News — African development

The coronavirus pandemic, besides being a public health threat, has also negatively affected the global economy as it has reduced trade and mobility. At the micro-level, COVID-19 shutdowns have affected small business owners, particularly Black businesses.

According to research by the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 41 percent of Black-owned businesses have been shuttered by COVID-19, compared to just 17 percent of white-owned businesses.

“Nationally representative data on small businesses indicate that the number of active business owners fell by 22% from February to April 2020—the largest drop on record,” the report said. “Black businesses experienced the most acute decline, with a 41% drop. Latinx business owners fell by 32% and Asian business owners dropped by 26%. In contrast, the number of white business owners fell by 17 percent,” the report said.

The American government implemented a number of initiatives to support struggling businesses such as the Paycheck Protection Program. The federal government signature program for small businesses, however, left a significant gap. Coverage was only 20 percent for communities with a high Black population and less than 20 percent for communities with low population densities. 

“Weaker cash positions, weaker bank relationships, and preexisting funding gaps left Black firms with little cushion entering the crisis: even the healthiest Black firms were financially disadvantaged at the onset of COVID-19,” the report noted.

While many small Black businesses were going through a tumultuous phase, the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce led by Harrison L. Blair stepped up to address the disparity. Blair was appointed into the position a little over a year ago.

The chamber, which is the oldest in America, has helped advocate for Black-owned businesses in the North Texas area, and Blair knows he had to do more to save more Black businesses from further collapse.

Since the pandemic, Blair and the chamber have assisted over 300 businesses to gain access to over $5 million in funding to help these companies bounce back, according to dmagazine.

He also ensured the implementation of the chamber’s annual programs that honor Black-owned businesses like Quest for Success, a platform designed to promote Black businesses and nonprofits in the North Texas region.

Blair said he is honored to be named one of D CEO’s Dallas 500 2021, especially after only being in this role for a little over a year. “It really is a testament to the support I have received from the community in being able to service this role”, said Blair.

Kevin John recalls when he was young, his mother used her entire savings, $800, to buy Pontiac Sunbird. The joy of buying a vehicle lasted for only a week as it started having thermostat issues and the head gasket blew.

“We were left on the side of the road, and I remember the sadness and the disappointment in her face vividly. I felt her pain,” tells John.

Now 38 years old, John doesn’t want anyone to go through the traumatic experience that his family, particularly his mother, went through. He also doesn’t want anyone to become a victim of disingenuous car dealers who deliberately sell faulty cars to unsuspecting customers.

In February 2020, he launched his own auto company called Vendu Auto Group in Charlotte, North Carolina, to sell cars. According to Black Business, John is very honest about the type of cars he sells as he doesn’t want to put anyone through the traumatic experience his mom went through. 

John started his company by taking some seed money. He then found a lot, applied for a dealership license, bought some cars, and started re-selling cars. He encountered some setbacks but has still managed to triumph.

“I myself have had had plenty of setbacks and bumps in the road, including a bankruptcy now a decade in the rearview. I’ve made my share of poor choices, but the future looks bright and I don’t spend much time looking back. I haven’t had anything handed to me.”

Besides his car dealership, he has other businesses including two tech companies and a real estate company. Those two businesses were motivated by his grandparents, especially his grandfather, Little Willie John, who was a well-known Black entertainer in the 1960s.

John’s Vendu Auto Group “employs new and innovative technology built into solid, traditional methodology and it’s core principles – Value to Every Customer,” its website says.

Throughout his life, Khalid Abdul Muhammad was tagged as a “racist hatemonger” and “anti-Semite” but to his followers, he was all for positive change and truth. While a top aide to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, he wasn’t widely known outside the organization until November 1993 when he gave a speech at Kean College in Union, N.J., where he called Jews the “bloodsuckers of the black nation” and described Black American leaders as “house niggers” who had sold out their people to the Whites.

He went on to label the pope “a no-good cracker” and suggested killing every White person remaining in South Africa. His speech was condemned by many, and the Congressional Black Caucus cut ties with Farrakhan. Farrakhan himself was forced to dismiss Muhammad, while the House of Representatives and Senate censured him for the speech.

