 2004 to 2008. He spearheaded numerous initiatives that demonstrated the power of sport to mobilize the United Nations, its Member States and their governments, private sector partners, civil society, and other stakeholders for peace building and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. He chaired an UN Inter-agency Working Group on Sport for Development and Peace to build cooperation across the UN system, and was as a member of Steering Committee of the 2007 International Year of African Football.

Dr. Diallo also served as Spokesperson for the President of the 59th United Nations General Assembly in 2004-2005, for whom he conceived a strategic communications plan to project overall media coverage throughout 2005, the year commemorating the 60th anniversary of the organization.

Dr. Diallo served as Director of the Communications Office of the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 1995 to 2005. In this capacity, he was responsible for sharpening UNDP’s corporate identity through media and advocacy outreach, and worked with UNDP offices in Brussels, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo and Washington DC, as well as the 133 developing countries around the world. His task was to mobilize political, popular and financial support for UNDP priorities by increasing understanding of its mandate, mission and global activities.

Dr. Diallo serves as the chair of the Leadership Committee for the U.S. Launch of FESMAN 2010 (the World Festival of Black Arts),
which will be held in Senegal in December 2010, offering an opportunity to strengthen to role of the arts in promoting development and
peace. He is also the co-Chair of the World Affairs Taskforce of the U.S.-based National Association of Black Journalists, and is a Board Member of All for Africa, a U.S. non-governmental organization promoting African development, and the Africa Centre in London.

As the initiator of the first ever United Nations Global Youth Leadership Summit in New York in October 2006, organized on behalf of the United Nations system, Dr. Diallo brought together youth leaders between the ages of 18-30 from nearly 192 Member States to exchange perspectives on how young people can accelerate the achievement of the MDGs. The global gathering was the preceded by a series of regional summits and led to the emergence of a youth leadership network. This forms the basis for new partnerships with youth networks on the MDGs, with action against HV/AIDS as an entry point.
Prior to joining UNDP, Dr. Diallo served the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for nine years, acting both as Special Advisor to the Executive Director and as Deputy Director of Public Affairs. He played a central role in the planning of the World Summit for Children and its implementation. He has also served as Special Advisor to the Secretaries-General of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and of the World Conference on Human Rights (WCHR) in Vienna in 1993. Before joining UNICEF, Dr. Diallo was the spokesman for the UN Office for Emergency Operations in Africa (OEOA), where he helped focus world attention on the famine of 1984-85. Dr. Diallo began his career with the United Nations with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1980 in Geneva.

Dr. Djibril Diallo, a citizen of Senegal, earned a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Communication from the University of London, United Kingdom. He has taught languages in Nottingham, UK, and in Africa. His work for peace and sustainable development has been recognized by
numerous national and international organizations.

Larry Seruma, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Principal, Nile Capital Management, LLC, New York, NY from Uganda

2011-05-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

Larry Seruma has more than 19 years of experience in portfolio management, equity and derivatives trading, investment research and quantitative investment strategies. In 2004, he founded Nile Capital Management, LLC. In recent years, he has served as a Managing Director at Proxima Alfa Investments (USA) LLC, a joint venture between Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and Vega Asset Management. Previously, he was a Principal at Barclays Global Investors (BGI), a division of Barclays Capital, where he worked in the Active Strategies Group there and was also a member of BGI’s Investment Process Committee. He also has experience as an Options Market Maker at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. Mr. Seruma serves on the Board for All For Africa, a non-profit organization that focuses on providing sustainable funding to charities and community based programs in Africa. Mr. Seruma is originally from Uganda. He holds an MBA in Analytic Finance and Statistics from the Booth School of Business, The University of Chicago.

LARRY SERUMA has more than 19 years of experience in portfolio management, equity and derivatives trading, investment research and quantitative investment strategies. In 2004 he founded Nile Capital Management, LLC. In recent years, he has served as a Managing Director at Proxima Alfa Investments (USA) LLC, a joint venture between Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and Vega Asset Management. Previously he was a Principal at Barclays Global Investors (BGI), a division of Barclays Capital, where he worked in the Active Strategies Group and was also a member of BGI's Investment Process Committee. He also has experience as an Options Market Maker at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. Mr. Seruma presently serves on the Board for All For Africa, a non-profit organization that focuses on providing sustainable funding to charities and community-based programs in Africa. Mr. Seruma is originally from Uganda. He holds an MBA in analytic finance and statistics from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago.

TWST: What is Nile Capital Management, LLC, and what do you do?

Mr. Seruma: Our firm is a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) based in New York City, and our focus is Africa. We currently advise one mutual fund, Nile Pan Africa Fund, with an objective of investing for long-term total return in the whole continent of Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town. We also have two additional mutual funds. One is a Fixed Income Fund, again focusing on Africa, and the other is the Natural Resources Fund, for more concentrated investing in leading natural resource companies in Africa. We expect those two funds to be offered to the public at some point during the next year, after we build Nile Pan Africa Fund to a targeted level of assets and participation.

TWST: For investors who still don't understand the draw of Africa, why should they consider investing there?

Mr. Seruma: There are probably a dozen reasons why some investors should put Africa on their radar screens. Let me focus on four that I consider among the most important. First, let's talk about an objective that motivates almost all investors - potential returns. Over the last five years, African markets as a whole have returned about 12% annualized. This is comparable to the return of the broader index of emerging markets (MSCI Emerging Markets), which has been about 13% annualized over the same period. So Africa has performed about as well as emerging markets on the whole. But when you compare that performance with developed markets, it looks even more attractive.

Most major developed market indices have produced flat to negative total returns over the last five years. Over a 10-year horizon, the performance gap between Africa and developed markets is even greater. Second, African markets have produced low correlation with other emerging markets as well as developed markets. This means that adding Africa to a core portfolio has the potential to increase portfolio diversification. The third reason is Africa's growth story. Increasingly, global GDP growth is being driven by emerging and frontier markets, and Africa's GDP is projected to grow by 6% annually over the next few years. This matches the average annual increase in Africa's GDP over the last decade. The fourth reason is a surge in money flows to emerging investment markets.

TWST: How do you describe your investment philosophy?

Mr. Seruma: We combine top-down macroeconomic analysis and bottom-up fundamental analysis. The first step in our investment process is to develop a macroeconomic view and a ranking of all 53 countries. Our proprietary analysis and rankings help to identify countries with sustained growth, political stability, sound governments and economic policies, and reliable frameworks for regulation and corporate governance. Our next step is to identify leading companies located in the top-ranked countries based on bottom-up fundamental analysis and valuation.

TWST: In evaluating economies and companies, do you include factors such as political stability and the potential for rebellion or violence against civilians? Aren't those realities in Africa?

Mr. Seruma: Yes, and this does make managing an African mutual fund more challenging. I'll give you a specific example. Corruption is a problem not only in Africa but in almost all emerging markets. We believe the best way to minimize the impact of corruption is by focusing on companies with strong corporate governance. For example, several companies we own have multinational corporations among their largest shareholders. We have found that the multinational corporate shareholders historically have helped to cultivate strong management teams, as well as ethics and financial controls that help to mitigate corruption. Clearly, there are additional risks in emerging markets. But we think these risks help to make these markets less efficient and give us an edge through our ability to identify and manage those risks.

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