According to a UNESCO statement, Ms Alemu was recommended by an independent international jury of media professionals in recognition of her “exceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression.”

Alemu wrote critically about political and social issues, focusing on the root causes of poverty, and gender equality and published in many independent Medias. Reeyot Alemu was courageous, in 201o, she founded her own publishing house and a monthly magazine called Change, both of which were subsequently closed. In June 2011, while working as a regular columnist for Feteh, a national weekly newspaper, Ms Alemu was arrested. She is currently serving a five year sentence in Kality prison.

The UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was created in 1997 by UNESCO’s Executive Board. It is awarded annually during the celebration of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, which will take place this year in Costa Rica.

Reeyot Alemu was imprisoned in Ethiopia for more than a year on allegations of terrorism. According to International Women’s Media Foundation, she is one of many journalists who have been arrested, interrogated and threatened in the East African country.

“What makes Alemu exceptional are her commitment to work for independent media when the prospect of doing so became increasingly dangerous, her refusal to self-censor in a place where that practice is standard, and her unwillingness to apologize for truth-telling, even though contrition could win her freedom”, IWMF said on its website.

While in jail, Alemu was offered clemency if she agreed to testify against journalist colleagues. She refused and was sent to solitary confinement for 13 days as punishment for her failure to cooperate.

In 2012, she was honoured with the Courage in Journalism Award.

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This was confirmed at the weekend by Sonni Yusuf, the Nigerian High Commissioner in South Africa.

Trouble between the two nations started when an over-zealous South African customs official returned a plane full of Nigerians for having an incorrect yellow fever inoculation.

This caused what has become known as one of last year’s most serious diplomatic incidents.

The incident of returning Nigerians to their country made the government of Nigeria very angry, prompting customs officials to start declining visas to South Africans. The situation was only resolved after a humble regret from South Africa.

In the lead up to the appointment of a new leader for the African Union (AU), Nigeria supported Jean Ping, the former head of the organisation. But the South African contender, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma won the elections, much to the chagrin of the Nigerian state.
Again, it is also understood that the superficial attention of the rivalry between the two countries is about the size of the two economies.
Nigeria is due to rebase its gross domestic product (GDP) figures next year. This could boost Nigeria’s GDP massively making it to be closer to South Africa’s.

According to BDLive, if Nigeria’s growth rate remains at nearly 7 percent which is twice that of South Africa’s, the title of Africa’s heavyweight economy will go to Nigeria within a few years.

This could be a great embarrassment to South Africa which has enjoyed the status of being Africa’s economic powerhouse for many years.

Early last year, Kgalema Motlanthe, South Africa’s deputy president admitted that the relationship between the two countries had been going through a difficult time recently.

He said the two countries had to have a heart-to-heart discussion influenced by the spirit of common friendship as Africans with a mutual future.

The Nigerian High Commissioner in South Africa at the weekend said all the prerequisite visas have been allotted to all the members of Zuma’s entourage.

Zuma will meet Jonathan in Abuja and then entertain him next month during Jonathan’s full-blown state visit to South Africa, South Africa’s Department of International Relations said.

The two leaders will discuss and consult on regional and continental issues during the visit.

The post Zuma To Visit Nigeria Amid Tense Bilateral Relations appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

By Justin Fox, author of The Myth of the Rational Market

VENTURES AFRICA – In Western business circles, Rwandan President Paul Kagame is widely regarded as a hero. The leader of the rebel army that put a halt to the massacre of the country’s Tutsi minority by its Hutu majority in 1994, Kagame has been the country’s president since 2000 (and was the vice president and de facto leader before then). He has presided over an economic and social rebirth, with Rwanda making dramatic gains in health and development indicators (watching its recent progress on Gapminder is a remarkable sight). And he has assembled a high-powered Western fan club consisting of, among others, Howard Schultz, Bill Gates, and Tony Blair.

In other circles, Kagame is not so popular. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both accuse him of heavy-handedly stifling political dissent. A United Nations report held him responsible for killings by a rebel group in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. Britain and Belgium have cut back on aid. In a lengthy Newsweek article in January, former New York Times correspondent Howard French depicted Kagame as an out-of-control tyrant.

The best attempt I’ve seen at sorting out these opposed narratives was an article published last fall by Time‘s Alex Perry that weighs the scales at least modestly in Kagame’s favor. So when Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter invited HBR last month to attend a class where Kagame was the guest speaker, and talk to him and Kagame afterwards, I was curious but also a little worried about being enlisted as a Kagame salesman.

Porter is a member in good standing of the business-community Kagame fan club, and has just finished a new version of his case study (an earlier one is available here) on Rwanda’s economic transformation. It describes the country’s successful efforts to build what Porter long ago dubbed “clusters,” concentrations of industry and expertise that enable it to build competitive advantage. So far, Rwanda’s three big clusters are coffee, tea, and tourism, but Porter is convinced there are more to come.

The case study doesn’t hide the fact that Kagame has many critics, but it doesn’t dwell on political issues. Curiously, though, Kagame’s Q&A with Porter’s students ended up dwelling only on political issues. This was mostly Kagame’s fault — he was only asked two questions, one about the Congo and one about what will happen when his current (and, according to Rwanda’s constitution, last) presidential term ends in 2017, and gave such long, rambling, combative answers to both that there was no time for anything else. Kagame’s staff said I could quote anything he said in class, but it was just too much; to get a flavor of what it sounded like, see Alex Perry’s epic Q&A with Kagame from last year.