But these actions or punishments rather kept Muhammad in the spotlight. Surviving an assassination attempt on his life, he went on to become the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party, a Black nationalist organization which modeled itself on the original Black Panther Party founded in 1966.

So, who really was this man “that not even a bullet could stop?’

Born Harold Moore Jr., in Texas in 1948, Muhammad was a preacher growing up. As a child, he delivered sermons from his aunt’s porch to drivers as their cars passed, a report by The New York Times said. He graduated from high school in 1966, before enrolling in Dillard University, a Methodist school in New Orleans, Louisiana to pursue a theological studies degree though some accounts state he didn’t graduate.

While at Dillard, he changed his name to Harold Moore Vann. It was also at Dillard that he became interested in the Black liberation movement after hearing Farrakhan speak. Farrakhan was then a top aide to the leader of the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, and had come to Dillard to give a speech. Farrakhan gave Muhammad the name Khallid, after the Arab general Khalid ibn al-Walid.

In the early 1970s when the Nation of Islam started losing strength following the death of its leader, Muhammad traveled to Uganda to help dictator Idi Amin outline a plan to overthrow the White government in South Africa. But he returned when he heard that Farrakhan was trying to re-start the sect and make it even more radical.

Upon his return, he rose quickly through the ranks, becoming minister of Mosque 27 in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and then later the leader of security for the Nation of Islam. That role got him closer to Farrakhan as he traveled with him for his speaking engagements. By 1991, Muhammad had become the national assistant to Farrakhan, and this position gave him a bigger role — the opportunity to speak before national audiences. As sources indicated, his position was held by both Malcolm X and Farrakhan under Elijah Muhammad, enabling them to have a “following” and “stature” of their own.

Muhammad would also remain popular in the African-American community, particularly among the youth. Excerpts of his fiery speeches even appeared in albums by Ice Cube, Public Enemy and X-Clan. In time, Muhammad became known as “the new Malcolm X”. As Farrakhan’s top aide, he was also seen by some as a leading candidate to replace Farrakhan as leader of the Nation of Islam.

But the two experienced a break in their relationship when Farrakhan was compelled to dismiss Muhammad after his 1993 speech which launched attacks against Whites, Jews, Catholics and Black civil rights leaders. Farrakhan, at the time of the speech, was moving toward “moderation” and making attempts to join with mainstream Black civil rights leaders.

Though Muhammad never spoke ill of Farrakhan, many later claimed he was trying to undermine the latter’s leadership. Muhammad denied such claims. “Minister Farrakhan is my spiritual father, leader, teacher and guide,” he said in Emerge. “And like any good son, I respect the discipline and judgment of my father, and I am not silly enough to run away from home…I am a soldier and I follow a divine chain of command, and I am going to complete my tour of duty.”

Muhammad did tour the country following his dismissal from the Nation of Islam, making public speeches at various universities. It was during one of those speeches at the University of California in Riverside in 1994 that he was nearly killed. A former Nation of Islam minister shot him in the foot but he survived, later establishing the New Black Panther Party and the New Black Muslims. In June 1998, he led armed members of his two groups to protest the death of James Byrd Jr., a Black man killed by who prosecutors said were members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Before Muhammad’s death from a brain aneurysm in February 2001, he led the 1998 Million Youth March in Harlem, which called for a war on racism. While alive, Muhammad never saw the need for any kind of harmonization between races. In a 1994 interview with Newsday, the African-American activist said: “I don’t have any love for the other side. It’s not in me. I don’t want no integration. I want independence for a nation of my own.”

Mosibudi Jo Mathole and Khomotso Ramodipa are two South African sisters who quit their jobs as an investment banker and an optometrist respectively, to start a diamond polishing business, at a time when the price of the commodity was so low and unattractive to investors.

In 2019, while speaking to the VOA, Mathole and Ramodipa said their love for diamonds drove them into the business. The industry in South Africa is still male-dominated and has actually shrunk. Once a booming business, diamond polishing has shrunk from 4,500 polishers 25 years ago to 250 polishers in recent times.

Despite the gloomy picture of the sector, the two sisters were unfazed and opened Kwame Diamonds in 2008. The shop in Johannesburg offers the cutting and polishing of the precious stone.

