By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">Courtney Connley</a>



Not every job you hold will be your dream job, but according to bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch, treating any job as a simple means to an end is a mistake.



Not only is it a mistake, Welch tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/" class="">CNBC Make It</a>, but your intentions will be clear to prospective employers — and that could kill your chances in a job interview.



“Would you marry someone who said, ‘You’re OK, but only until someone better comes along?’” she asks. “Obviously no — but that’s exactly what prospective employers hear when you utter the phrase of death in any job interview.”



That phrase? “Stepping stone.”



The first time Welch heard these two words in an interview was when she was a hiring manager looking to add editors to the business magazine she was running. She was hoping to hire a particularly talented candidate, who seemed interested in the job. The interview went well, and Welch says she ended it by asking&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/how-to-answer-the-interview-question-where-do-you-see-yourself-in-5-years.html" class="">a classic question</a>, “Where do you see yourself in three years?”



“Probably in communications for a bank,” the candidate replied. “I’d love to transition to that industry, which makes this job such an excellent stepping stone.”



Welch knew immediately that was the end of the road with that candidate, no matter how impressive her talent.



“Don’t get me wrong — I actually admire people who think strategically about their careers,” she says. “After seven years as a crime reporter, I knew I needed an MBA and a few years of consulting before I could legitimately cover business, and I’ve even advised my own kids to work at certain companies just to gain skills.”



But though every job you hold won’t be a lifetime commitment, you can’t move throughout your career “using employers for your own needs.” Doing this, Welch says, will inevitably backfire — even if you don’t use the dreaded phrase “stepping stone,” your strategy will become clear to employers.



And treating your job “as a means to an end” isn’t a particularly satisfying way to live. “It’s beyond strategic. It’s beyond ambition. It’s just kind of mercenary.”



“I’m not only saying, ‘Don’t utter the words ‘stepping stone’ in an interview,’” Welch emphasizes. “I’m saying don’t even think them. Even if you know a job isn’t forever, it’s your professional home while they’re paying you.”



Instead, approach every job opportunity as though it could actually turn out to be your dream job, regardless of how long you plan to be there.



“That’s the only way to make true friends with your colleagues, earn a reputation as a team player and hopefully do something every day that’s bigger than you,” she says. “Maybe you’ll leave someday. Maybe you won’t. But if you do, in time, it will be with integrity — and that’s a step worth taking.”



Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the <a class="" href="http://jwmi.com/?mcv=jdg469">Jack Welch Management Institute</a>and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.



This article first appeared on CNBC<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html"> </a><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/suzy-welch-2-words-you-should-never-say-in-a-job-interview.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/suzy-welch-2-words-you-should-never-say-in-a-job-interview.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Suzy Welch: 2 words you should never say in a job interview

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 Introducing technology into the classroom is important, but teachers need proper support.
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By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mmaki-jantjies-457732">Mmaki Jantjies</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-western-cape-1018">University of the Western Cape</a>

South Africa says it is pushing ahead to grasp the many opportunities presented by the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/what-is-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/">fourth industrial revolution</a>. President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a <a href="http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/press-statements/president-appoints-commission-fourth-industrial-revolution">commission of experts</a> to explore what this fusing of the physical, digital and biological worlds, driven by technology, will mean for the country. 

One of the areas in which technology is already playing a major role is the school system with some South African schools having already embraced it. President Ramaphosa announced in his <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-2019-state-nation-address-7-feb-2019-0000">2019 state of the nation address</a> that tablets would be rolled out to all South African schools. There’s also been <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/saje/article/view/143683">extensive research</a> in recent years into the potential role of electronic and mobile learning in the country’s schools. 

And there have been other initiatives such as introducing <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/292316/tech-overhaul-for-sa-schools-will-put-a-tablet-in-the-hands-of-all-learners-report/">robotics education</a> in primary schools as well as ensuring the provision of <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-06-15-00-the-future-of-ict-is-in-gautengs-classrooms">digitising learning resources</a>. 

But are all South Africa’s public schools ready for this shift? As an academic <a href="http://www.mmakij.co.za/">whose research</a> focuses <a href="https://theconversation.com/marrying-technology-and-home-language-boosts-maths-and-science-learning-104587">on educational technology</a>, I would suggest that five important factors must be considered before the answer is a resounding yes. 

<hr>

 
 
 Read more:
 <a href="http://theconversation.com/marrying-technology-and-home-language-boosts-maths-and-science-learning-104587">Marrying technology and home language boosts maths and science learning</a>
 
 

<hr>


Of course, schools in the country are not <a href="https://www.schoolguide.co.za/for-parents/school-review-guidelines/1036-education-guide/10975-school-fees-quintiles.html">homogeneous</a>. But, broadly speaking, infrastructure, ongoing teacher training and support, appropriate localised content, technical support and safety and security must all be prioritised so that educational technology actually does what it’s supposed to: <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/countries-to-watch-and-learn-from">enhances teaching and learning</a>.

<h2>Focus areas</h2>

The first important area is infrastructure.

Schools need technical infrastructure to support both online and offline access to digital resources. That physical infrastructure needs to managed and properly maintained. For this, proper planning is needed: hardware tends to be the last priority for schools when they have many other financial needs. A sustainable financial plan for hardware maintenance is crucial in the introduction of any technology in schools.

<a href="https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/news/data-costs-still-too-high-in-south-africa-19606374">Data costs</a> are another major concern. Software, related applications and learning content need to be available offline so that pupils can keep working beyond the school premises. 

The second area that needs attention is teacher training and support. This is not a once off process – it must be continuous. But as it stands, many of the teachers in the education system received <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/saje/article/viewFile/143683/133397">very few or no</a> technology infused learning experiences while they were studying.

And, crucially, introducing more educational technology is about more than the addition of a piece of hardware or some software. It also means introducing novel approaches to teaching and learning. Universities that train teachers need to be cognisant of this. 

In my own work with the <a href="https://peoyap.org/">Peo Ya Phetogo</a> Foundation, a non profit organisation aimed at empowering teachers with computer and digital literacy skills, my colleagues and I have learned that teachers need local <a href="https://wiki.lib.sun.ac.za/images/f/f3/Teaching-in-a-digital-age.pdf">communities of practice</a> where people work together and learn from each other. This can support their journey of transition from older teaching materials to modern technology. There is also <a href="https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/42311/Vandeyar_Practice_2013.pdf?sequence=1">extensive South African research</a> which reflects this issue. 

Then there’s localised content. There’s already a lot of local learning software in South Africa but a lot of this is in English. Most South African pupils don’t speak English as their first language, and have to battle with <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/saje/article/viewFile/143683/133397">translating difficult concepts</a> into their native language to try and understand what’s being taught. This is made even tougher when they are also learning new platforms and methods, like digital education tools.