After witnessing that, I tried a different approach in my interview, mostly staying away from politics. The edited results are below:

Clearly you’ve been very interested in getting outside input from the business community. And yet you bristle at getting it from the multilateral community.

President Paul Kagame: If you want to learn anything about a country, I think you need to ask the one who wants to make investment in that country. The one who is thinking about the risks involved. They’re thinking about the return. If somebody comes to your country and says, “You know, this is a place to invest,” actually that is a good place. You see?

But if you send someone and say, “Go on, look and find for me something that is at fault,” in any place in this world somebody will come up with piles and piles to things to report about.

These human rights groups, they come with that kind of mindset. They’re critical. They even start being critical on issues that the people where they have gone don’t find a problem with.

That’s the difference between these two worlds. Therefore, we always want to ally ourselves with these ones [gestures at Porter] because that’s where the real life is. That’s where the people living in my country are going to find something to make a difference for their lives. When somebody’s coming to invest in Rwanda and finds it ripe for investment, it’s a good place. No matter what else you say about it.

This, for me, is the focus. People started asking in 2005, “Oh, President, are you going to leave when your term is up?” Then after that they say the same question. And I say, “What does it matter to you? You’re diverting me from the real issues of the day.”

[To Porter] How did you hook up with this guy? How did this partnership evolve?

Michael Porter: We met through Michael Fairbanks, who was at Monitor originally and then founded his own firm. It was more than a decade ago, probably closer to 15 years ago. The country was at a very interesting place on a very interesting track. So I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in the journey.

There’s a zillion countries that say they’re the next Silicon whatever, and then there’s lots of countries that do really basic resource exploitation. Rwanda seems to have picked interesting places in between, especially with coffee and figuring out that coffee washing was really important.

Was that something that came bottom up? Was that advice from people like Professor Porter? How did you focus on a strategy like that when so many countries struggle to focus?

Kagame: It is a combination of factors. We have seen in our country that good ideas and different initiatives, well, they come from where they come from. Sometimes they may be picked up by the leaders from the people on the ground.

For example, coffee. Rwanda used to grow coffee many years ago, and because they were getting nothing out of it they gave up on it. And we said, “You know what? We used to be good at coffee. Now the coffee has kind of disappeared, but we have an idea of how it can work for you.”

You start in one area. Then success leads to another, you know? It keeps going like that.

Porter: The principle that Rwanda illustrates so well is that building and diversifying an economy has to start with what you have. In these cases Rwanda had eroded assets, but there was a foundation and a proof point, a market test that these areas could be successful and they could be competitive.

Then the discussion was really about, “How do we move forward? How do we upgrade? How do we make things more sophisticated? What are the bottlenecks? What are the constraints?”

In the initial three areas of coffee, tea, and tourism, that effort has advanced quite far now. Rwanda is winning international awards and marketing globally, and tourism is booming.

The next areas of growth partly are ones that are connected to the first ones. I think it was very clear that Rwanda has to develop its logistics and its physical infrastructure. IT [information technology] was an area where I think the president and his team understood that this was not only good for citizens in general, and good to enable government and healthcare and education, but it also provided an area where Rwanda could build economic activity. There was no other place in the region that really had taken that space.

My biggest effort in Rwanda really has been on private sector development and organization and upgrading. Ultimately that’s what makes a country successful or unsuccessful. Government can’t do it. You have to have a vibrant private sector. It has to be competitive. It has to create good jobs. It has to be profitable.

Kagame: Right. And what people like Professor Porter brought to this situation is that critical thinking, that understanding of these global issues and how they interconnect. And for us it is also the readiness to actually test and implement. You start with one thing, it gives good results, and it becomes an incentive to keep trying.

So what do you want to be next big thing after coffee, tea, and tourism? Or are you going to wait and see how it develops?

Kagame: We are continuing with that and concentrating on the progress we’re making. But we’ve also discovered mining in Rwanda. We have more resources than we knew we had. So that’s an area that brings in money. And the services industry has been critical. In fact, it is among the leaders contributing to our GDP growth, with huge potential.

All of these need powering. We need energy. So we are doing everything 24 hours a day thinking about how to increase our energy capacity.

Of course, building human capacity is critical. We keep sending our people to institutions of higher learning in the sciences, engineering, and management. It’s the focus because we want our people to understand how the new world works.

Porter: I think the IT area and financial services have now risen to the point that they represent a genuine opportunity. Broadband access is really quite unique for a country at this stage of development. And IT is now starting to interface with healthcare and education, and is powering financial services.

Here’s a country where a critical part of the strategy was bringing the citizens together and giving them a sense that they are part of the solution, part of a nation, that they are Rwandans, not members of an ethnic group. Given the history, I think task number one was nation building and reconciliation.

Kagame: Sometimes direct and simple conversations make a difference. I go to these rural areas and meet people and ask them, “How many of you own small businesses? Or have shops?” Many of them put up their hands, and I ask, “When somebody walks into your shop and is looking for soap or sugar or whatever, do you first ask them whether they are Catholics or Hutus or Tutsis? What does it matter to you? You want a customer, and that’s all you want.”

People grasp it very quickly. They start valuing each other. They say, “Oh, I need him for what I don’t have and he needs me for what he doesn’t have.” That’s creating an awareness in society like never before: Yes, we need each other. We are more similar than different. It helps the society to move forward.

And it’s your sense that business and economic activity do that?

Kagame: I would rank it number one. The rest will follow. At the end of the day we’re just human beings. You want food and you want it for your family. Plus, you really need dignity, to be able to do something on your own and benefit from it. And there’s nothing that does that better than being able to do business.

