News — black businesses

The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for U.S. small businesses, with many experiencing dramatic declines in revenues and cash liquidity following the government-mandated closures that began in March. The effects of the economic downturn have been especially severe for Black-owned businesses— many of which entered this crisis undercapitalized.

As a step toward helping black-owned businesses recover and move forward, a coalition of four business advocacy groups — the National Minority Supplier Development Council, US Black Chambers, National Urban League and Black Enterprise — have partnered with JPMorgan Chase to launch Advancing Black Entrepreneurs by Chase for Business. Together with Chase Business Banking, these organizations have developed an educational curriculum designed specifically for eligible black entrepreneurs on key topics that are vital to business growth and sustainability.

Kamal Grant, owner of the Atlanta-based Sublime Doughnuts and a Chase for Business client, shared his insights about why it is critical for Black entrepreneurs to have relationships with banks and the importance of new programs like Advancing Black Entrepreneurs.

“I am excited to be a part of this program. It is a tough environment for Black entrepreneurs, and it is great to see Chase have this curriculum to develop the in’s and out’s of a well-oiled business,” Grant says. “Seeing a program like this can help us address the important issues and bring people together to have positive discussions. It’s important to learn how to grow your wealth and build on that.”

Black-owned businesses experienced a 26% decline in cash balances in March compared to the prior year, according to the JPMorgan Chase Institute, and could require more recovery assistance than others due to severe revenue shocks in recent months.

Participating entrepreneurs also receive instruction on how to reimagine their businesses if necessary— with insights into how to build more flexibility into supply chains, develop an online presence, revisit staffing models, and a primer on accounting best practices for new grants or loans they may have recently received. In addition, the course will provide insights into how to manage banking relationships in this environment.

“Black entrepreneurs play a vital role in the economic health of black communities, and it is critical that we equip them with the necessary tools and insights at this time,” says Adrienne Trimble, president and chief executive officer of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. “We’re looking forward to working with the coalition and Chase Business Banking to position black-owned businesses for success and prepare them for life after the crisis.”

Changing business models

As many retail bakeries are learning, a new business model is needed to capture and sustain business growth. Slowly but surely, sales are picking back up this year, and sales of donuts – which Grant calls a “natural takeout food” – are building, thanks to a budding delivery business for the bakery.

“People started coming out and taking donuts home for their families, and a lot of people in Atlanta started supporting Black businesses,” Grant explains. “Atlanta showed up, and that’s been really good for us. Sublime is needed in this new world order.”

Sublime Doughnuts is nearing 12 years in business as one of the most innovative donut shops in the country. The retailer operates two locations in Atlanta, in addition to two locations inside the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home to the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League.

As the creative mind behind Sublime Brands’ distinctive doughnut and bakeshop concept, Grant demonstrates a love for baking and bringing smiles to customers’ faces that can only be described as awe-inspiring. “I realized at a very young age that sweets make people happy, and that’s what I wanted to do with my life,” he says.

When an executive from Dunkin Donuts visited Grant’s high school foodservice class and discussed his trips to the doughnut research and development lab to taste the experimental treats, it sounded pretty sweet. After graduating, Grant joined the Navy and used his enlistment as an opportunity to pursue his dream of becoming a world-class baker. Serving as a baker among the E4 – 3rd Class Petty Officers on the USS John Young, Grant’s cinnamon rolls quickly gained the praise of his shipmates.

In addition to an opportunity to bake, his travels with the Navy also exposed him to international culinary treats and exotic flavor and texture combinations. Singapore’s ice cream sandwiches made with multi-colored bread and sweet red bean soup, Australia’s malt chocolate beverages and Dubai’s shawarma and rosewater forever changed Grant’s approach to baking.

“While traveling around the world in the Navy, I learned that pastries weren’t just about baking; they also represented culinary art,” says Grant.

This newfound artistic appreciation led him to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America, where he focused on high-end desserts, plate presentation, classical techniques and the flavors and textures of award-winning chefs. During his time at the Institute, Grant interned with renowned pastry chef Keegan Gerhard at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. Upon graduating, he refined his skills at the American Institute of Baking, where he focused on the science behind baking. Grant put these skills to use at his first job as a supervisor at the Flowers Baking Company, learning the value of “high volume, high quality” production.

