As Egypt’s Zedny raised $1.2 million while South Africa’s Planet42, raised $2.4-million respectively
Things seem to be looking up for some African startups even in the midst of the global pandemic. This buttresses an earlier point made by African Heroes early this month that inspite of the Covid-19 pandemic, investor’s seem to have a huge appetite for African markets and startups. Chipper Cash, Africa’s fastest growing fintech app which observers say has disrupted the traditional payment services by offering zero-fee, peer-to-peer payment services across seven African countries has just raised $13.8 million Series A funding from investors. This funding according to the company sources will help actualize its plans to expand its workforce across different geographies.
Mohamed Youssef ElBaz Founder and CEO of_Zedny
The round which was co-led by Deciens Capital and Raptor Group had other participating investors including 500 Startups and Liquid 2 Ventures. Chipper Cash, a cross-border app with services in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ghana and over 1.5 million users and records transaction volume of over $100 million a month has been the cynosure of investor’s eyes. And with this latest funding round, Chipper Cash has now raised $22 million in two years. Founded in 2018, Chipper Cash was started by Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled.
In a similar development, Egypt’s edtech startup, Zedny has raised $1.2 million pre-seed funding to roll out a new online learning platform. The platform has over 200 courses and 400 animated video summaries top global business books. According to Disrupt Africa, the startup provides year-long online learning and also acts as an external employee performance evaluator via its AI integrations.
Not left out of the pie, Planet42, a South Africa-based startup has raised €2.2-million ($2.4-million) seed round. The round was led by Change Ventures, an Estonian VC company, with participation from top Estonian tech entrepreneurs including Martin Villig, co-founder of Bolt, Pipedrive’s Ragnar Sass, MeetFrank’s Marko Virkebau, and Katana MRP’s Kristjan Vilosius. Founded by two Estonians, Marten Orgna and Eerik Oja, Planet42 is a vehicle rental company. It works with auto dealerships to offer rent-to-buy services for private clients over the long-term. The company said it will use the new funding to expand its portfolio of cars. It plans to control 100,000 cars in South Africa by 2024.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Mauritius has always been at the forefront of promoting crypto-backed assets in Africa. The country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC), the integrated regulator for the non-bank financial services sector of Mauritius, has announced a framework aimed at ensuring more regulatory certainty with regards to security token trading systems in the country. The regulatory body stated that the move will enable the implementation of a common set of standards for the licensing of Security Token Trading Systems in Mauritius. The FSC released a 15 — page document outlining the new standards coupled with the press release on Monday.
Dhanesswurnath Thakoor, the Chief Executive of the FSC
“As part of our core strategy, the FSC is aiming at positioning Mauritius as a regional hub of sound repute in the field of Fintech. The publication of a Guidance Note on Security Tokens Offering (STO) and Security Tokens Trading Systems is a another stepping stone in building an open and transparent regulatory regime for Fintech in Mauritius. We already have a growing interest for these specific licences and are expecting to receive several applications in the upcoming months,’’ Dhanesswurnath Thakoor, the Chief Executive of the FSC stated about the new guidelines.
Here Is What You Need To Know
Security Token Trading Systems Are Now Eligible To Be Issued Licenses In Mauritius
This is record-breaking in a continent that is highly skeptical of cryptocurriences and blockchain technology. Under Section 7.1 of the new regulation, any person wishing to establish, maintain or operate a system for the trading of Security Tokens in Mauritius shall apply for a Trading Securities System licence. The implication of this is that all trading in security tokens in Mauritius would require a license, going forward.
However, such token trading companies must at all times, be required to have and maintain a minimum unimpaired capital of 35 million rupees or an equivalent amount ($880,000).That is, the trading system must all times have $880,000 in its accounts to be considered credit worthy. Under the new regulation, the capital must be held in real currency (fiat) as against cryptocurrencies in a licensed Mauritian bank.