Content and education technology developers need to provide adaptable systems which consider the context of use, the culture of use as well as language of use. The design process needs to follow a co-design process which also involves teachers. After all, a potential mobile learning user in South Africa can be some non-English speaker, accessing the mobile learning content in a cattle <a href="https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/kraal">kraal</a> in a village.

<h2>More support and security</h2>

The fourth area is technical support. Technology introduction in schools needs ongoing “help desk” support. This task is often left to <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/CD/National%20Curriculum%20Statements%20and%20Vocational/CAPS%20FET%20_%20COMPUTER%20APPLICATIONS%20TECHNOLOGY%20_%20GR%2010-12%20_%20Web_6AC6.pdf?ver=2015-01-27-154348-193">Computer Applications Technology</a> or Computing subject teachers. These teachers become burdened: they are seen as the the all round computing experts, expected to always be able to handle help desk questions. 

My colleagues and I have heard this often in our teacher workshops – these teachers’ colleagues also expect them to keep and remember their passwords on their behalf. Schools in urban, peri-urban and rural schools will need dedicated technical support services which teachers will be able to rely on when facing any technical difficulties.

Finally, there’s safety and security. The use of high-end technology within and beyond schools not only affects teachers and learners but also the affects communities in which the schools are based. In a <a href="https://time.com/longform/south-africa-unequal-country/">highly unequal society</a>, crime becomes a challenge for schools, teachers and learners who have to make use of such technologies. Any introduction of technology must be accompanied by a sustainable security plan.

<h2>Policy review</h2>

This is not to say that technology doesn’t belong in schools. On the contrary, the renewed focus on introducing technology to schools should be celebrated. But it also requires a review of South Africa’s existing technology in education policies and a sustainable plan to ensure that no child is deprived of a skill that is no longer a luxury.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118612/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mmaki-jantjies-457732">Mmaki Jantjies</a>, Senior Lecturer in Information Systems at the University of the Western Cape, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-western-cape-1018">University of the Western Cape</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-south-africa-must-get-right-for-tech-in-schools-to-work-118612">original article</a>.

South Africa needs to get these five things right in order for tech in schools to work

LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; U.S. energy firm Anadarko Petroleum Corp on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for the construction of a $20 billion gas liquefaction and export terminal in Mozambique, the largest single LNG project approved in Africa. 



The announcement, which occurred at an event in Mozambique, was widely expected after Anadarko last month flagged the decision date.



&#8220;As the world increasingly seeks cleaner forms of energy, the Anadarko-led Area 1 Mozambique LNG project is ideally located to meet growing demand, particularly in expanding Asian and European markets,&#8221; Chief Executive Officer Al Walker said in a statement&nbsp;<a href="http://pdf.reuters.com/htmlnews/htmlnews.asp?i=43059c3bf0e37541&amp;u=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20190618:nPn4scVtza.">here</a>



Anadarko has agreed to be taken over by Occidental Petroleum Corp. Once that deal goes ahead, Occidental has agreed to sell assets including the Mozambique LNG project to French oil major and large LNG trader Total SA. Officials at Total were not immediately available for comment.



Natural gas use is growing rapidly around the world as countries seek to meet rising energy demand and wean their industrial and power sectors off dirtier coal.



The project, which has committed long-term supplies to utilities, major LNG portfolio holders and state companies around the world, underscores the industry’s conviction that LNG demand will soar in years to come despite a slump in prices this year.



Low prices for the gas that is super-cooled for transportation prompted fears final investment decisions (FIDs) such as Anadarko’s would be delayed or scrapped. But the U.S. company gathered enough long-term buyers to underpin the financing of the project.



“Flexible commercial arrangements, including an innovative co-purchase agreement with Tokyo Gas and Centrica, have been instrumental in securing the project a roster of high-quality customers in a crowded LNG market,” said Frank Harris, head of LNG Consulting at Wood Mackenzie.



LNG prices slumped this year as a jump in supply from new terminals in the United States, Australia and Russia were not totally met by higher demand in Asia.



The trade is also nowhere near as developed as the market for crude oil, causing erratic price movements.



“At $20 billion, today’s FID is the largest sanction ever in sub-Saharan Africa oil and gas,” added Jon Lawrence, an analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s sub-Saharan Africa upstream team.



The project is also expected to be transformational for Mozambique, one of the poorest nations on earth beset by economic crisis, conflict stemming from a civil war and serious governance malaise, whose annual gross domestic product is just $13 billion.



The government of Mozambique said the project is expected to create more than 5,000 direct jobs and 45,000 indirect jobs.



With a 12.88 million tonne per year (mtpa) capacity, Mozambique LNG is one of the largest greenfield LNG facilities to have ever been approved. It involves building infrastructure to extract gas from a field offshore northern Mozambique, pump it onshore and liquefy it, ready for further export by LNG tankers.



On the African east coast, the liquefaction plant will be able to sell LNG to both the lucrative Asian market, home to 75%of global LNG demand, and to the flexible European market, which helps balance global LNG trade by soaking up excess supply.



Mozambique LNG joins other mega-projects approved in the past year such as Exxon Mobil Corp’s 16 mtpa U.S. Golden Pass plant and Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 14 mtpa LNG Canada facility.



Still expected this year are approvals from Exxon for a 15.2 mtpa project also in Mozambique, and from Russia’s Novatek for its 19.8 mtpa Arctic LNG-2 plant.



Anadarko’s partners in the Mozambique LNG project are Mitsui, Mozambique state energy company ENH, Thailand’s PTT and Indian energy firms ONGC, Bharat Petroleum Resources and Oil India.



Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki in London; additional reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York and Debroop Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan Harvey, Marguerita Choy and Arun Koyyur

U.S. energy firm Anadarko approves $20 bln LNG export project in this African country

JOHANNESBURG, June 18 (Reuters) &#8211; Former Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo is to challenge the employer’s conduct in court after the insurer fired him citing a conflict of interest.



A statement by Moyo’s lawyer said Old Mutual had suffered no financial or other prejudice as a result of any action from Moyo.



Reporting by Emma Rumney. Editing by Jane Merriman

Ex-CEO Peter Moyo plans to take Old Mutual to court

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 Belo Horizonte’s traditional food market.
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By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brittany-kesselman-754783">Brittany Kesselman</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894">University of the Witwatersrand</a>

South Africa faces a <a href="https://www.health-e.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/National-Strategy-for-prevention-and-Control-of-Obesity-4-August-latest.pdf">double burden</a> of hunger and malnutrition, on the one hand, and obesity with associated non-communicable diseases (NCDs), on the other. In many countries, in both the global North and South, malnutrition and obesity frequently co-exist in the same people. This is a condition known as “<a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/hidden-hunger-south-africa">hidden hunger</a>”. 