Porter: Or have a good job. Or make your farm more productive. These basic truths have become more understood in Rwanda. I give the president and his team a lot of credit for creating that atmosphere.

I also think that Rwanda is unique, in my experience, in government being able to actually get things done. In most countries, things don’t get done. Roads don’t get built on time. Schools don’t get established. Teachers don’t get trained. Vocational training doesn’t work. And I think Rwanda, partly out of scarcity of resources and partly out of good leadership, has been able to actually implement and execute.

The government is very disciplined, very focused on plans. Very focused on accountability. There’s an annual kind of national retreat of all the leaders in the country who really think about where we are, where we’ve been, where we need to go.

It sounds like it’s run like a corporation.

Porter: It’s really run much more rationally than most governments. Again, I think that’s partly possible because of the history.

Kagame: Yes. It’s like you’re thrown in a swimming pool and you are trying to learn how to swim on the spot and get yourself out of trouble.

Again, it’s an issue of incentivizing the people to act in a certain way. Even by using some of the simple conversations I was talking about. For example, when aid has been suspended or cut, you have to explain what has happened, and how and why it has happened.

Then you also challenge them, saying, “But for how long are we really going to depend on handouts? When someone has decided to take it away, what happens to you? It is better to start focusing on what we can do for ourselves so we don’t always find ourselves stranded.”
And you know, you see people lighting up. That is the moment when you bring in ideas, initiatives, some of the things that can work on the ground. They just grab it so quickly.

We used to have people who would be fed by World Food Program and so on. That’s the situation we inherited. We said, “No, we need to feed ourselves. We can feed ourselves. This is how to do it because one day the World Food Program won’t show up.” In just three years from that time, we have had surpluses all the time.

Porter: There’s some just marvelous data now in terms of just how much progress has been made, in education and healthcare and FDI and all kinds of areas. It seemed impossible a decade ago, but it’s happening and it’s reinforcing itself.

And it’s all because of a certain pragmatic, forward-looking, we-have-to-figure-this-out mindset. That philosophy, that mindset really does have to come from the top but I think it’s going to sustain itself.

Kagame: Right. Leadership, combined with the sense people have of how they link up with the leadership. Working together for a common goal that is theirs.

Porter: It’s a very rich story about management and leadership and strategy and communication. And I think this is not a politics story. At the core is the private sector of economy — self-sufficiency, running a business well. It’s fascinating to see that play itself out. END

Justin Fox is editorial director of the Harvard Business Review Group and author of The Myth of the Rational Market. Follow him on Twitter @foxjust.

The post Insight Into President Kagame’s Leadership In Rwanda appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

The ceremony will be held at the 60, 000-capacity Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani. The centre was already packed to the rafters with Kenyan citizens this morning.

According to Kenya’s Daily Nation, Kenyatta arrived with his wife, Margaret, this morning. They arrived at the centre at 11:45am, minutes after Deputy President-elect, William Ruto, had been there already.

The two leaders got a hearty round of applause from the spectators in the centre. This is indicative of the fact that the two leaders have support from the people of Kenya.

Kenyatta’s victory was endorsed by the Supreme Court despite Odinga’s bid to reverse the outcome of the presidential elections.

Kenyatta and Ruto face accusations at the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding Kenya’s post-election hostilities five years ago.

According to the Daily Nation, some of the invited heads of states arrived by 10:45 am this morning but hundreds of thousands of people started coming in at the stadium as early as 5am.

According to the Daily Nation, those attending the function include Presidents Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Salva Kiir (South Sudan), Jacob Zuma (South Africa), Ali Bongo (Gabon), Jonathan Goodluck (Nigeria) and Joseph Kabila (DR Congo).

Others are Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Somalia), Ismail Guelleh (Djibouti), Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) and Haile Mariam Desalegn (Ethiopia Prime Minister).

Former President Daniel Arap Moi and former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda are also joining other leaders, the Daily Nation reported.

Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta, mother to Kenyatta and US Human Rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson also attended, the newspaper added.

According to BBC News Africa, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who faces an ICC arrest following the fighting in Darfur, will not be attending the ceremony.

President Mwai Kibaki will inspect the guard of honour on his arrival. Kenyatta worked as deputy prime minister, minister for trade and finance minister under departing President Kibaki.

The 51-year-old will be Kenya’s youngest president.

The post Uhuru Kenyatta Sworn In As Kenyan President appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

The Foundation said the award is for Tutu’s life-long work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness which has helped to liberate people around the world.

The prize, for the past 40 years, has been the world’s biggest yearly monetary prize which honors living persons who have made brilliant impact in confirming spiritual realities.

“By embracing such universal concepts of the image of God within each person, Desmond Tutu also demonstrates how the innate humanity within each of us is intrinsically tied to the humanity between all peoples,” Dr John M. Templeton jnr, president and chairman of the Foundation, said in a video statement this morning.

He said Tutu managed to call upon all of humanity to see that each and every human being is “unique in all of history.”

“And…to embrace our own vast potential to be agents for spiritual progress and positive change, and not only does he teach this idea, he lives it,” he said.

Tutu said: “When you are in a crowd and you stand out from the crowd, it’s usually because you are being carried on the shoulders of others.”

Tutu climbed to global fame with his resolute and fruitful challenge to South Africa’s apartheid system from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Since then he has always merged the theological concept that all human beings are shaped in the image of God with the traditional African belief of Ubuntu.

Tutu’s calls to common humanity began in the 1970s, when he used ranks within the church to focus international spotlight on the brutal apartheid policies of South Africa’s ruling minority junta.