Before long, Grant’s desire to create led him to notice a rental sign for an empty shop in Atlanta that would soon become his culinary vision, known since 2008 as Sublime Doughnuts.

“At Sublime, we present flavors and textures from around the world on a doughnut canvas,” he says with a smile.

Facebook is launching a three-month "Season of Support" initiative for small businesses — starting with a campaign to highlight Black-owned businesses, which are closing twice as fast as others during the pandemic.

The #BuyBlackFriday initiative includes toolkits and other resources for Black-owned businesses, new Facebook app features encouraging people to share posts supporting these businesses, as well as a weekly Friday show featuring owners, entertainers and musical artists.

"Black-owned businesses have been hit especially hard by the pandemic," Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, wrote in a Thursday blog post announcing the new initiative. "But we know that millions of people want to help."

The campaign runs from from October 30 through November 27, the retail industry's Black Friday. Facebook (FB) will spotlight a Black-owned entrepreneur on the live #BuyBlack Friday Show each week, and the company is also offering events and resources through its app and a Lift Black Voices hub.

Black-owned businesses can request a toolkit to amplify the #BuyBlack campaign, and later this month Facebook will release a #BuyBlack Friday Gift Guide featuring products in a variety of categories.

Facebook in June announced a broader $100 million initiative to help support Black communities, and it has set a goal to spend at least $1 billion with diverse suppliers beginning next year. In August the company launched a $40 million grant program for Black-owned businesses, and new user features include an option on the Businesses Nearby tool for companies to self-designate as Black-owned.

In her blog post, Sandberg pointed out that during the pandemic Black-owned businesses have closed at twice the rate of White-owned businesses, which has already forced more than 100,000 small businesses across the country to permanently shut down.

Studies show Black entrepreneurs have struggled the most to stay in business as they typically have less reserve capital and receive less aid from banks and the federal government.

Meanwhile, the lockdowns have enabled retail giants like Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT) and Target to dramatically increase their profits, due in part to reduced competition. And retail and consumer goods analysts expect US consumers -- wary of large crowds and the risk of catching Covid-19 -- to do more online shopping than ever before this holiday season.

That environment will be "immensely challenging" for small businesses and Black-owned businesses in particular, Sandberg wrote.

"We will be working closely with the US Black Chambers, an influential network of Black entrepreneurs, to encourage people to #BuyBlack over the holidays," she added, "and we are confident that millions of people will want to join in."

Still, Facebook has not been immune to the world's reckoning with racism. This summer a Black manager at Facebook and two other Black people who applied for jobs there filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for alleged discrimination.

July brought a boycott led by the social justice group Color of Change and the media activist group Free Press, whose supporters took issue with how Facebook has policed hate speech and misinformation on its platforms. The controversy grew after Facebook did not take action on a series of racially charged posts made by President Donald Trump, including one that said "looting" during the racial justice protests that erupted after George Floyd was killed would lead to "shooting."

Wish, one of the largest and fastest-growing global e-commerce platforms, is announcing the launch of a $2 million fund to support independent, Black-owned retail businesses across the U.S.

Eligible business owners can apply for a $500 to $2,000 grant to help rebuild or reinvigorate their business. Funds can be allocated to a wide range of business needs, including workforce, operating costs, inventory, and marketing.

The move follows the news that Black-owned businesses in the U.S., which are highly concentrated in retail, food and beverage, and other service industries, are amongst the hardest hit by COVID-19 lockdowns. Between February and April 2020, the number of Black business owners in the U.S. dropped by 41%, vs 17% for white business owners. The challenges that face Black-owned businesses in the U.S. look likely to prevail well into next year.

Hassan Yahya, vice president of experience at Wish, said: “This is something we’ve wanted to do for some time but the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the Black Lives Matter movement has really fast-tracked our mission. The Wish Local Empowerment Program provides a starting point for us to support independent, Black-owned businesses that are often denied government aid and lack other financial resources to fall back on. By joining the Wish Local network, we can help Black-owned businesses tap into the growing demand for e-commerce, as well as diversify their core revenue streams. We really hope we can make a difference and create a lasting impact on the equality and diversity of U.S. businesses.”