Interestingly, the company is the only firm in South Africa run by sisters and according to Women in Diamond, the sisters manage the only women-owned polishing business in the world.

“The barriers to entry go beyond just being a woman or being a man because the difficulty boils down to having an outfit like this, you really need a proper capital outlay,” said Mathole, who is the company’s director. “And for women, it becomes a bit tricky because this has always been a very male-dominated industry.”

The year they set up Kwame Diamonds, Mathole and Ramodipa became qualified diamond valuators and have since carved a niche for themselves in the polish and cutting of diamonds. Aside from that, they also ensure that they sourced diamonds responsibly and ethically.

According to co-founder Ramodipa, they are accredited to cut and polish world-renown De Beers Group’s branded diamonds. 

“To be able to produce a Forevermark diamond, which according to them, it’s 1 percent of the world diamonds that are produced. … If you are able to polish that kind of diamond, then you are among one of the best,” she said.

The South African sisters employ and train other women in the industry, a move seen as part of their own contribution of increasing female participation in the sector.

Grace Tshego is a diamond polisher at Kwame Diamonds.

“Now I can go out there and say, ‘I’m a diamond cutter,” Tshego is quoted as saying. “I’m even specializing with ‘fancy cut’. It’s something that is so wow, because other people they don’t know it.”

Mathole and Ramodipa have received commendations for their innovation and staying afloat in an industry in decline. “They’re looking at the diamond industry from a different perspective,” says the former president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), Ernie Blom.

“They’re thinking out of the box. And maybe they’re ticking all the right boxes that is giving them the success that they have. And maybe that’s what a lot of the older diamond industry can learn from.”

In 2015, Jamila Souffrant commuted about three hours where she lived in Brooklyn, NY to work in New Jersey every day. At the same time, she was about to become a mother of two. However, her job schedule gave her little room for respite and she began making moves for a flexible job.

“It wasn’t necessarily about just the commute, but I felt like that was the catalyst to make me feel like there’s something else out there for me,” Souffrant told BusinessInsider. “Because I don’t want to, like, have a family and spend most of my day just not completely fulfilled. There must be another way.” 

The commercial real estate executive became fascinated with stories of people who retired early from traditional work on the back of their savings, investment and debt pay off. Inspired by such stories, she started a side hustle: blogging. She began writing about how she intends to accomplish her financial independence goals and create a community with others with similar goals. She would soon realize that she could generate some income from her blog. Blogging then became a side hustle for her. 

“My first big money objective was to invest as much of our income as possible. We took a hard look at our expenses: Anything that did not allow us to reach our saving and the investing goal was reduced or cut entirely,” Souffrant wrote on CNBC. Within two years (2016 and 2017), Souffrant and her husband saved and invested $169,000 after creating a budget that focused on contributing the maximum amounts to her 401(k) and her husband’s 403(b) and 457 plans.

Accomplishing that goal helped her turn her blogging side hustle into a career she was so passionate about. Her blog, Journey to Launch, is now her full career. She runs the blog on a full-time basis and also has a podcast educating people on their finances and how to achieve financial freedom. 

In addition, she earns money through coaching, working with brands, writing articles, and selling products and services. “Through trial and error, I’ve learned so much that has helped me during this moment,” she said. 

In 2018 when she gave birth to her third child, she quit her job to focus solely on building her blog. She monetized her blog, including her podcast as well as building out her event and speaking income. 

Souffrant hopes her readers will pick one or two financial tips on her blog to help them get out of debt or improve their credit score. One of her maxims is that to save more, it’s equally important to grow your income and that includes further education. 37-year-old Souffrant worked in corporate America since she was 22 before going back to school to get her master’s in real estate while working. The move, she said, put her at a different level where she could then apply for a job that paid more money.

In 2014 when Mabou Loiseau grabbed headlines, she was speaking eight languages — English, Kreyol, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin and American Sign Language. The child prodigy from Queens, NYC, was also learning Japanese while taking college level Algebra. What’s more, Mabou, who was just eight years old, could play the piano, harp, violin, guitar, clarinet, drums, conga and the flute.