Soon after South Africa’ first all-race elections in 1994, Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) employing a revolutionary and relentless policy of confession.

The US-based Foundation said a celebration will be held next week Thursday, April 11 in Cape Town’s St. George’s Cathedral.

Tutu will receive the prize this year at a public ceremony at the Guildhall in London on Tuesday, May 21.

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The news agency cited his publisher as the source of the sad news without disclosing the cause of death.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Achebe was born in 1930 in a roadside town in former British Nigeria’s rural southeast.

The business newspaper reported that Achebe wanted work as a young man in Lagos, the colonial capital, where he carved his first book: the sad narrative of a star combatant reduced to suicide by the advent of Christian missionaries.

On Friday, WSJ reported that Achebe wrote his early fiction at a hopeful hour in African history.

This, according to the newspaper, was in the 1950s and 1960s, when influences of independence stirred young authors to rejoice the brighter facets of life in the so-called “dark continent.”

Many of these young writers wanted to seize the majesty of Africa’s sceneries, its rivers and gardens.

Achebe was more cynical of Africa’s pace of transformation.

In the books he wrote, African community could be both nice but ruthless, and always at risk of ‘falling apart.”

“He started writing at a moment of great expectations, but his works contained this important cautionary note, that things could go wrong,” WSJ quoted Simon Gikandi, a Kenyan writer as saying.

“Soon, they did. Achebe’s 1966 novel “Man of the People” ends with a military coup. Weeks after its publication, Nigerians awoke to learn their military had seized power for the first of six times. Civilians and soldiers alike accused the novelist of enjoying foreknowledge of the coup.”

According to WSJ, within months, Nigeria was submerged in independent Africa’s first humanitarian devastation: a war for the independence of Achebe’s Igbo fatherland that left one million people dead, most of them children who starved.

The writer delved into this painful period in his last book, “There Was A Country.”

The post African Literary Giant Chinua Achebe Bows Out At 82 appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

The AfDB and the Yunus Social Business have selected Uganda, Tunisia and Togo as the beneficiary countries for the pilot project which will soon be expanded to other African nations.

The two-year programme is said to be implemented in two phases: first, through awareness raising and capacity-building of stakeholders in Social Business; second, with the implementation of social business incubation funds in Tunisia and Togo.

The initiative was announced when Mr Yunus recently paid a visit to the headquarters of the AfDB in Tunis, Tunisia.

According to the AfDB, “This programme is part of the Bank’s Joint Initiative on Youth Employment in Africa, in partnership with the African Union Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the International Labour Organization.

The HSBM programme will be funded by a grant from the Government of Japan and co-financed by the AfDB.

The three countries were selected on the basis of an assessment of their youth unemployment rates. Should the pilot programs prove effective, the Bank aims to expand the initiative to other African countries.

Prof Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. He established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983, fueled by the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could help themselves.

The post Nobel Peace Laureate Prof. Yunus Unveils Social Business Initiative For Africa appeared first on Ventures Africa | .

After studying in the United States and gaining an MBA, Kah Walla returned home to Douala, Cameroon where she worked as the Marketing & Technical Director then General Manager for a small consulting firm. When mismanagement and poor financial handling sent the company into the ground, Kah took a bold step and begin her own consulting firm.

That was 18 years ago. In that time Strategies! has grown from a local consulting business to one of international repute, partnering with major international development organisations like World Bank and advising multinationals like Standard Chartered Bank and Shell, and generating over 80 percent of its turnover outside Cameroon. Kah Walla is renowned for her work both at a high level and at the grassroots. She is a board member of the World Entrepreneurship Forum and the American Chambers of Commerce and is the National President of the Cameroon People’s Party. She shares her story as an entrepreneur, community leader and politician in this exclusive interview with Ventures Africa.

VW: Let’s start with your entrepreneurial journey – why consulting? And what were some of your biggest successes and early challenges?

KW: I wouldn’t say I chose consulting, it more so chose me. I actually started working at a consulting firm in Cameroon and after a while I was called on to be the General Manager for the company. Unfortunately I hadn’t been informed about the many financial woes of the company and after just two years there the company had to close down. At this point although I had seen a lot of mismanagement and wrong things at the firm, I had also seen a lot of potential for the industry so I decided to strike out on my own. I began in my father’s dining room; that was my office. This was 1999 when there were no cell phones so my staff and I went to the pay phone down the street to call our clients! Actually (laughing) we made a deal with the guy that stayed near the phone to take messages for us when our clients called back! So the first two years were very tough but as time went on, we began to build our client base and the business began to grow. One of our biggest successes came when one of our consultants, Sophie asked why we were just working in Cameroun. She proposed going to Chad to seek out clients, a trip that would cost $3000, money we couldn’t afford to waste. We eventually agreed and it turned out to be the best decision we ever made. That same year, 10 percent of our revenue came from Chad. Since that time, we have done more and more international work so much so that over 80 percent of our business is now outside Cameroun. That was definitely one of the best decisions we made, I owe Sophie a lot.

VW: You are not only an entrepreneur but also a community organiser. How did you make that transition, were you always involved with the community?

KW: Actually I was very fortunate because my work led me to the right organisations and contacts as I consulted a lot for international development organisations. I had become heavily involved in making the business environment friendlier for people at the grassroots so I began organising community projects for my constituency. One project was improving the business environment in Sandaga Market in Douala. These women were regularly harassed and oppressed by the men and many local government officials. We were able to train more than 350 women on business management, basic sanitation, understanding the taxation system and knowing what they should expect from their city officials. Most importantly, they learned how to organise themselves to advocate for their rights. I think when the market women approach the council officials there now (laughing) they tremble a bit!