Hidden hunger is a result of various factors. These include poverty, inequality, urbanisation and industrialisation of the food system. The interplay of these factors leaves low income households with very limited access to fresh, healthy foods. Instead, many South Africans – and other people living in similar conditions – subsist on diets high in <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/research-outputs/view/1218">sugar and processed starch</a>. These diets contribute to increasing levels of obesity. But they don’t meet nutritional needs.

My <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/16310">research</a> among urban farmers and low-income residents in Johannesburg identified the complexity of factors that influence dietary choices. It also identified the obstacles to accessing healthy food. Cost is a major impediment while physical access, nutritional knowledge, concentration in the food industry and dietary norms also played a role in shaping diets. Without addressing all of these, South Africa will be unable to address the double burden of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Despite the fact that diet has been a major contributing factor to the growth of NCDs in recent years there are virtually no connections between South Africa’s agricultural and health policies. Policies to address hunger and malnutrition have tended to be housed in the Department of Agriculture. They have focused on increasing production, whether through <a href="http://www.afsun.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Web-Battersby-et-al-Looking-Beyond-Urban-Agriculture.pdf">urban agriculture</a> or support to small-scale farmers in rural areas. 

For its part, the Department of Health remains confined to treatment with medication and limited advice – like diet and exercise. This is despite the fact that the department recognises there needs to be a <a href="https://extranet.who.int/ncdccs/Data/ZAF_B3_NCDs_STRAT_PLAN_1_29_1_3%5B2%5D.pdf">multi-pronged approach</a> to NCDs. 

This needs to change. South African practitioners and policy makers could learn from international examples, where the public and private health sectors have begun to make the link between food and wellness. In particular, policies that were introduced a quarter of a century ago in a city in Brazil provide a useful template of what an integrated approach could look like.

<h2>Connecting the dots</h2>

Innovative policies and programmes in various countries are beginning to link food and health.

To draw a few examples from the United States, which faces high rates of <a href="https://www.who.int/nmh/countries/usa_en.pdf?ua=1">obesity and NCDs</a>, the new field of <a href="https://nutrition.org/the-art-of-cooking-for-health-culinary-medicine/">culinary medicine</a> looks at how dietary changes can restore and maintain health. A number of hospitals are creating <a href="https://www.bu.edu/today/2017/rooftop-farm-at-boston-medical-center/">food gardens</a> to serve healthy meals to patients. Doctors are writing <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5496208/">scripts for fruits and vegetables</a> so that patients can afford them. 

At the same time, in the US and Canada, food banks and other organisations that combat hunger are attempting to distribute healthier foods. These organisations are also <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/214764/the-stop-by-nick-saul-and-andrea-curtis/9780307360793">engaging in advocacy</a> for a more just and equitable food system.

The link is also being made between the livelihoods of food producers and the environmental sustainability of the food system. In the US a non-governmental organisation incentivises recipients of the government’s food assistance programme, SNAP, to buy fresh produce at local farmers’ markets through a <a href="https://www.wholesomewave.org/sites/default/files/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Double-Value-Coupon-Program-Diet-Shopping-Behavior-Study.pdf">double value coupon programme</a>. The UN’s <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4291e.pdf">Purchase from Africa for Africans</a> Programme leverages public procurement for school meals to improve children’s health and education while supporting small-scale family farmers. It draws lessons from Brazil and has been implemented in five African countries. 

The city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil provides a noteworthy example of how innovative, integrated food and nutrition security policies can assist communities. It has been implementing <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/152897901786732735">policies</a> designed to ensure that residents are able to enjoy the right to food for the past 25 years. The city’s programmes include:

<ul>
<li>popular restaurants serving subsidised healthy meals;</li>
<li>shops selling subsidised fresh fruit and vegetables in under-served areas;</li>
<li>a food bank. This reduces food waste by rescuing food otherwise discarded by retailers. The food is then checked and provided to social programmes (such as crèches and old age homes);</li>
<li>farm stalls and farmers’ markets. These enable small-scale farmers to sell directly to consumers, cutting out the middleman and thereby raising incomes;</li>
<li>public procurement from small-scale farmers, especially those using agroecological production methods;</li>
<li>school lunches and school gardens. These ensure that children have access to nutritious meals and that they learn about food production and nutrition.</li>
</ul>

On a <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/research-news/2018/2018-12/a-healthy-meal-in-every-neighbourhood.html">research visit</a> to Belo Horizonte, I saw how these programmes improve access to fresh fruits and vegetables – a key measure in the fight against malnutrition and obesity. 

They also support decent incomes for small-scale producers through direct market access and public procurement. In addition, environmentally sustainable production is encouraged through reservation of additional public funds to purchase agroecologically-farmed foods. 

Beyond the health and economic benefits, the programmes support social cohesion through communal eating spaces, cultural events that feature local gastronomy, and local farmers’ markets where people can meet the farmers who grow their food and enjoy a sense of community.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Belo Horizonte’s food and nutrition security programme is its low cost: less than 2% of the city’s budget. Another is the degree of cooperation among government departments, as well as partnership with <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3023e.pdf">civil society organisations</a>. 

When the policies and programmes developed in Belo Horizonte were rolled out nationally, Brazil experienced a notable <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/brazil-shows-world-how-beat-hunger-says-wfp-head">decline in hunger</a>. 

The model provides many useful lessons that could greatly benefit South Africa. The Department of Health, along with other government departments and civil society partners, needs to take a bold move to tackle the problems of malnutrition, obesity and associated NCDs through a multi-faceted approach.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118613/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important">

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brittany-kesselman-754783">Brittany Kesselman</a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-witwatersrand-894">University of the Witwatersrand</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-should-learn-from-brazil-about-how-to-tackle-hidden-hunger-118613">original article</a>.

What South Africa can learn from Brazil on how to tackle ‘hidden hunger’

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/julia-boorstin/">Julia Boorstin</a> 



Facebook is unveiling an ambitious plan to create a new digital currency and financial system to transform the way money moves around the world, and not just on its own apps.



It’s leading a consortium to create an open-source digital currency called Libra, set to launch in the first half of next year. The goal is for developers to create services for consumers to send money around the world easily and for free — with the same convenience as sending a photo or a message.



The Libra currency will not be run by Facebook, but rather by a nonprofit association supported by a range of companies and organizations. But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=FB" class="">Facebook</a>&nbsp;does have a plan to profit from it with a new subsidiary, Calibra, which is building a digital wallet of the same name for storing and exchanging the currency.



The financial information from your digital wallet will not be used for ad targeting on Facebook’s platforms because the two divisions will be kept totally separate, the company said.