“I was born smart, duh!”, the polyglot said when she appeared on the Katie Couric show in 2014. She could not be wrong though. The child genius grew up among a family that spoke about three languages, her mother, Esther Loiseau, said. Esther was a piano teacher who taught French at an American school before leaving Haiti for Queens decades ago.

“My husband spoke Haitian Creole fluently so he only spoke to Mabou in Haitian Creole,” Esther said in an interview. “My sister, who lived with us for some time, spoke Spanish fluently, so she only spoke to Mabou in Spanish.

“I spoke French fluently, so I spoke to her only in French,” Esther said.

However, when Mabou was only one year and a half, she started repeating some words in French that she was not yet taught. Interestingly, she knew the meaning of those words, and this was when Esther realized that her daughter had a gift. By age five, Mabou’s parents were spending $1,500 a week on tutors and lessons, including hiring nannies who spoke different languages. She could sing her ABCs in Spanish, read fairytales in Russian and count in Mandarin, Daily News reported.

At the age of eight, her typical weekday was like this:

8 a.m. – 11.00 a.m.: Russian speaking Nanny
11.00 a.m. – 1 p.m.: Lunch break / other activity
1 p.m. -5 p.m.: Arabic speaking Nanny
5 p.m. -6 p.m.: Activity of choice
6 p.m. – 7 p.m.: Music lesson (harp, guitar, violin and/ or piano)
8 p.m. – 9 p.m.: Swimming lessons

Mabou’s days naturally came with so many activities and lessons, but her mom made sure she had enough time to play as a kid. “Many people make that mistake, thinking I am pushing her. She is pushing me. Believe me,” Esther said of her daughter.

Now 15 years old, Mabou recently added more to her list of talents — singing, painting and dancing. Her YouTube channel has more than 9,000 subscribers. She is, however, still working towards her goal of becoming a brain surgeon, singer and lawyer. “I defend myself pretty well, so many I can defend other people. I want to understand the brain. It’s very fascinating. I want to be a singer ….” Mabou said when she was eight.

President-elect Joe Biden‘s first Secretary of Defense will most likely be an extremely private veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who has ties to the private sector, including as a military contractor for Raytheon Technologies as well as a director for the multinational health services provider, Tenet Healthcare.

But retired General Lloyd James Austin III will also be the first African-American to be installed in that position. If he passes legislature vetting, Austin will be responsible for the world’s most expensive and expansive defense capacities and network.

Such is the history that beckons that Austin’s nomination has been met with primarily, graciousness. Many have welcomed the incoming administration’s openness to retaining racial diversity in top federal jobs.

For Austin, Biden himself scripted a testimonial that was published in The Atlantic. A paragraph read:

“In his more than 40 years in the United States Army, Austin met every challenge with extraordinary skill and profound personal decency. He is a true and tested soldier and leader. I’ve spent countless hours with him, in the field and in the White House Situation Room. I’ve sought his advice, seen his command, and admired his calm and his character. He is the definition of a patriot.”

Careful reading reveals what Biden would want us to realize. The president-elect calls the general Austin – not General Austin – giving away a sense of amity the pair would have established over the “countless hours” they have spent in each other’s company. The general is also praised for his character and called “a patriot”, a necessary byline in marketing your pick to the American public.

But the four-star general who has been described as “intensely private and razor-sharp” may not need more than the former vice-president’s adulation in order to get into the job. Having left military service only four years ago, Austin requires a special waiver from the House and the Senate to enable him to become the next Defense chief.

The law for which he needs the waiver prevents former soldiers from becoming Defense secretary within the first seven years of retiring from military service. The last man to need the waiver was Jim Mattis, Donald Trump‘s first Secretary of Defense who dramatically fell out with the outgoing president.

But political watchers are confident this will be no stiff hurdle for Austin. He is also generally respected across partisan divides. A lot of the conversations about his nomination have suggested that Austin may need to convince a few on the Capitol with particular regard to the global war on terrorism as well as his private sector dealings.

Austin was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1953 but he was raised in Thomasville, Georgia along with five siblings. He joined the army in 1975 growing in stature over the course of forty years.

Between 2008 and 2009, he was the Commander of Multinational Corps in Iraq. In 2010, former President Barack Obama appointed Austin as the Commanding General of all U.S. Forces in Iraq.