VW: You transitioned from life as a successful entrepreneur into politics; a move that most people refuse to make. Many prefer to create change from ‘outside’. Is going into politics the only way to effect change?

KW: Well, I too was once guilty of that thinking. I used to say to myself back when I started my business, “anything but politics!” But it became clear to me as time went on and as I ran my business that at the end of the day, I always came up against the government. The government was always somehow a stumbling block or obstacle to running my business effectively whether in form of its policies, operations or officials. It became clear that I couldn’t make change from the outside. Today I challenge educated Africans that are looking for change and trying to affect it with their business and NGOs, “how can you change a society with a bad government? Show me one country that has been able to turn its economic situation or hardships around with a bad government in place, none!” I believe very strongly that only the state has the power, reach and legitimate authority to affect the kind of widespread change that’s needed.

VW: Tell us a bit about the ‘Time is now’ Campaign; why did you choose that title?

KW: We felt like this title was highly appropriate for the times. Experience and recent history tell us that when you have a bad, corrupt government that’s not doing its job and a highly educated young population that’s unemployed; a revolution is coming. Tunisia and Lybia have demonstrated this. There will either be an explosion with mass violence, or a young leader that emerges and uses violence to take the government down will easily find support amongst disgruntled citizens. Why wait for that to happen before change comes? I believe that any non-violent source of change is good so we’re trying to push that the democratic process is the source we need. There is no better time for this than now.

VW: Well said! You didn’t win the last time but will you run again? What would you do differently this time?

KW: The Cameroonian presidential term is 7 years, which is a long time but I would definitely run again and this time, I would raise more funds. Fundraising was certainly a big issue but what people don’t realise is that it’s not that the citizens are voting for the wrong people, they are simply not voting! During elections only 25 percent of Cameroonians voted because they believe that the elections are already rigged so what’s the point? So the reality is that we are not just campaigning for change, we also have to really engage with people on a personal level to teach them that their democratic voice does count and rebuild the trust. It is unbelievable just how expensive this process of grassroots community organising is.

VW: What would your top 3 priorities be if you became president?

KW: First, I would change the constitution, we need one that is reflective of a new democratic era; I would also work to turn the informal sector, which is currently 90 percent of the Cameroonian work force, into a dignified job market; I would also focus on the two key social systems which are health and education. These things wouldn’t necessarily be done one after the other, they would be simultaneous. Through my grassroots engagement with youths, I found that many of them were involved in the informal sectors so I would go about legitimising those jobs and making sure things like micro-insurance and social services were available to them. We also have new, innovative ideas on how to tackle the health sector. We’re looking at a situation where health centres are integrated with other social systems such as schools, market places etc. That way these centres can provide medical care as well as health education and preventive services to the people in a way that is tailored to their unique community needs.

VW: You have many great accomplishments in business and politics, well done! What aspects of your background, mentors or education, shaped your thinking about the future?

KW: I grew up surrounded by strong women and a great family. My paternal grandmother was a very strong woman, I remember her being unstoppable. She never allowed anyone to say that because she was a woman she couldn’t achieve something she wanted. She never let what society was going to think of her stop her. My maternal grandmother was also a strong woman and an entrepreneur; I grew up watching the way she ran her business. She was also a seamstress so she taught me, whatever you do, do it in style! (laughs) My mother was also a very strong woman in her own right; she was very educated and led a major international NGO for many years. My dad always saw me as his first girl and able to achieve anything I wanted. Even when people tried to remind him that I was a girl, his response was “So what? She can do anything that she wants”. So I was very blessed growing up with an extremely strong sense of love and that there was really nothing impossible for me. It has made the biggest difference for me.

VW: You have a strong relationship with Vital Voices, what have been the benefits of this partnership?

KW: We have a very strong multi-faceted relationship with them. I’ve participated in some of their programmes and I’m a part of their global leaders’ network which brings together women across Africa making a difference. On the other hand, my firm also provides services for them so they are my clients. We help them develop organisational strategies and plan for the future. We were an ideal partner for them because on engaging us they realised that the community organising work that we’ve done gave us the in-depth grassroots knowledge and reach that they needed for their activities. But we also brought to them our ability to think strategically and plan for the future. Through Vital Voices, the work we were doing also got the needed recognition. I got to shake former US President, Bill Clinton’s hand for the organising work we did with market women! It is certainly a very mutually beneficial relationship.

Like many of her heroes, Kah Walla is taking a stand for the future of African business and African politics. Her objective today: Effecting political change in Africa, to build the systems of governance that will enable the continent achieve its incredible potential.

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In a live televised interview with the Dalai Lama last year, Archbishop Desmond Tutu confidently responded that the magic bullet for the issue of world peace was very simple: let women rule! Well, there are currently 17 female world leaders, with Africa boasting of 2 of them: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and Joyce Banda of Malawi. There is a tendency to be quick to compare these female leaders to their male counterparts in other African countries but a direct comparison in Africa is difficult owing to economic indicators, social issues and unique history of each country.

That notwithstanding, we must note that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf inherited a civil war riddled country and has managed to stir it along the path of what is being described as a sustainable development path, something Charles Taylor, her predecessor was unable to do. Alongside Leymah Gbowee, President Sirleaf was also responsible through peaceful protest to foil plans of another civil war in Liberia; something that earned them both a Nobel Peace Prize.