“We’ve seen internet change the game for everything that could be digitized, except for money,” said David Marcus, the leader of Facebook’s Calibra division.



“The numbers really speak for themselves. There’s 1.7 billion people around the world that are unbanked, the same number are underserved by financial services,” said Marcus, who before taking over Facebook’s blockchain initiatives ran its Messenger division and was previously president of PayPal. “Now, anyone with a cheap smartphone has access to all the info they want in the world for free with a basic data plan. Why doesn’t money work the same way?”



The announcement comes after Facebook has faced a slew of privacy issues, raising real questions about whether people will trust the social platform with their financial information. Marcus says that’s why it’s so important that Facebook not be in control of the currency.



“It may sound super controversial but there’s no better way to demonstrate the evolution of our thinking, what we know we should control and what we should not and can not control,” Marcus said. “A network that enables billions of people to move money around the world should not be something we can or should control.”What is Libra?



The new digital currency is set to launch in the first half of 2020. It will be run by a nonprofit, the Libra Association, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its goal is to be broadly accessible, stable and secure.



Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which can be hugely volatile and speculative, Libra will be backed by relatively stable government-backed money.



“If you buy $50 of Libra, your $50 makes its way to the Libra Reserve,” said Marcus. “It’s designed to be stable and confer values on Libra that makes it more like a traditional currency than any of the digital currencies are now. This is the way paper money was created.”



The fact that the Libra blockchain is open-source means that anyone can build a service or app that uses the currency. The wallets that are developed to use the service will be interoperable, so you’ll be able to send money from Facebook’s Calibra wallet to any other system that accepts Libra.



Consumers will not interact with the Libra Association, but will only interact with Libra through a digital wallet or an operator. For people who don’t have the ability to digitally purchase Libra with a credit card or digitally linked account, Marcus says he expects companies in emerging markets to create locations where people can exchange Libra for cash.Who’s involved in this digital currency?



Facebook is joined by 27 other companies and organizations that are founding members. The goal is to have at least 100 companies and organizations on board for its launch next year. Each member of the association will manage one of the “nodes,” or locations where transactions involving Libra are validated.



Founding members include companies in the payments space:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=V" class="">Visa</a>, Stripe and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=PYPL" class="">PayPal</a>, which will be able to help merchants accept Libra. Some tech companies are also on board, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=EBAY" class="">eBay</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=LYFT" class="">Lyft</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=UBER" class="">Uber</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=SPOT" class="">Spotify</a>, and Latin American payments platform Mercado Pago, which could drive adoption of acceptance of the currency. Two European telecom companies are also involved, Iliad and Vodafone.



Venture capital investment companies involved have experience with digital payments: Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, and Union Square Ventures. Nonprofit and academic organizations on board are focused on helping people who don’t have access to banking: Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, and Women’s World Banking. And four blockchain companies are involved: Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase and Xapo Holdings.



“The idea is that [Libra] has mass adoption — lots of trusted companies that want to join the journey, so there’s a chance of this becoming mainstream,” Marcus said.



This list of founding members invested a minimum of $10 million to fund the operating costs of the nonprofit association as well as to launch an incentive program to jumpstart the underlying Libra blockchain and to drive adoption of the currency.Facebook’s Calibra digital wallet



Facebook’s Calibra is a digital wallet that will be accessible as a stand-alone app and integrated into Messenger and WhatsApp. Facebook says it’s designed to enable anyone to securely store money for free on their phone and to allow people to securely send and receive Libra around the world, with no fees for consumers, although Facebook is considering “very low” fees for merchants.



Down the line, Marcus anticipates Facebook will offer other financial services, such as loans, from which it could profit: “If the network is successful, it will be a big opportunity for us to provide lending to all these consumers,” he said.



Facebook’s larger goal is to get people to spend more time on its platforms. This launch will enable the 2.7 billion people who use its various apps every month to more easily make purchases from the 90 million businesses on its platform. The easier it is for these businesses to drive sales on Facebook, the more likely they are to buy ads.



Although Calibra is fully owned by Facebook, it’s operating as a subsidiary kept separate from Facebook’s advertising businesses, so it can be regulated appropriately.



One key use case for Calibra is remittances. Facebook says that every year $25 billion is lost by migrants on fees from the likes of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=WU" class="">Western Union</a>. Marcus says the current process is antiquated: Immigrants send a photo of their receipt from Western Union to family members via WhatsApp so they can collect the money, minus a fee. Calibra would cut Western Union and other money-transfer services out of the equation.



A key for Calibra’s adoption is making it easy to understand exchange rate and transfer money in and out of the currency, says&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/15/instagram-kevin-weil-helped-facebook-beat-snapchat.html" class="">Kevin Weil,&nbsp;</a>Calibra’s VP of Product who formerly oversaw Instagram Stories, Facebook’s successful attempt to battle Snapchat.



“The easier it is to go back and forth [from the local currency to Libra] the more confidence people will have,” he said. “If you’re banked you can imagine connecting your bank account, if you’re not banked then you can imagine a map that shows nearby money transfer experiences.”





Will this whole thing take off?



Libra is the first new cryptocurrency that has a real opportunity to bring digital currency to the mainstream, according to one of Libra’s founding partners, Anchorage, which acts as an institutional custodian for crypto assets.



It solves some of the underpinning issues that other cryptocurrencies have not been able to, to reach this promise, ” says Anchorage President and co-founder Diogo Monica.



“It’s based on a very scalable, highly efficient blockchain, that can do many thousands of transactions per second. And it’s backed by bank deposits and government securities like the U.S. dollar, so it will have low volatility,” Monica said. “The association has so many big players that already have relationships, which solves the chicken-and-egg problem of adoption.”



Monica says that Anchorage will operate one of the many nodes to handle Libra transactions and could sell its services to other members of the association for safekeeping of their Libra assets.



Marcus says if people don’t want to trust Facebook’s Calibra, there will be other apps to access the currency.



To boost its security, Calibra will have the same verification and anti-fraud processes that banks and credit cards use. To gain access users will have to have a valid government ID and use two-factor authentication, leveraging the likes of FaceID. The service will have built-in fraud production and dedicated live support. And if someone accesses a user’s account, Calibra promises to refund any lost assets.



Launching a whole new system comes with its challenges. “Every direction you look there’s stuff you have to figure out from scratch,” said Weil. “Not everyone is familiar with exchange rates, and even the folks that are, aren’t necessarily familiar with digital currency. I’ll take a lot of time to educate people.”



There’s also the question of regulatory approval. Weil says they’re talking to regulators and are in the process of getting money-transfer licenses, which they expect to have secured for a launch next year.



“People will misunderstand and think this is a Facebook thing, ” said Weil. “We incubated it, but it’s designed to be run in a decentralized way.”