Austin has been called a “devout Catholic” and conservative man who would often speak of himself in the third person.

For Alioune Ndiaye, chief executive of Orange Middle East and Africa, and a tele­coms veteran since the 1980s, the past few months have presented a challenge to rival any seen in the industry’s recent history. 

“This pandemic has had a tremendous impact on our lives, on our jobs, on our families and activities – it’s impossible to overstate how much change we’ve had to withstand since March,” says Ndiaye. 

As the coronavirus hit the company’s 18 markets throughout the region, businesses and customers facing lockdowns and home-working sparked a huge increase in data use, putting a strain on the operator’s mobile and fixed broadband infrastructure.  

“Some of our countries have seen data traffic increase by 60% in only one or two weeks, usually during the lockdowns, and this has put our mobile and fixed networks under some stress, but thanks to all our previous investments we could withstand the sudden increase with almost no decline in quality or availability of our services, and this could explain why we’ve been resilient in our financial results,” he says.   

While the pandemic has buffeted corporates across the continent, Orange Middle East and Africa revenues grew 3.8% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 to €2.8bn ($3.3bn) and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation rose by more than 7%. The regional performance was driven by a 40% increase in 4G customers year on year to 27.9m, by broadband, and by mobile money service Orange Money. 

“Data usage by mobile phones has nearly doubled in a year. There were three phases – acceleration in the second quarter, more stable progression in the third quarter and a renewed progression from September,” says Ndiaye.  

Data revenue grew by 26% in the second quarter, while home working contributed to the number of fixed broadband customers increasing 31% year-on-year to 1.4m, enabling fixed broadband revenue growth of 33% in the second quarter. Yet adapting to this surge in demand has been an immense technical challenge for Orange, says Ndiaye.

Annual infrastructure investments of €1bn helped it to withstand the pressure at the height of the pandemic, but the firm has had to further boost its technology and work more closely with the US tech giants who account for the majority of its traffic. 

“The huge increase in traffic was mainly on Google and Facebook content, so we had to work closely with these players in order to better control the impact on our networks. This rapid increase in international capacity also had to be implemented on submarine routes in Morocco and Jordan, and we also increased our capacity on satellite in the DRC and Central African Republic. Some data network cores had to be resized and we did this in Jordan, Morocco and Senegal.” 

As well as improvements to physical infrastructure, Ndiaye also had to oversee an operational restructuring as Orange attempted to meet customer demand while  adapting to remote working and new in-country regulations. 

“We set up a crisis committee in each country chaired by the CEO of the operation in the country. We also updated our national business continuity plans to comply with new requirements. We cancelled all seminars and events and used barriers in physical workspaces and changed to digital modes where possible. The entire ecosystem of our operations had to adapt – this crisis has really exceeded in its form and scope the working hypothesis we had until now.” 

Data consumption and mobile money fuel growth 

As well as thrusting the telecoms sector to the fore as a critical communications medium for governments and citizens, the pandemic is accelerating industry trends that have long been brewing in Africa, including increased data consumption and smartphone ownership, widespread mobile money adoption and the installation of broadband for homes and businesses. Orange is positioning itself to capitalise on these shifts, says Ndiaye. 

“Our digital portals show traffic increased by 40% and data usage by business customers went up in many of our countries. We have started reflecting on the impact of the crisis, particularly the increase in teleworking for companies and employees, most clearly formulated in the widespread demand of B2B customers to increase the flexibility of the office and adapt to the uncertainties inherent in this crisis. This reflection could lead us to keep the traffic going, going forwards.” 

Nowhere is this acceleration more evident than in mobile money. Orange Money’s active customer base totalled 19.6m by June 30, having registered 18.9% year-on-year growth as governments encouraged citizens to avoid physical cash. Revenues for the service grew 12.5% in the second quarter of the year.

Orange is planning to build on this momentum through this year’s launch of Orange Bank Africa, which will work with Orange Money to offer a range of savings and microcredit services which will allow customers to borrow as little as CFA5,000 ($9) using their mobile phone. 

The bank aims to attract 10m customers and €100m in net banking income within 5 years. The first commercial launch will be in Côte d’Ivoire before branches open in Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso, subject to approval from BCEAO, the region’s banking regulator.  