The fund is being financed by Wish Local—a partnership program between Wish and a global network of brick-and-mortar stores. Any small business owner can apply as long as they meet the following criteria:

• 100% Black-owned or majority Black-owned
• Brick-and-mortar store located within the U.S.
• 20 or fewer full-time employees
• Annual revenue of less than $1 million in the last 12 months

As part of the initiative, Wish has partnered with Official Black Wall Street and Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce (LIAACC) to help promote the program amongst their networks.

To apply, business owners must tell Wish about their store and why they qualify for the program. Our committee will then review all applications to select which stores will receive funds and allocate funds accordingly. All successful applicants join the Wish Local program—a global network of 40,000 partner stores around the world. Through the program they can sign up as a Wish Pickup point or take advantage of our Sell on Wish feature that gives small retailers an immediate digital presence by allowing them to trade their own inventory online. Sign up is free and Wish takes no cut of any product upload, sale, or delivery fee.

Namibia is seeking new markets for its beef and has launched several studies which show promising results, the country’s meat board said on Monday.

The Meat Board of Namibia (MBN) said it is scouted for newer markets for Namibian beef to expand opportunities for farmers.

According to the MBN, it is seeking to add to its traditional markets, namely South Africa, China, the United States, Norway and the European Union.

The meat board said it has conducted research regarding several Middle Eastern markets which has shown promising results.

“Current markets are Foot-and-Mouth Disease sensitive and therefore Middle-Eastern markets can offer alternatives,” the board said in a statement.

“We need to be cognizant of the current limited production of cattle and beef as a consequence of the 2019 drought, and that further research on alternative markets will not necessarily lead to market utilisation,’’ said the statement.

The MBN also noted that total cattle marketing decreased by 31 per cent in the January to August period, in spite producer prices showing a 2per cent increase for slaughter cattle and a 39per cent increase for weaner calves.

Exports of weaner calves that represent 63 per cent of the total cattle market share decreased by 49 per cent during the reported period, it added.

In February, Namibian meat processor Meatco sent the South African country’s first shipment of beef to the US, making it the first country in Africa eligible to export beef to the US.

After undergoing several audits, health and safety protocols since Namibia became eligible in 2016, the consignment was the first official commercial shipment to the US.

Namibia’s livestock industry is worth approximately N$3.9 billion annually, according to Meat Board 2019 statistics, with Meatco’s share around 50%.

Architecture is an extremely difficult field to enter, especially for people of color. In a 2018 report from the National Council of Architectural Registration Board, nonwhite architecture professionals are 25% more likely to stop pursuing licensure with a nonwhite professional representing 45% of participants in the Architectural Experience Program. Black women are an even smaller margin when it comes to diversity within the sector. One woman decided to take her savings to start her career in architecture and is now celebrating 30 years in the business.

Deryl McKissack is the owner of McKissack & McKissack, a firm responsible for overseeing construction projects including the Obama Presidential Center, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Lincoln, and several Martin Luther King, Jr. memorials. In an interview with BLACK ENTERPRISE, McKissack shares her story about getting into the architecture field and the importance of diversity in the sector.

BE: What inspired you to get into architecture?

McKissack: Architecture was in my blood. I’m the fifth generation in our family to go into the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) business. My great-great-grandfather, a freed slave, was a builder, as was his son, my great-grandfather. His son, my grandfather, was the first Black registered architect in Tennessee. And my father, also a registered architect, would take me and my twin sister to work with him when we were 6, prop us up on his drawing boards and teach us how to draw details, do schedules, use Leroy lettering, make legends, and everything else. By the time we were 13, he was using our drawings.

My sister and I both went to Howard University on academic scholarships as double-majors in architecture and engineering. But I was more drawn to the practical side of things—how buildings work—and eventually made engineering my major. After I graduated, I went to work at an engineering firm.

How did you get your start working in the field?