Shortly after Joyce Banda assumed office as president of Malawi, according to Forbes, there was an immediate resumption of aid and FDI from the U.K, EU, ADB, IMF just to name a few of over $200 million with her male predecessor unable to secure such amounts. In addition to a fortified domestic account, there is her commitment to justice exemplified through her issuing of a domestic warrant for the arrest of Omar Bashir, the wanted Sudanese president who prior to her assumption into office sauntered in and out of Malawi in spite of an international arrest warrant out for him by the I.C.C.

In one of the landmark events in Africa in 2012, the first ever-female head of the African Union Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma pointed out, “African women make up 50 percent of this continent and lets not forget that they produce the other 50 percent-men.” A fact that further justifies an increased exertion on African polity by women. In the same year, we saw Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian graduate from the University of Lagos Law School rise to Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became the finance minister for Nigeria after seeing the post of head of World Bank taken from her even after The Economist tipped a hat to her and warned of the danger of having a less qualified American choice take that office. A sentiment I am inclined to agree with. The success of her first foray into Nigerian politics under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo saw her successfully negotiate clearing off of Nigeria’s debt to the Paris Club. These women are just a few of a growing pantheon of women visibly rising and giving female empowerment more than a voice and a face, but also wielding tremendous power. Look no further than the growing efficiency of the A.U in dealing with conflict issues such as the ongoing issues in Mali to give credence to Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s sentiments about women being more resolute in their pursuit of peace.

Whether or not one questions the efficacy of women in power in Africa compared to their male counterparts or not, the female leaders have thus far had an impressive start. Furthermore, their role in power is an effective tool in empowering women as we march towards more developed societies. The design of the Millennium Development Goals set forth by the U.N places a significant amount of emphasis on women especially when it comes to realizing those goals in Africa. One of the pillars is specific to gender equality and empowering women, while the other 3: universal primary education, child mortality and maternal health; relate by far more to women than men. The Human Development Index is a composite metric that gives a telling snap shot of the development of a country by taking into account life expectancy, knowledge attainment and standard of living. For several years, Norway has topped this list alongside other Nordic countries, Switzerland and Australia. Coincidentally or not, the Prime Minister of Denmark is a woman, the Prime Minister of Australia is a woman and these countries epitomize societies with female citizens that are very well empowered.

However the question of the role women play in effective social and human development in the society would eventually be asked and explored. Until then, it is imperative that the stewardship of a nation should be left to the most capable without any group being discriminated against on grounds of sex. It is imperative that at all levels within the polity of a society the ability to innovate, lead and excel should an unalienable right open to everyone within the society irrespective of their gender. The likes of Dr. Okonji-Iweala, Fatou Benstou, Leymah Gbowee and President Sirleaf have set an impressive trend for women on the continent, leaving a trail of practical hope for the following generation.

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Since launching the organisation in 2010, Rainatou, through MEWC, and the help of volunteers have been working towards promoting African Women’s Rights in the African Women’s Decade (AWD 2010-2020) to “ensure that African women and girls have a real voice in all governance institutions, from the judiciary to the civil service, as well as in the private sector and civil society, so that they can fully participate equally with men in public dialogue and decisions-making and be able to influence the decisions that will determine the future of their families, communities and countries.”

Her efforts in this sphere have been recognised over the years. Apart from featuring on CNN’s African Voices, and being named one of the “20 Youngest Power Women in Africa 2012″, Rainatou was awarded “Most Inspirational Woman” by Women4Africa in 2012, perhaps the highest award to be bestowed upon an African woman. Ventures Africa had a chat with the inspirational Rainatou Sow and here’s what she had to say:

VA: Tell us about yourself growing up

RSOW: My life was the one of an ordinary young girl; the only difference was that I was always involved in doing some community work. From teaching evening classes to young girls in my neighbourhood after school to representing my school, joining the Guinean children parliament where I used to be the Minister of children and women affairs and then working with Unicef at a very young age to promote children’s education with a focus on girl child, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), HIV/AIDS through door to door and radio/TV awareness campaign. I have always wanted to make a difference, and I took every opportunity to do so.

VA: You started African women and girl child advocacy at a very young age – 12. What inspired you to fully shift your interest to women/girl child advocacy now that you are an adult?

RSOW: In September 2009, while demonstrating against the regime in Guinea, women were raped and sexually abused in the capital – Conakry. This horrible event hunts my life every single day. There was a young woman who was at her 3^rd year at the University among the victims, she was raped and sexually abused. When I saw a picture of her being dragged half naked by two soldiers, I couldn’t sleep for nights. At that point, I decided that I couldn’t keep going on with my life knowing what has just happened without taking actions. That young woman could have been me and her crime was just to ask for democracy and peace.

The creation of the AWD (African Women’s Decade) prompted me to take control of my passion and career and thereby contribute to this landmark event. I wanted to do something that could have a positive impact on African women’s and girls’ lives – and the African Women’s Decade was the perfect opportunity.

VA: When you created “Make every woman count”, what did you hope to achieve and will you say you have been able to achieve what you initially set out to do and more?

RSOW: My vision in starting MEWC was to ensure that African women and girls have a real voice in all governance institutions, from the judiciary to the civil service, as well as in the private sector and civil society, so that they can fully participate equally with men in public dialogue and decisions-making and be able to influence the decisions that will determine the future of their families, communities and countries.

Through Make Every Woman Count, my aim is to provide a spectrum of platforms and tools for African women, grassroots, activists, international organisations and women rights groups. I feel that what has been missing from the African women’s movement is a space, a voice that comes directly from African women. Most organizations that focus on empowering and gaining the equal rights of women often neglect the voices of African women themselves.