“We are relying on growth levers like mobile money and banking,” confirms Ndiaye.  

Growing up, many of us had childhood ambitions but some of them changed along the way. That is not the case with Fadji Zaouna Maina, the first Nigerien scientist to work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She has had ambitions of alleviating water problems in her hometown since age 10. Now, she gets to tackle the world’s water crises with data from NASA.

The 29-year-old hydrologist from Zinder, Niger, joined NASA on August 27, amid congratulatory messages from Niger’s president and first lady and other high-profile members of her community. Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou referred to her as “a national pride, and a role model for the youth of Niger”.

Her response to the president was befitting and it summarised her entire journey. “I pushed the boundaries, I made it possible and I made a whole country proud,” she said. “The chances for a girl like me, born and raised in Zinder (Niger), to become a scientist at a well-known institution like NASA are almost zero.”

She acknowledges the fact that the water crisis in Niger is deteriorating due to climate change. As a girl child in Zinder, having tap water in her home gave her an edge over other children, especially girls who had to go in search of water from the lake or buy from neighbors.

“People think that the boys should go to school or go to work and the girls should find water and come back [to do] cooking and cleaning,” Maina told Share America in an interview in September.

“[Girls] don’t have time to go to school,” she said. “Girls’ education is one more problem that comes from climate change — I have seen that.”

This situation fuels her ambition to succeed and she is giving it her all.

“I have a responsibility on my shoulders because I believe I need to show the face of my country,” Maina said. “It’s like changing the image of Nigeriens and changing the image of the women generally.”

Maina, at age 16, completed her secondary education, having been skipped several times ahead of her peers. She has been an advocate for education and girl child empowerment since she was a teenager, and, at one point, served as a junior deputy in Niger’s National Youth Assembly.

Maina went to The University of Fes in Morocco to pursue a degree in geological engineering. She then proceeded to the University of Strasbourg for her master’s in engineering and environmental sciences.

In 2016, she earned her Ph.D. in Hydrology from the University of Strasbourg, a field she chose in order “to participate in improving the conditions of access to drinking water in Niger,” according to The Africa report.

On a quest to find tangible solutions to the global water crisis, Maina worked in highly acclaimed laboratories such as the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) before joining the Energy Geosciences Division of the University of Berkeley in the United States.

It was her work at Berkeley that caught the attention of Forbes, earning her a spot on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 2020 Science.

Later, she saw a job opening online at NASA and went for it. Today, she works as a computational hydrologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center where she uses mathematical models and remote-sensing products to study the impact of climate change on water, according to the Nigerien US embassy.

“I will try to better understand the water cycle and the evolution of water resources in the context of climate change by using mathematical models and data from NASA satellites,” Maina explained.

She continues to support girl child education and the emancipation of women in Niger. The young female scientist also advises young girls who aspire to be like her to keep pushing.

“I will say to them to not give up to keep going because everyone would think people from Niger, or a young girl from Niger, would not be able to do this. But just believe in yourself and find an environment that will support you,” she told.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) will begin operations in January 2021, although trading was originally planned for July 1, 2020, but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the BBC, negotiations resumed this week between countries to deal with final sticking points around rules of origin and market access.

The Agreement establishing the AfCFTA was signed in March 2018 in Kigali Rwanda, following the conclusion of the main legal texts. 54 Member States of the African Union have signed, and 30 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

The main objectives of the AfCFTA are to create a single market for goods and services, facilitate the movement of persons, promote industrial development and sustainable and inclusive socio-economic growth, and resolve the issue of multiple memberships, under agenda 2063. It lays a foundation for the establishment, in the future, of a Continental Common Market.

The implementation of the agreement suffered an initial setback when the continent’s biggest economy, Nigeria, delayed signing the agreement. Analysts were of the view that had Nigeria failed to rectify the deal, the Pan African free trade zone would have been stillborn.

Regional integration in Africa has been hampered by the lack of political will exhibited by member states, political instability, the multiplicity of memberships to Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and inadequate funding among others.