This article first appeared on CNBC  <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Facebook leads consortium creating Libra digital currency, launches Calibra digital wallet

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Ethiopia will split its state telecoms provider into two businesses before it is privatised, state-affiliated media reported on Monday, a key part of government’s plan to open up one of the world’s last major closed telecoms markets.



The government will split Ethio Telecom into two business units along infrastructure and service sector lines, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting quoted Minister of Finance Ahmed Shide as saying.



State Minister of Finance Eyob Tekalign Tolina confirmed the report.



Ethiopia could require as much as $2.2 billion to modernise its creaking, overburdened telecoms sector, Eyob told Reuters last week.



Privatisation is one of the key reforms promised by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. He wants to encourage competition and foreign investment after decades of state-driven economic growth.



Ethiopia passed a bill on Thursday outlining the scope of a regulator for the telecoms sector, a key milestone towards attracting outside investment in the nation of 100 million people.



Additional reporting by George Obulutsa; writing by Katharine Houreld, editing by Deepa Babington

Ethiopia plans to split state telecoms provider into two before privatisation, here’s why

By Jared Jeffery, Political Analyst at NKC African Economics



On Monday, June 10, Rwanda announced that it would reopen its border with Uganda to cargo trucks for 12 days.



The
border crossing at Katuna (Gatuna in Rwanda) has been closed since February 26,
with Rwandan authorities initially putting the decision down to construction. 



However,
over the intervening three months, bellicose rhetoric from both sides made it
clear that the border troubles were a symptom of a far more serious issue. 



Despite
months of increased tension and thinly veiled threats of military action,
Rwanda Revenue Authority Commissioner General Pascal Bizimana Ruganintwali and
the country’s ambassador to Uganda, Frank Mugambage, kept up the somewhat
insulting pretence of construction being behind the closure. 



Mr
Mugambage told Uganda’s Daily Monitor that the two-week opening to heavy trucks
was in order “to test the grounds of the constructed one-stop border point at
Gatuna.” Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Richard Sezibera told senators on
Monday that once the road is tested, trade would resume normally, “… but we
don’t know when the Ugandan side will complete construction of the post …” 



However,
even as possible steps towards normalisation begin, Rwandan authorities
continue to decry the alleged mistreatment of their citizens in Uganda and have
said that Rwandans will still not be permitted to cross the border. 



“That
issue [Rwandans being allowed to travel to Uganda] will be solved when the
issue of illegal arrest, harassment and torture of Rwandans in Uganda will have
been solved by Ugandan authorities,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Olivier Nduhungirehe told Reuters on Monday. 



For
their part, the Ugandan first family has shown that it is also wary of its
members crossing over to Rwanda. 



According
to ChimpReports, three of President Yoweri Museveni’s grandchildren were pulled
from basketball teams participating in the Africa Basketball League (FIBA) U16
tournament taking place in Kigali.



President
Paul Kagame and Mr Museveni sat together at the inauguration of South African
President Cyril Ramaphosa on May 25 – sparking speculation over whether there
was a thaw in their relations. 



However,
that meeting came just as news broke that Rwandan soldiers had crossed the
border and shot dead a Rwandan smuggler and a Ugandan civilian who had tried to
intervene on his behalf. 



The
Ugandans made a show of returning the body of the Rwandan by inviting diplomats
to attend the handover. That incident, it seemed, threatened to turn a cold
standoff hot. 



And
yet, two weeks later, it seems normalisation rather than escalation may be on
the cards. 



As
it is unclear what prompted the Rwandans to reconsider their closure of the
border, it is too early to declare that matters will return to normal. 



As
long as the current leaders, with their long history of rocky relations, remain
at the helms of their respective autocratic states, relations between the two
countries will be vulnerable to such periods of instability.

Op-Ed: Rwanda reopens border with Uganda

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jade-scipioni/">Jade Scipioni</a> 



Jeff Bezos started Amazon as an online bookstore in his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/photos-inside-seattle-house-where-jeff-bezos-started-amazon.html" class="">garage</a>&nbsp;in 1994. Today, Amazon has a more than $900 billion market cap and Bezos is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/13/jeff-bezos-launches-day-one-fund-charity-how-he-spends-his-billions.html" class="">richest person in the world</a>&nbsp;with a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/jeffrey-p-bezos/" class="">$116 billion fortune</a>.



Along the way, Bezos has learned a thing or two about what it takes to be someone who succeeds in business. Here is some of his top advice.



Be a missionary



While there is a debate among billionaires on whether or not you should follow your passion — “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban says such advice is one of the “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/16/mark-cuban-follow-your-passion-is-bad-advice.html" class="">great lies of life</a>, ” for instance — Bezos believes its vital to being a successful entrepreneur. In fact, it’s the people who care who win, he says.



“You have got to have some passion for the arena that you are going to develop and work in, because otherwise you’ll be competing against those who do have passion for that, and they’re going to build better products and services,” Bezos said at Amazon’s re:Mars conference in Las Vegas on June 6.



He added that it’s essential for an entrepreneur to “be a missionary,” you “can’t be mercenary,” meaning that you have to mission-motivated, not money-motivated.



“Missionaries build better products and services — they always win,” said Bezos. “Mercenaries are just trying to make money, and paradoxically the missionaries always end up making more money.”



 Embrace risk and failure



To be successful in business, you also must be willing to take risks, and therefore to fail.



“If you come up with a business idea and there’s no risk there&#8230;it’s probably already being done&#8230;[and] being done well&#8230;. So you have to have something that might not work and you have to accept that your business in many ways is an experiment and it might fail,” Bezos said. “And that’s ok.”



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/08/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-boldest-business-moves.html" class="">Bezos is known for making bold moves</a>: For example, skeptics doubted customers would pay $79 a year for Amazon Prime when it launched in 2005; as of April 2018 the service had 100 million subscribers worldwide.



He’s also had some fails, like Amazon Restaurants, which will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/11/grubhub-shares-jump-amazon-shuts-down-its-restaurant-delivery-service.html" class="">shut down</a>June 24, or the recent demise of Amazon’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-is-closing-all-pop-up-stores-2019-3" class="">pop-up kiosks</a>.



And Bezos continues to encourage risk-taking at Amazon. In fact, the size of the risks and the failures need to grow with the company, he said.



“We need big failures if we’re going to move the needle” — “billion-dollar scale failures,” Bezos said at re:Mars. “And if we’re not, we’re not swinging hard enough.”



Change your mind



Bezos has learned from interacting with the world’s most influential minds that the people who usually get things right are those who listen the most and who change their minds often.



“What I have found that people who are right change their mind even without getting new data. They have the same data set that they had at the beginning, but they wake up and they reanalyze things all the time and they come to a new conclusion and then they change their mind.”