My first job after school was evaluating flood insurance studies for Dames & Moore, and I quickly realized it wasn’t for me. I wanted to be out in the field managing major construction projects, not sitting behind a desk in an office all day. So six months later I landed a job doing exactly that at Turner Construction Co. But on my first day on the job, I showed up in a proper gray skirt suit my mother bought me, looking like a Southern Belle. The construction manager on the site looked at me in shock and said, “You’re Deryl? I thought you were a man!” I told him not to worry; I had my jeans and construction boots in the car, and marched right out there and changed.

Five years later, I was recruited by Howard University to run facilities for 18 months. When I finished that job, I decided it was time to start my own business. After being in corporate American, where I felt my voice wasn’t heard, I wanted to found a business that would be diverse and inclusive and everyone would be heard.

What were the challenges you faced as a Black woman entering this field?

It is definitely a double-whammy, so the challenges have been many and varied.  But as Black women, we are always second-guessed and often not taken seriously on projects. Also, as a Black woman, I was often the only person in the room, or at the table, who never had a voice.  And it’s equally hard to get in the room or get a seat at the table if you’re a Black woman.

The issue is really unconscious bias, which comes from systemic racism. People want to work with the people they’ve always worked with, and let’s face it—AEC is overwhelmingly white and male. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Blacks and women are profoundly underrepresented in architecture, engineering, and construction; 88% of construction workers and 84% of architecture and engineering professionals are white, and only 10% of construction workers and 26% of architecture and engineering professionals are women.

Another issue is that it’s hard to be constantly questioned about your capabilities—even after you’ve proven yourself time and time again. For instance, we’ve done major work on landmarks and the nation’s most popular museums. They’re all on the National Mall. And because McKissack & McKissack is headed by a Black woman, we’re still questioned about our capabilities when we go after large jobs. I feel like a lot of the industry is always looking for us to make a mistake, so we’re held to an almost impossible standard—flawless and excellent performance. But the majority of firms make mistakes all the time; they even default. But if I make one mistake, I feel like I’m hurting all the women- and minority-owned firms who come behind me.

Getting financing is another huge challenge. About a dozen banks turned me down early in the history of my business. Finally, one bank came through, but they made my husband, who has nothing to do with my business, come to the bank with me. He knew nothing about my business at all. Banks put minority firms through a lot more scrutiny to borrow much less money.

What is your advice to other Black professionals who want to get into the field?

To not underestimate themselves, because people will always underestimate them. So they must be confident and chart their own path, which really goes back to what my ancestors taught me. People ask us how we made it through slavery, Jim Crow, and all the civil rights uprisings across the country in the ’60s, and I always say it’s because we didn’t allow others to define us. We defined ourselves as leaders, as builders, and as architects, and we charted our own paths.

Over recent years, private investors have started to scale up their involvement in the sector. Power Africa, an initiative backed by USAID, has more than $54bn of commitments from its more than 140 private sector partners. Private sector engagement is on the rise, energised by initiatives such as the New Deal on Energy for Africa and the US-led Power Africa Initiative.

Recent years have seen private sector involvement grow in leaps and bounds, starting out from the generation sector and now migrating into transmission and distribution. Power Africa’s Beyond the Grid initiative has for example seen over 40 private sector partners involved in developing mini-grid and distributed power services and infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa’s rural and peri-urban populations.

At country level, outliers such as Kenya have aggressively sought out private investment in the generation sector, and are now pivoting this towards the transmission sector. Nairobi’s robust focus on reforms has paid off.

South Africa has also led the way in private power provision. “If you look back 10 years ago, there were under 60 independent power projects,” says Bhavtik Vallabhjee, Head of Power, Utilities and Infrastructure at South Africa’s ABSA Group. “Now we’ve had 112 IPPs, which has been a staggering success story for the country in terms of foreign direct investment. And every single project had a contribution from a foreign developer. That has injected in excess of R200bn [$11.9bn] into the economy.”

Growing need

The need for private investment will grow even more acute in light of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the continent. From the perspective of Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), which manages $1.9bn of investments in 19 countries across the continent, the outlook for investment remains nuanced and varied between countries.