According to the African Union (AU), intra-African trade is estimated to increase by 52.3 percent (US$34.6 billion) under the AfCFTA, compared to the current arrangement without AfCFTA. The free trade area will cover a market of 1.2 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$2.5 trillion, across 54 member states. The continental trading bloc is expected to be the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in terms of the number of participating states.

In August, Ghana handed over the Secretariat of AfCFTA to the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, at a ceremony in Accra. President Nana Akufo-Addo, who supervised the handing over ceremony, also announced at the event the provision of a residential accommodation to serve as the official residence of the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA.

In a statement, he said Africa’s prosperity depends largely on intra-African trade. “Increase in trade is the surest way to deepen regional integration in Africa. “We are now the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization, and we must make it count.”

X2 PERFORMANCE has announced that Los Angeles Clippers’ four-time All-Star Kawhi Leonard will join the company’s board of directors. X2’s entire product line launch exclusively at CVS Pharmacy.

“I have been approached by many beverage and supplement brands, but I decided to join X2 because it is natural with clean ingredients. I love the products, and the impact it’s had on my training and performance,” said Leonard in a written statement. “I’m really inspired by our X2 team and the momentum we are building.”

Leonard plans on being directly involved in product innovation as well as marketing support.

X2 PERFORMANCE products use a patented combination of clean ingredients, which are scientifically proven, to deliver sustained performance through the generation and regeneration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is a natural molecule the body uses to provide energy. X2 is widely used by pro teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL.

X2 CEO and board member Mark French said, “With more and more consumers looking for natural solutions in the energy and pre-workout categories, we are thrilled to launch our products nationally with Kawhi. “What has been the best-kept secret in pro sports is now available for everyone looking for a natural boost.”

In an interview with CNBC Monday, French spoke about Leonard’s involvement with the company, “He will be the face of the brand. There isn’t a more perfect partner for this than Kawhi. He’s perfect for us because he’s serious and not flashy.”

Consumers can purchase X2 ENDURANCE natural energy drinks as well as X2 PERFORMANCE (the products, not the company). It also offers clean ingredients for sustained energy. X2 differentiates itself from other energy drinks with its natural ingredients, non-carbonated formula, antioxidants, and electrolytes.

Leonard won an NBA championship in 2014 as a player with the San Antonio Spurs. After leaving the Spurs via trade in 2018, Leonard led the Toronto Raptors to their first championship in 2019.

Racial disparities within the healthcare system due to to the lingering effects of systemic racism prevent thousands of Black and Latinx patients from receiving the adequate service they deserve. One Black woman is seeking to change that by establishing a new tool to help marginalized groups connect with doctors from their communities.

Kimberly Wilson is the founder of HUED, an app created to help Black and Latinx patients connect with doctors of colors for healthcare services. Wilson created the company after her own health scare exposed her to the disparities many like her face.

“As a 30-something, I was traumatized by this experience, and in that, I realized my story is the same as countless others, though many are unequipped to be their own self-advocate,” said Wilson. “That was when I developed a solution for improving the patient care experience.”

Wilson says the COVID-19 pandemic has only given more exposure to the disparities Black and Latinx patients face when seeking healthcare services leading more consumers to the app. “Where investors and other stakeholders were uninterested and unbothered by the work that HUED was doing, even just a year ago,” she explains, “there’s been a spotlight on healthcare that is helping us to validate a problem that we’ve sought to address well before this moment in time.”

The health app recently partnered with Vaseline and award-winning actress Regina King to collaborate on a search tool to help people find dermatologists and other specialist doctors of color. “Through this partnership, we co-created a search tool with Vaseline specifically focused on helping people identify and connect with dermatologists of color and those experienced in treating skin of color,” said Wilson.

“The online platform will also offer educational resources that provide expert recommendations on how to treat and monitor skin at home, understanding when to seek a dermatologist for proper care, and how to best prepare for an appointment with the right questions and what to expect.”

Wilson went on to say that she hopes the services can help combat these disparities as a start to reform the system and help those within the community. “HUED’s solution not only reduces the economic toll of payers (resulting from racial disparities),” she says, “but also drastically improves health outcomes for people of color by allowing patients to search, review, and book culturally competent physicians that specifically understand their physical, mental, and cultural needs.”