In fact, people who win typically have worked hard to recognize what beliefs or biases they hold and “actively try to look for evidence that disconfirms” them, Bezos said.



Billionaire Ray Dalio is an example. He built Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, to function as an “idea meritocracy.”



“The greatest tragedy of mankind — or one of them — is that people needlessly hold wrong opinions in their minds,” <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/12/ray-dalio-says-greatest-tragedy-of-mankind-is-people-clinging-to-wrong-opinions.html">Dalio has said</a>.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/13/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-on-how-to-succeed-in-business.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/13/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-on-how-to-succeed-in-business.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

gettyimages-1066734506-594×594

Billionaire Jeff Bezos: This is who ‘always wins’ in business

LUSAKA (Reuters) &#8211; Zambia will fine and break ties with mining firms that fail to operate according to the southern African country’s laws, President Edgar Lungu said on Thursday, escalating a dispute with India-listed Vedanta.



Vedanta is fighting Zambia’s decision last month to name a provisional liquidator to run its Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) business and is seeking international arbitration.



Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, says KCM has breached the terms of its licence.



The dispute between Vedanta and the Zambian government has intensified concerns among international miners about rising resource nationalism in Africa.



Lungu said in a statement at a mining and energy conference in Lusaka that the government expected investors to operate within the confines of the law.



“Failure to do so will result in the government imposing sanctions and disengaging with the unwilling parties,” he said in the statement read out by Mines Minister Richard Musukwa.



Zambia’s Chamber of Mines said last month that 2019 copper output could be as much as 100,000 tonnes lower than last year because of changes to mining taxes.



Zambia plans to introduce a new non-refundable sales tax in place of Value Added Tax, despite criticism from mining companies.



Lungu disagreed with the Chamber of Mines’ predictions, saying the government forecast copper output would reach 890,000 tonnes by the end of the year, more than last year.



He said the government was ready for dialogue with miners, which account for 70 percent of export earnings.



But he added: “The government will not take kindly to any form of arm-twisting on the part of industry with regard to meeting their obligations.”



Reporting by Chris Mfula; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise

Why Zambian president is threatening to fine miners

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/emmie-martin/">Emmie Martin</a> 



“The key to your financial freedom in the future is investing when you are young,” Suze Orman, personal finance expert, best-selling author of<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Women-Money-Revised-Updated-Orman/dp/0812987616/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&amp;amp;refRID=4DW7BVRGNY76PRRGC6Q0" class="">“Women &amp; Money”</a>&nbsp;and host of the&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/suze-ormans-women-and-money/id1439621652" class="">“Women and Money” podcast</a>, tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/" class="">CNBC Make It</a>.



“I would much rather see you invest a specific amount of money when you are young, a lesser amount of money, than waiting and have to invest five or six times [as much] when you are older,” she says.



That’s because with <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/how-compound-interest-works-and-how-it-can-help-you-save-money.html">compound interest</a>, any interest accrued then earns interest on itself. So the earlier you start, the more your money will grow.



Orman gives the example of a 25-year-old who invests&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/roth-ira-plan-calculator.aspx" class="">$100 a month in a Roth IRA</a>&nbsp;for 40 years and earns a 12% average annual return. When that person retires at age 65, their investment will be worth just over $1 million.



But not everyone starts putting money away in their 20s. “You think, ‘I don’t have to invest, I’m young,’” Orman says.



If you start investing $100 per month at age 35, though, you’d only have around $300,000 by the time you reach age 65. “Those 10 years just cost you $700,000,” Orman points out.



“How much would you have to be investing later on to make up for that?” she says. “Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars a month.”



It is worth noting that all investments are risky and you’re never guaranteed to earn a 12% rate of return. The S&amp;P 500 index, for instance, has earned an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/18/the-sp-500-has-already-met-its-average-return-for-a-full-year.html" class="">annual average return of 9.8%</a>&nbsp;over the past 90 years, and&nbsp;<a href="https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/tools/benchmarkreturns" class="">other indexes average even less</a>. But even at lower rates of return, the difference between starting at 25 and 35 is significant.



Here’s about how much you’d earn with various average annual rates of return if you invest <a class="" href="https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/roth-ira-plan-calculator.aspx">$100 per month into a Roth IRA</a> and retire at 65.



 With a 6% rate of return



Starting at age 25: $196,000 Starting at age 35: $100,000



 With an 8% rate of return



Starting at age 25: $335,000 Starting at age 35: $146,000



 With a 10% rate of return



Starting at age 25: $584,000 Starting at age 35: $217,000



“The key isn’t the amount, the key is the time,” Orman says. So, even if you can only contribute $50 a month, do “whatever you can do.”



There are several easy ways to get started. The simplest choice is to contribute to an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/30/the-no-1-retirement-savings-mistake-is-skipping-the-401k-match.html" class="">especially if you’re offered a match</a>, which is essentially free money.



If your company doesn’t offer a 401(k), you can look into other&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/09/definitive-guide-to-retirement-savings-accounts.html" class="">tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts</a>, such as a Roth IRA, a traditional IRA or a SEP IRA.



Outside of retirement accounts, many experts, including Warren Buffett, recommend <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/warren-buffett-and-tony-robbins-agree-invest-in-index-funds.html">investing in low-cost index funds</a>, which allow you to own a small piece of many different companies. You can curate a mix of funds yourself or <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/02/i-invested-my-first-7000-dollars-heres-where-i-decided-to-put-it.html">use a robo-advisor</a>, which does the work for you.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/10/suze-orman-why-you-should-start-investing-in-your-20s.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/10/suze-orman-why-you-should-start-investing-in-your-20s.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Suze Orman: Why you should start investing in your 20s

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria’s economy is expected to grow 2.7% this year, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday, in his first public speech since his inauguration for a second term last month.



Reporting by Paul Carsten; Editing by Catherine Evans

Buhari says Nigeria’s economy is expected to grow by this much in 2019…

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/lucy-handley/">Lucy Handley</a>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=AMZN" class="">Amazon</a>&nbsp;has overtaken&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=GOOGL" class="">Google</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=AAPL" class="">Apple</a>&nbsp;to become the world’s most valuable brand at $315.5 billion, according to a ranking of global companies, up 52% on last year.



Apple comes second, valued at $309.5 billion, with Google in third place, at $309 billion, according to the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand ranking 2019, compiled by WPP research agency Kantar and released Tuesday.



Google and Apple had spent a combined 12 years at the top of the list, with Google taking the top spot in 2018.



Doreen Wang, Kantar’s global head of BrandZ, said Amazon’s jump was due to it selling a variety of services. “Amazon’s phenomenal brand value growth of almost $108 billion in the last year demonstrates how brands are now less anchored to individual categories and regions. The boundaries are blurring as technology fluency allow brands, such as Amazon, Google and Alibaba, to offer a range of services across multiple consumer touchpoints,” she said in a statement emailed to CNBC.