I see a bright future of young African women who are showing themselves to be leaders in their own equal rights and through MEWC; I hope to help them find strength in their voices while raising awareness on their issues and work on the international stage.

Throughout my journey, I would like to be a role model for young African women and men, to inspire, to motivate them to stand out and make a difference in whatever they choose to do, so that young African women and African youths in general will really take over the leadership of all of our countries.

VA: What are the challenges you faced in creating a female-gender based organisation and how have you been able to manage these challenges?

RSOW: As a young woman led organisation, we have many struggles to deal with. The main one is getting funding to sustain our work.

I am not afraid of these challenges as I was expecting them. I wasn’t expecting to start my organisation and have money flowing in the first few months. Having said this; it has been very hard for us to secure funding to sustain our work.

Make Every Woman Count (MEWC) is mostly run by a team of volunteers who are using their skills and knowledge to fulfil MEWC’s mission. However, the journey is full of challenges and we try our best every day to overcome these barriers. We are competing with bigger organisation for the same funding and I can tell you that it is very though.

Instead of investing in young people ideas, most funders would rather give the money to big organisations to do the work. Young women and men have difficulties getting their own voice heard because they are young and are expected to keep quiet and “wait for their time”.

I like to believe that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and this is just another challenge we will overcome.

VA: MEWC draws inspiration from African women around the world. What is MEWC doing to make the African Union’s African Women’s Decade (AWD) a significant one?

RSOW: MEWC is working to promote and raise awareness of the African Women’s decade. We do this through our social media, publications and events. Since the first year of the African Women’s Decade, MEWC publishes a yearly report that summarises the progress made by African countries regarding women’s rights and gender equality on the continent.

MEWC will publish one report yearly throughout the 10-year duration of the African Women’s Decade.

MEWC’s Annual Review of the African Women’s Decade (AWD) aims to evaluate the progress, or lack thereof, made to include and promote the rights of women at the country, regional, and Pan-African levels. This is done by presenting each country on the continent with a background and a presentation of progress and developments made within different areas, with importance for the human rights of women and gender equality.

We evaluate each of the levels around our central gender issues, including Women, Peace and Security; Violence Against Women; Political Participation and Leadership; Economic Empowerment; HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health; and Human Rights of Women. The report is divided into sections according to regional visions of the African continent, and the countries are then presented individually.

The objective of the report is twofold: firstly, it is meant to be a reference to provide insight into the rights of women in Africa during the AWD and secondly, to provide pressure on individual countries that either failed to make any progress on women’s rights or repealed legislation protecting women.

The report is also an important tool when advocating for change, as developments regarding progress on gender issues will be made available. Furthermore, the report can function as an incentive for countries to improve their efforts in the areas of gender equality and the human rights of women.

We also organise a conference every year to mark the anniversary of the African Women’s Decade. The conference is a great opportunity to hear about the work Africans are doing to advance women’s rights during the decade – be it in the diaspora or on the continent.

VA: You do an overview annual report on 54 countries in Africa to evaluate the status and conditions of women in African countries. Since you started this report, will you say there have been improvements on these issues?

RSOW: In the past years, there has been some encouraging progress regarding gender equality in Africa.

Some states have made considerable advancements in protecting women from sexual violence as well as encouraging them to participate in politics and election. Most have gender policies or some kind of national women’s mechanism, such as a Ministry of Gender or Ministry of Women’s Affairs. There are also aspects of gender equality in many constitutions and some countries have passed other laws on different aspects of women’s rights.

There has also been some recent progress regarding women’s political in the recent years. Women’s representation in parliaments in Sub-Saharan Africa is now higher than in South Asia, the Arab states or Eastern Europe. The year 2012 has proved promising for the African woman’s status within public bodies. Women are beginning to break the political glass ceiling in many countries and finding their way in roles traditionally occupied by men. According to the 2012 data from the Inter- Parliamentary Union, women occupy 20.2 percent of parliamentary seats in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is slightly higher than the world average of 19.5 percent.

Earlier on last year, Joyce Banda was appointed as the first Malawian woman president to make two female head of state in Africa, while Gambian Fatou Bensouda was elected as the first female International Criminal Court prosecutor. She is the first African to hold this post. The big highlight of the year 2012 was the appointment of the first female Chairperson of the AU Commission Dr. Dlamini-Zuma.

VA: Tell us about the solemn declaration on gender equality

RSOW: During the Third Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July 2004, the Heads of State and Government adopted the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA).

The Declaration is an important African instrument for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment as it strengthens African ownership of the gender equality agenda and keeps the issues alive at the highest political level in Africa. Through the Solemn Declaration, Heads of State and Government commit themselves to report annually on progress towards gender equality. This was the first time a continental organisation took ownership of gender mainstreaming to the highest level – prioritizing issues such as HIV/AIDS and the recruitment of child soldiers.

According to the Evaluation of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in 2010, report findings from 18 African countries out of the 53 indicated that only 34 per cent of the member states have honoured the commitment of subsequent reporting on progress made in implementing the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) as required under article12.

VA: Will you say in this African Union decade of women voices, African women are finding their voice amongst their male counterpart?

RSOW: Despite the obstacles and challenges they face, a growing proportion of women are breaking through the glass ceiling. Today, African women are beginning to break the political glass ceiling in many countries and finding their way in roles that was traditionally occupied by men. We now have two African women out of 54 head of state and the chair of the African Union is a woman. Women who have entered into leadership positions attribute their success to factors such as access to education and work opportunities, good mentoring by both men and women, support from family, employers, supervisors, teachers and colleagues, and successful lobbying by gender activists.