“We’re certainly going to see governments that are highly leveraged, essentially struggling from a debt service perspective,” says Olusola Lawson, Investment Director at AIIM. “And these governments are going to need multilateral interventions to keep the wheels spinning. This obviously has a second order effect in terms of the energy space, because in several countries across Africa, energy value chains continue to struggle and the utilities are backed by the sovereign. So, we’re going to see an impact in terms of continued sovereign support to credit enhance electric utilities.”

However, Lawson says there will also be an increase in commercial offtakers looking for alternatives to existing utility supplied power as they look for more reliable power sources and governments relax regulations to allow for self-generation or off-grid solutions in the face of public funding constraints.

Although more space is being created for private funding, one of the impacts of Covid-19 is that banks are likely to become much more selective about opportunities they pursue, looking at them primarily from the perspective of capital gains that are now under pressure.

“What’s even more important than normal, when you look at a project finance transaction is the bankability as this is long-tenor limited recourse financing – the robustness of the project, the track record of the developer that is behind it and the quality of the EPC and O&M contractors behind it, amongst others,” says Vallabhjee. “Banks will certainly to be looking at the larger developers and those with a substantial balance sheet and a track record to be able to execute these projects.”

If African economies are to make the most of the opportunities, they will need to continue to double down on reform, as a World Bank report released in September 2019, Rethinking Power Sector Reform in the Developing World, notes. 

Entrepreneurship in Africa is now front and center of development efforts after spending years as the poor cousin of corporate employment.

Global multinationals are now paying attention to what was once a sub-culture of people trying to forge their own path in alternative economic enterprises and activities.

Many people in the mainstream economy used to confuse entrepreneurship with the informal sector, seeing people without a corporate job as low on the business ladder; as workers eking out a small living in markets or a corner of their homes.

But in a decade, the narrative has changed. Being an entrepreneur is now cool. They are viewed as dynamic and adventurous, open to taking risks. They are no longer shunned by the workplace, but sought after as the number of success stories grows and big money chases small enterprises with good ideas.

There are a number of reasons for this. Technology is the biggest one. Many entrepreneurs with good ideas can now realize them through the development of creative apps, software and platforms that can link thousands of people to each other in ways that improve lives and productivity.

Africans are using technology to bridge age-old development gaps and increase efficiencies in almost every sector. Technology has become a driving force to improve and disrupt the functions of the dysfunctional state, with social entrepreneurs creating the tools to improve their communities.

Demographics is also a driver. African leaders have realized that small enterprises have a big role to play in addressing the intractable, and worsening, problem of unemployment, particularly among the youth. In many African countries, people below the age of 25 represent more than 50% of the population, and they need hope.

In an interconnected and modernizing continent, governments can no longer ignore joblessness and rely on the resilience of their people to get by. Technology has not only given people tools to work; it has also given them the tools to make themselves heard.

The growing revolution has attracted the attention of big corporations. Record amounts of money have been earmarked for entrepreneurial endeavor and companies are competing for visibility in supporting this trend. EY, IBM and others have long held entrepreneurship competitions and awards ceremonies and many more have mushroomed over time. Funding is more readily available for promising startups and good ideas.

The gap between corporations and startups is closing. It is no longer the case that a big business will not give a small, energetic company or businessperson the time of day. More and more smart executives are seeing the value in exploring ideas and options that they once eschewed because the company was not of sufficient size or had no visibility in the marketplace.

Fintech leads the way

Fintech has been a clear leader in this regard, unsurprising given the market gaps on a continent with an underdeveloped financial sector and one where more than 60% of the adult population is unbanked. In closing those gaps, they are pushing multinational companies out of their comfort zone.

A new wave of smart partnerships and investment is emerging between established businesses and new entrepreneurs.

For example, Nigerian fintech startups in the payment space, Flutterwave and Paystack, have, between them, attracted investment from the likes of Visa, Tencent, and Mastercard. Flutterwave secured partnerships with Alipay and US payment company FIS.

Nigeria’s official statistics show that the volume of digital payments in this formerly cash-driven economy grew nearly 500% in 2019.