<a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/amazon-makes-several-start-up-investments-revenue-growth-slows.html">Amazon has been increasing investments in a range of companies</a> as its core business slows, including self-driving car start-up Aurora and electric truck company Rivian, as well as expanding <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/amazon-will-compete-with-fedex-and-ups-to-become-logistics-company.html">Amazon Air</a>, its airplane business. It bought online pharmacy PillPack for $753 million in 2018 and last month led a $575 million funding round into food delivery company Deliveroo.



Four of the BrandZ top ten were made up of more traditional brands including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=V" class="">Visa</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=MCD" class="">McDonald’s</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=T" class="">AT&amp;T</a>. Microsoft comes in at fourth place, as it did in 2018.



Technology companies have always dominated the ranking, with <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=MSFT">Microsoft</a> taking the top spot when BrandZ began in 2006. This year, Alibaba (valued at $131.2 billion) overtook Tencent ($130.9 billion) to become the most valuable Chinese brand. There is a total of 15 Chinese brands in the list of 100 companies, including mobile handset company Xiaomi (valued at $19.8 billion) and Meituan ($18.8 billion), a tech platform people can use to order food deliveries, book hotel rooms and arrange bike rentals.



David Roth, chair of BrandZ, said the companies that did well were those that mastered this new model of different services. “Brands need to understand the value this type of model can create and should embrace its approach to be successful in the future,” he said in an emailed statement.



Tech, finance and retail brands dominate the overall ranking, making up more than two-thirds of its value, while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/04/the-luxury-sector-is-growing-faster-than-many-others-and-gucci-leads.html" class="">luxury is the fastest-growing category</a>.



To qualify for the ranking, brands must be publicly traded, or publish their financial results. BrandZ’s list combines measures of brand equity based on interviews with more than 3 million consumers about thousands of brands, with analysis of each company’s business and financial performance, using data from Kantar Worldpanel.



The world’s most valuable brands 2019



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li>Amazon $315.5 billion</li><li>Apple $309.5 billion</li><li>Google $309 billion</li><li>Microsoft $251.2 billion</li><li>Visa $177.9 billion</li><li>Facebook $159 billion</li><li>Alibaba $131.2 billion</li><li>Tencent $130.9 billion</li><li>McDonald’s $130.4 billion</li><li>AT&amp;T $108.4 billion</li></ol>



Source: BrandZ



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/11/amazon-beats-apple-and-google-to-become-the-worlds-most-valuable-brand.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/11/amazon-beats-apple-and-google-to-become-the-worlds-most-valuable-brand.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Amazon beats Apple and Google to become the world’s most valuable brand

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/kathleen-elkins/">Kathleen Elkins</a>



Warren Buffett is anything but average: The legendary investor has an approximate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett/#19540ea74639" class="">net worth of $82 billion</a>, making him the third richest person in the world. At 88, he still runs Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company that owns businesses like Geico, Dairy Queen and See’s Candies.



A key to Buffett’s extraordinary success, though, is a refreshingly simple habit and “something anyone can do,” his longtime friend Bill Gates&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Grilling-and-chilling-with-Warren-Buffett?WT.mc_id=06_01_2019_00_BerkshireHathaway2019_BG-EM_&amp;amp;WT.tsrc=BGEM" class="">pointed out in a recent blog post</a>: He reads every day.



Buffett, who spends between <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/15/warren-buffett-and-mark-cuban-agree-reading-is-key-to-success.html">five and six hours a day paging through books</a> and newspapers, finds it “enjoyable to think about business and investment problems,” he says in HBO’s documentary <a class="" href="http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/becoming-warren-buffett">“Becoming Warren Buffett.”</a>



Plus, staying up to date on business news and current events is a relatively simple way to gain a competitive advantage. “Everybody can read what I read. It is a level playing field,” Buffett used to tell his late wife,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/6-influential-people-in-billionaire-investor-warren-buffetts-life.html" class="">Susan Buffett</a>, according to the HBO documentary.



“And he loves that because he is competitive,” Susan said of Buffett. “He’s sitting there all by himself in his office, reading these things that everybody else can read, but he loves the idea that he is going to win.”



Tech entrepreneur and self-made billionaire Mark Cuban is also an avid reader and has used the habit to get ahead in his career. He recognized the value that reading could return early in his career, while building his first technology business, MicroSolutions.



“I remember reading the PC DOS manual (I really did), and being proud that I could figure out how to set up startup menus for my customers,” he writes&nbsp;<a href="http://blogmaverick.com/2011/04/07/shark-tank-success-motivation/" class="">on his blog.</a>&nbsp;“I read every book and magazine I could. Heck, $3 for a magazine, $20 for a book. One good idea that led to a customer or solution and it paid for itself many times over.”



“Everything I read was public,” he adds. “Anyone could buy the same books and magazines. The same information was available to anyone who wanted it. Turns out most people didn’t want it.”



For Cuban, taking the time to “get a knowledge advantage” helped him outperform competitors, he says. “A guy with little computer background could compete with far more experienced guys, just because I put in the time to learn all I could.”



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/bill-gates-this-is-the-key-to-warren-buffetts-success.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/bill-gates-this-is-the-key-to-warren-buffetts-success.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Bill Gates: A key to Warren Buffett’s success is ‘something anyone could do’

<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Victor-773x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-338112" width="358" height="474" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Victor-773x1024.png 773w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Victor-226x300.png 226w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Victor-768x1018.png 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Victor-696x923.png 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Victor-1068x1416.png 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Victor-317x420.png 317w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Victor.png 1545w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 358px) 100vw, 358px" /></figure></div>



&#8211; Dr. Victor Oladokun, Director of Communication, African Development Bank



In 2018, the fictional country of Wakanda
in the blockbuster movie Black Panther, was ranked fourth as the most
mentioned ‘country’ in Africa during TV broadcasts, according to a recent study
by the University of Southern California. Coverage of Wakanda far exceeded
mentions about African business, travel, health; sports, or development. While
the finding is amusing, it is a reminder of the significant narrative challenge
an integrated Africa faces in showcasing opportunities and the many
transformational changes taking place on the continent. Ultimately, effective
and transparent communication will be key to regional integration, and the
capacity to attract investor and partner interest.



At the heart of every civilisation is a
human desire for game-changing solutions that transform nations and human
lives. Vibranium, Wakanda’s equally fictional precious metal, was the
key to making it the most technologically advanced nation on the planet. But in
reality, critical to a regionally integrated ecosystem will be how Africa
continues to innovatively use, manage and add value to its tremendous
resources. 