VA: What will you say is unique about the African women that make it matter that their voices be heard in their community or country?

RSOW: Women represent half of the population in Africa; we simply cannot develop a continent if half of its population is left out. African governments need to tap into the talent and wisdom of women.

It is not a secret that the world’s challenges will not be effectively addressed unless the exclusion faced by women and girls is tackled across the board. We need to have more women in decision-making and leadership positions because whether the issue is food security, economic recovery, health, or peace and security; the participation and inclusion of women is needed today more than ever for more sustainable and equitable solutions.

VA: How do you think the African woman can develop herself in this generation and why must they be empowered to have more roles in decision-making and leadership positions in their society?

RSOW: Over the years, women have taken to the streets to protest against variety of issues affecting them, from rising food prices, to the lack of female political and economic participation, demand for peace negotiations, or to call for the departure of a long-time dictator. Through such actions, women have continuously demonstrated their commitment and their willingness to see their country change for the better. However, when it comes to seeing women in established positions of political power, such as parliamentarians, members of government or even as heads of state; the numbers seems to stall at merely 20.2 percent.

The participation and inclusion of African Women and girls are vital to the continent growth and development. African governments can simply no longer afford to deny the full potential of half of the population. Women and girls need to be empowered and have their developmental skills unleashed to participate in the socio-economic and political development of the continent.

We need to ensure that gains made in women’s political mobilisation, advocacy, and government representation actually reflect a substantial change in the lives of ordinary women, which is still far from a reality. By placing women at the centre of it all, African women and girls will have an opportunity to flourish and become advocates and leaders.

However, there is a need for African Governments to back up their commitments with actions. We need to empower African women and girls with the tools they need to become agents of change.

VA: What role does the government have to play in women advocacy?

RSOW: We need to ask African Governments to be accountable, and take responsibility in keeping their promises. We need to push African governments to work harder on women issues; those who have not ratified the various legal framework to ratify, those who have already ratified to put money aside for implementation with concrete action plans such as clear gender budgeting as well as allocating more funding for food security, human security and better education/health care for sustainable development.

Women’s issues and machineries charged with women’s affairs have been marginalized and under-resourced for too long, and this has led to the very slow implementation of international and regional commitments made to women’s empowerment and gender equality.

It is important to remember that the protection of citizens is up to the Government of each country and UN or International organisations, NGOs cannot act on behalf of a country. Governments and Members of Parliament have a responsibility to ensure that the necessary legislation and norms are in place. They have to allocate the resources needed to turn words into actions when it comes to ensuring the rights of half of the population (women).

I believe that we as the civil society, as well as individuals, should ask our politicians and other decision makers what they are doing to promote women’s rights and to fight the scourge of sexual violence.

While governments and the private sector have their own responsibilities; Africans themselves have a role to play in creating lasting peace and sustainable development in the continent.

VA: Where do you see African women at the end of the AWD era and how do you think such goal can be achieved?

RSOW: By the end of the AWD, I want to see the complete removal of discrimination against women, both in law and in practice, as this greatly hinders women’s economic, social and political rights, women’s land rights as well as their Sexual and reproductive health rights. I will also like to see a 50:50 ratio of women to men in government in Africa.

Political commitment is the key to ensuring women enjoy their rights. African governments need to back up their commitments with actions. Women have to know their rights, and take action to demand accountability. Many are kept in ignorance due to lack of education and information on what the constitutions of their countries say and how the systems/ institutions/laws that are supposed to run their nations should work.

In 10 years, we need to look back at the African Women’s Decade and be proud of what we have achieved as individuals and as a global community.

VA: What is “Make Every Woman Count” up to now?

RSOW: MEWC is currently working on its 2^nd annual report on Women’s political participation & Elections monitoring in Africa over 2012.

We are also organising a month long campaigning in March to invite young African Women between 15-35 years-old to enter the stage, pick up the microphone, and let their voices heard. We are asking them to share their vision for the future and tell the word “the future they want.”

MEWC is also tirelessly working to secure funding to start a leadership and technology training for young African women starting this year.

VA: You are launching a fund-raising right now, what is your organisation hoping to do with that?

RSOW: Since its launch in 2011, MEWC has been operating successfully with virtually no funding beyond the in-kind donation of services that it is already receiving for the last 2 years. While MEWC will continue to embrace volunteerism and in-kind support as a key part of its sustainability and strategic planning; we simply cannot expand our organisation, nor continue to offer the services already established without the income to cover the very real costs that we incur.

With these funds, MEWC will: monitor the status of women’s rights in all 54 African countries in 2013/2014; monitor Women’s political participation and elections throughout Africa in 2013 and 2013; provide two more years of online services, daily news update and resources through our website; launch two years of leadership and technology training workshops for young African women; and organise workshops/training for diaspora African women in UK.

VA: What advice do you have for the African women or girl child reading this?

SOW: First of all, you need to know what you want and make clear plans for your future. If you know what you want and you have the passion and motivation to do it, nothing will stand in your way. More importantly, you have to believe in yourself and stand by your decisions. Life is full of challenges and you will never overcome these challenges if you doubt yourself. Always remember that nothing is impossible if you believe in it and put some work into it, you will succeed. Like Eleanor Roosevelt said: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

VA: What are your future plans?

RSOW: I have many so many that if I start telling you all of them, I will spend the all day on it (laughs) …… but right now, my main plan is to secure enough funding to sustain the MEWC’s work and launch our training project for young African women.

Thank you for your time and keep up the good work.

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