In 2018, sub-Saharan Africa was one of the fastest-growing zones for Fintech, with investment nearly quadrupling to $357m. Startups in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa accounted for the largest share, according to The Mobile Economy, Sub-Saharan Africa 2019 report by the GSMA.

Given the intractable problems in Africa’s health sector caused by underdevelopment and government neglect, entrepreneurs are mushrooming here too.

Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun? is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The book is about Reginald F. Lewis, the legendary entrepreneur who rocked Wall Street when his firm, TLC Group, acquired Beatrice International Foods for $985 million. The purchase in 1987 helped Lewis build the first Black-owned business to exceed the billion-dollar revenue mark. At the time it was the was the largest-ever offshore leveraged buyout. It was gigantic as TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. became the nation’s largest snack food, beverage, and grocery store conglomerate with a global presence.

And now, an audio version of the classic book was just released. Written by Lewis and co-author Blair S. Wall, the book was a New York Times best seller. The extraordinary exploits on the life and times of the astute, courageous, and bodacious Lewis still serve today as a source of inspiration to generations of Black entrepreneurs, including those in finance, technology, entertainment, and other fields.

Before his death in 1993, Lewis helped Black Americans gain access to financing for Blacks on Wall Street. His landmark endeavors encouraged Blacks to overcome barriers like race to become business owners, corporate executives, and major growth contributors to America’s economy. Lewis’ accomplishments remain momentous though they occurred over a quarter century ago. They shine like a beacon for African Americans to keep striving for, and potentially exceed, his success in their own business pursuits. The trailblazing work by Lewis is perhaps even more amazing in that it shows how a Black man pulled off acquiring a major international company with 64 companies in 31 countries. The name of Lewis became a sign of hope. That was especially true in the Black community as many African Americans were compelled to believe that if Lewis could score such a feat, then others could possibly play in the game as well.

Lewis left an enduring mark on business history. His actions permeated with many top Black business leaders, including the likes of real estate mogul Don Peebles and BET founder Bob Johnson.

“Reggie was not afraid of going beyond what Black business was, which was privately owned companies run by family members to be passed on to family members,” Johnson told Black Enterprise eight years ago. “He got access to public capital, which gives you leverage in deal making.” Johnson is founder and chairman of The RLJ Cos., a portfolio of companies with holdings in many industries.

Also a philanthropist, Lewis donated millions of dollars to empower and help others. The Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center was the first building at Harvard University named after an African American. The Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, whose chairman is Loida Lewis, Reginald’s wife, is among the largest African American private foundations in the world. As of December 2019, the foundation had given $30 million in grants since starting, according to its website.

Black Enterprise connected with Black entrepreneurs by email to reflect on this: How did Lewis inspire them in business and how can future generations build on his legacy?

Reginald F. Lewis As Role Model

IMB Partners CEO Tarrus Richardson recalls that in July 1987, there was an article on “Mr. Lewis buying McCall Patterns for $27 million and selling it for $90 million. He had invested only $1 million and made $63 million. I was 17 years old. After reading the article I looked at my mom and said, ‘now that looks like a good job’ and from that time on I committed to getting a job in the leveraged buyout business.”

Richardson added, “You can’t be what you can’t see. Once I had the visual of a Black man making that kind of money buying and selling companies, it made it easier for me to believe I too could do it.”

Today, Richardson is founder and CEO of IMB Partners. The Bethesda, Maryland-based firm is a 100% Black private equity holding company (similar to TLC Beatrice) that makes control acquisitions and partners with management teams to grow lower middle-market companies serving government agencies and electric and gas utilities. IMB Partners has revenue of over $500 million, five portfolio companies, and more than 300 employees. It ranked No. 42 on BLACK ENTERPRISE’S Top 100 list, an annual ranking of the nation’s top Black-owned businesses.

When he started imbpartners.com in 2010, Richardson says, Loida was one of his earliest investors and has invested in all of IMB’s deals. Richardson says while his company has not made a 90-to-1 return, the company is making 5-to-1 returns on its investments and its goal is to get to over $1 billion in revenue in the next five years.