Tectonic global shifts are already
changing every aspect of our economies and enterprises. Also affected, are
policies, education, research, ICT, finance and banking, trade, migration and
the mobility of human capital, goods and services. The African Continental Free
Trade Area agreement, which came into force on May 30, 2019, holds the
tantalizing prospect for the creation of a single market for goods, services
and the movement of persons, with a total GDP of $2.5 trillion, and a combined
population of one billion people. 



Astounding and rapid technological
developments are already underway in artificial intelligence, robotics,
nanotech, quantum computing and Big Data. The African Development Bank and
partners such as The Rockefeller Foundation, Microsoft, and Facebook, have
launched a Coding for Employment Program to create over 9 million jobs and
reach 32 million youth and women across the region. With an eye on the future,
the African Development Bank is also working to bring advanced drone
technologies to African agriculture with a pilot project already underway in
Tunisia, and plans for potential regional rollouts.



The fact is that it’s no longer ‘business
as usual.’ The ground underneath our feet is shifting at amazing speed. So, one
thing is certain. The near future will be radically different from anything we
might contemplate today. Which is why the African Development Bank and its
partners, will continue to work toward integrating the best ideas,
technologies, policies, systems and infrastructure.



Creating the regionally integrated Africa
of our dreams, will require political will, policy changes, and private and
public sector partnerships. It will also require positive human agency and
energy that is characterized by vision, great hope, trust, and a genuine love
of humanity. Only then, can we expect to bring the greatest benefit to the
greatest number of Africans ever. 



In 2019, as the African Development Bank
commemorates its 55th anniversary, we are poised to play an even more strategic
role, in conjunction with the African Union Commission and other partners, to
help make Africa’s economic integration a concrete reality. 



Together, we will irreversibly impact and
transform the lives of millions of Africans.

Op-Ed: Shaping the Africa of  the future

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya Airways plans to double its fleet over the next five years, its chairman said on Monday, as the loss-making carrier combats regional rivals like Ethiopian.



The Kenyan airline, which is 48.9% government-owned and 7.8% by Air France-KLM, restructured $2 billion of debt in 2017 and is opening new routes as it seeks to return to profit.



It had a fleet of 41 airplanes at the end of last year, comprising a mix of wide and narrow body Boeing planes, compared with Ethiopian which operates more than 100 planes.



Kenya Airways, which also operates Bombardier and Embraer planes on its short and medium haul flights, is restructuring its aircraft leasing agreements and its other debts to free up cash for investment in new planes, Chairman Michael Joseph told a shareholder meeting.



“We intend to double the size of the fleet over the next five years if we can find the right financial structure to do this,” Joseph said.



Efforts by the airline to boost its revenue by taking over the running of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport were thwarted by a parliamentary committee last month.



The cabinet had backed a plan last year to hand over management of the profitable airport, the largest in the country, to Kenya Airways to revitalise its balance sheet and allow it to buy new planes and open new routes.



Kenya Airways wants to emulate rival carriers who operate airports, taking advantage of profitable services such as catering, fuel distribution, cargo and maintenance.



The parliament’s transport committee has instead proposed that the government considers other ways of helping the carrier, including exempting it from paying taxes.



Chief Executive Sebastian Mikosz, who was hired in 2017 to help turn around the airline, said last month he would resign at the end of this year for personal reasons, casting its recovery into doubt.



The chairman however said the airline’s management was intact despite Mikosz’s planned departure, adding he would leave behind a solid team but declining to say when a replacement for Mikosz will be chosen.



Editing by Duncan Miriri and Alexander Smith

How Kenya Airways plans to double its fleet over the next 5 years

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">Courtney Connley</a> 



The #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have brought huge attention to the challenges women face at work, but a new survey finds that 60% of male managers say they’re uncomfortable mentoring, working one-on-one or socializing with a woman.



According to the survey, released by&nbsp;<a href="https://leanin.org/mentor-her?utm_campaign=mentorher&amp;amp;utm_medium=social&amp;amp;utm_source=twitter" class="">LeanIn.org</a>&nbsp;and SurveyMonkey, that’s a 33% increase from last year.



Senior-level men also say they are 12 times more likely to be hesitant about one-on-one meetings with a junior woman than they are a junior man, nine times more likely to be hesitant to travel with a junior woman for work than a junior man, and six times more likely to be hesitant to have a work dinner with a junior woman than a junior man.



LeanIn.org founder and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg calls the results “totally unacceptable.”



She tells Julia Boorstin on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/05/17/facebook-sheryl-sandberg-metoo-women-in-workplace-women-leadership.html" class="">CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”</a>&nbsp;that the problem with this dynamic is that “women already weren’t getting the same mentorship men were, particularly women of color.” And in her experience, she says, “no one has ever gotten a promotion without getting a one-on-one meeting.”



Though some have argued that the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have had a negative impact on relationships between men and women at work, Sandberg disagrees. She says the movements have had an “overwhelmingly positive” impact on the workplace, especially in spotlighting the problem of sexual harassment against women.



“The thing is, it’s not enough,” she says. “It’s really important to not harass anyone, but that’s pretty basic. We also need to not be ignored.”



Rachel Thomas, president of LeanIn.org, tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/" class="">CNBC Make It</a>&nbsp;that “sexual harassment is a lot of things, and it’s a really complicated issue, but a big piece of it is power dynamics.”



“We need more women in positions of leadership, more people of color and more LGBTQ people,” she says. “We need to change what leadership looks like in our organizations because we know that will lead to more safer and stronger workplaces.”



Both she and Sandberg point out that sexual harassment is twice as likely to occur in organizations where men dominate the C-suite. That’s why, Thomas says, it’s imperative that men speak up and take action. “My suspicion is that a lot of good guys don’t realize that by not actively mentoring, sponsoring or creating full access, that they’re inadvertently part of the problem,” Thomas says.



As a solution, Thomas and Sandberg say any man who doesn’t want to have work dinners with a woman should also not have work dinners with a man. Instead, they should have group dinners so that everyone is included.



“That’s one way to create equal access,” says Thomas. “I don’t fully understand it, but for whatever reason if a man is also uncomfortable having a one-on-one meeting with a woman or working with a woman, then leave the door open.”



Regardless of how a man may feel about working with a woman, Thomas says there is “no excuse for not being a good manager, not being a good leader and not offering equal access to the mentorship and sponsorship that we know all employees need to succeed.”



Correction: This story was revised to correct a headline. The researchers found that 60% of male managers now say they’re uncomfortable participating in work activities with women.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/60percent-of-male-managers-now-say-theyre-uncomfortable-mentoring-women.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/60percent-of-male-managers-now-say-theyre-uncomfortable-mentoring-women.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

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60% of male managers now say they’re uncomfortable participating in work activities with women

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