Outside of business, Richardson says he helped Christina Lewis, Reginald’s daughter, found All Star Code as its founding board chair. He reports he was the lead funder for the 2018 PBS documentary on Reginald Lewis that was a dream of Loida and the family. “I am incredibly grateful for the inspiration and role modeling both in business and in life Mr. Lewis and his family have played in my life since I was a teenager and continues to play in so many others.”

Following years of legal difficulties in challenging markets, MTN Group’s new CEO Ralph Mupita is expected to turn over a new leaf by capitalising on technological growth and a demographic dividend within Africa to cement its position as the continent’s largest telecoms provider.

The firm’s Middle East operations have underperformed in recent years, while legal and regulatory difficulties in Nigeria damaged shareholder confidence in the overall expansion strategy.

Former chief executive Rob Shuter – who will become CEO of BT’s Enterprise unit – had to deal with a record $5.2bn fine, later reduced to $1.5bn, levied by Nigeria’s Communications Commission after failing to disconnect 5.1m unregistered sim cards, while grappling with the Nigerian government over an additional $2bn tax claim, which was finally dropped earlier this year.

Now it falls to MTN’s new CEO, Zimbabwean Ralph Mupita, to extricate MTN from the Middle East, grow its mobile money platform, and invest in 5G.

“He has financial experience in the banking sector and this is becoming increasingly important if not critical for MTN, because of the growing size of mobile money,” says Dobek Pater of research consultancy Africa Analysis. “Mobile operators are the biggest threat to traditional banks, and Mupita knows the changes that need to be made to steer MTN forward in that industry.”

Mupita is an internal appointment, having joined MTN in 2017 as group chief financial officer, after a 16-year career at Old Mutual, including a five-year stint as CEO at Old Mutual Emerging Markets. He has less telecoms experience than his peers, yet has a wealth of financial experience.

An engineer and an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Mupita has been a key player driving MTN’s BRIGHT strategy, a five-year plan to reach 300m subscribers by 2022, and bolster new revenue streams in financial services, mobile gaming and music streaming, to offset the falling margins in bread-and-butter telecoms services such as phone calls.

“Ralph’s experience as the group CFO, strong knowledge of our businesses and markets, as well as successful background in financial services, M&A and emerging markets, place him in an excellent position to lead the growth and sustainability of the business going forward,” said a statement from the firm.

Although MTN has emerged from the worst of its labyrinthine legal problems in Nigeria, its exposure in risky markets like Iran, Afghanistan and Syria, and investment in non-core businesses like Jumia and IHS, contributed towards a share price plunge of more than 50% during Shuter’s tenure.

However, analysts say the corporate culture has improved in recent years. MTN took a leading role in financially supporting employees during lockdown and launched a coronavirus education campaign.

“There’s no longer a cowboy-type culture, and with that you have less legal issues,” says Michael Treherne, portfolio manager at Vestact Asset Management. “MTN’s biggest problem is that currently their share price largely tracks oil, and they’ve been exposed in very oil-dependent economies. MTN’s other problem is that it costs a huge amount of money to maintain its network, and 5G is now about to roll out. That’s going to cost them billions, so some shareholders are thinking, ‘you’re going to need a lot of money to do these short-term investments in infrastructure, but will it be worth it long-term?’” 

South African telecoms regulator ICASA is preparing to issue an invitation for firms to apply for high-demand spectrum and its Wireless Open Access Network (WOAN). Competitors MTN, Vodacom and Rain started rolling out 5G networks in major South African cities this year, using temporary spectrum allocated by the regulator to support communications during lockdown. ICASA will hold auctions to issue permanent high-demand spectrum licences by December, and MTN is interested in a permanent contract to grow its broadband offering.

Despite MTN’s share price challenges, the company has grown to 262m subscribers in more than 20 countries since it was founded in 1994, adding 11m in the first six months of this year. Covid-19 lockdowns improved the appetite for increased data within African markets, with MTN South Africa’s data traffic up 77% and an increase of 14.1% in active subscribers to 14.2m in the country, according to Shuter.

Restaurateur, Pinky Cole knows what it means to have the Midas touch, experiencing success after success. But she also knows what it means to have to pick up the pieces of a broken dream and forge ahead after a devastating loss. At the Essence + New Voices Entrepreneurship Summit in Atlanta, Cole sat down with Unbossed host Marquita Harris, to discuss her journey from hustler to proprietor of Slutty Vegan, the Atlanta-based vegan comfort food restaurant with a cult following.

The Baltimore native has always had an innovative spirit and from an early age, she tapped into what people wanted, finding ways to sell them the experience they enjoyed.

“When I was 14 I used to have high school parties and I used to make about $4,000 a week. No lie. Anybody in Baltimore knows…I just always had a hustler mentality.”

That mentality set Pinky on the path to become a self-taught business owner. With a determination to see her visions of success come to pass, she opened a Jamaican American fusion restaurant in Harlem. Its moderate success came to an end when a fire destroyed the building.

“So, you know, I felt defeated at the time and I’ve never felt like that in my life because all of my life, everything that I’ve ever touched turned to gold. Right? Like anytime Pinky Cole was saying that she going to do something, it’s going to happen,” Cole reminisced.

“So to lose in the flesh, a perceived loss, I didn’t know what to do at the time, but I needed that to happen early on for me.”

That loss, while devastating, clearly was not the end for Cole. She did the hard work to make ends meet and eventually realize a new vision that would become Slutty Vegan, the vegan comfort food restaurant where you “come for the experience and leave with a burger”.

Stephanie Hart, the owner and founder of Brown Sugar Bakery in Chicago, is buying out a historic 84-year old candy factory called Cupid Candies. To finalize the acquisition, she is using the funds from a $500,000 small business grant that she recently received from the state of Illinois.

In 2004, Stephanie opened Brown Sugar Bakery, which quickly became one of the most popular destinations for Black food culture in the city. It started with one location but has since grown to three locations in the local area

Stephanie had been planning to grow her business even more so when she heard that John Stefanos, the owner of Cupid Candies, wanted to sell the business, she immediately began taking steps to make the purchase. According to The Chicago Sun Times, she applied for a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and was approved for the maximum state grant of $500,000 – the exact amount needed to seal the deal.

Wth the funds, Stephanie is able to acquire, not just the rights to the company’s brand and products, but also the equipment and the building. Ultimately, she will combine the two brands together which is why she is keeping all 20+ employees on staff. Their new job will be to continue to produce all the ice cream and chocolate products of Cupid Candies, as well as the cakes of Brown Sugar Bakery. They will also integrate some of the ideas to create new dessert ideas.

The Ethiopian government yesterday inaugurated a $60 million industrial park in Addis Abba, the capital of the East Africa nation.

The Bahir Dar Industrial Park (BIP) was constructed by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, while speaking at the inaugural ceremony, said the industrial park would help in knowledge transfer and boost the science capacity of Ethiopia.

He added that it would allso create job opportunities for thousands of Ethiopians.

“Bahir Dar Industrial Park is not only a production space but also a place where local employees gain knowledge and even can serve as a recreational space for the general public,” said Ahmed.

“Ethiopia has so far commissioned 13 industrial parks which have been crucial in the country’s efforts to achieve prosperity and boost economic development,” he further said.

According to the Ethiopian leader, BIP and other industrial parks are expected to create linkages with agro-industrial parks, as part of efforts to transform the country’s agricultural sector.

Amhara Regional President, Temesgen Tiruneh, said the construction and commissioning of the Bahir Dar Industrial Park, would help Ethiopia earn much needed foreign exchange from exports.

“Textile exports from Bahir Dar Industrial Park will earn Ethiopia much needed foreign currency, in addition to contributing to the overall economic development of the country,” said Tiruneh.

Sandokan Debebe, CEO of Ethiopia Industrial Park Development Corporation said Ethiopia had already managed to start operating 10 of the 13 industrial parks it commissioned.

“The commissioning of Bahir Dar Industrial Park will play a crucial part in boosting the economic development of Amhara regional state.

“BIP is the third industrial park to be inaugurated in the Amhara region,” Debebe added.