The token trading system must also at all times be managed and controlled from Mauritius. The implication of this is that the new trading system would not be available to investors wishing to register their securities token trading companies in Mauritius, while having their central administration and management abroad. Therefore, such companies would be regarded as resident in Mauritius for purposes of taxation; and it should be noted that in Mauritius, they are subject to corporate tax at 15%. Tax advantages for such companies also include that there is no capital gains tax and also no withholding tax on dividends, interest, and royalties paid or estate duties on their earnings.
Are There Penalties For Not Obtaining License To Operate?
The regulation did not specifically state the penalties for non-obtaining of licenses, but under Section 22 of the country’s Securities Act 2005 (as amended), in view of which the present regulation was made, any person who fails to obtain such licenses shall commit an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one million rupees ($25,000) together with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 8 years.
What Are Expected Of A Token Trading System Under The New Regulation.
Under the new regulation, token trading systems must:
Ensure strict adherence to all applicable laws, regulations and codes relating to Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
Comply with the Data Protection Laws applicable in Mauritius, including seeking the approval of the data subject before sending personal data outside Mauritius or keeping personal data on servers outside Mauritius.
Engage a registered custodian for the custody of their digital assets.
Get clearance certificates from Mauritius’ Data Protection Office as to the capacity of its IT infrastructure and must also demonstrate adequate office premises.
Appointment of a person to act as Chief Technology Officer (“CTO”) or any other relevant designation and who shall be responsible for establishing, maintaining and overseeing the internal cybersecurity architecture of the company.
Publish trading data daily and submit it for review by Financial Services Commission.
Be managed by a board composed of a minimum of 3 directors, of which at least — (i) 30 per cent shall be independent directors; and (ii) one shall be resident in Mauritius. Hence, this gives foreigners a chance of floating an entity in Mauritius, as long as they have an on-ground, a director who would oversee the daily operations of the company.
What Are The Major Weaknesses Of The New Regulation?
One fundamental weakness of the new legislation is that it does not adequately protect investors trading on the systems. The regulation specifically states that any investment in Digital Assets is at the investors own risks and that they are not protected by any statutory compensation arrangements in Mauritius.
From all indications, this looks like the government of Mauritius is only attempting to attach legitimacy to the securities systems trading on tokens, and may not be interested in fully regulating the market; although they still retain the power to revoke licenses and investigate fraudulent practices. This may be a way of encouraging the highly volatile tokens market to thrive.
In Simple Terms What Does This Whole Regulation Mean For Ordinary Mauritians?
Basically, the new regime allows a new security token trading systems to become eligible for an FSC license in Mauritius. Now, a business can put a security token up for sale in an offering, an “STO,” as well as operate a trading house in Mauritius.
This is how a security token trading works. Image source: thebitcoin.pub
Unlike the IPO process, where funds are raised by companies through issuing shares to accredited investors, with STOs, tokens that represent a share of an underlying asset are issued on the blockchain to accredited investors. These can be shares of a company but (because of tokenization) can really be of any asset that is expected to turn a profit, including a share in the ownership of a property, fine art, investment funds, etc.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
With the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging sub-Saharan Africa’s economies, countries could face a financial crisis, dashing hopes of survival of businesses and pushing many households into poverty. Global economists and financial experts are calling for state intervention to rescue banks from liquidity challenges after restructuring loans worth billions of dollars and extending moratoria on repayments to help cushion borrowers facing financial difficulties.
Razia Khan, Standard Chartered Bank’s chief economist in-charge of African operations
“It is absolutely about strengthening financial institutions. Governments should not do anything or implement policy measures that might take away the capacity of financial institutions to play their part in economic recovery,” said Razia Khan, Standard Chartered Bank’s chief economist in-charge of African operations.“Policy makers have to make a very important balancing role between immediate needs of the economic crisis and how to restore confidence and build a well-capitalised banking industry that is better able to support growth in the future,” she added.
Economic recovery was the focus of a recent virtual forum hosted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). Discussions revolved around post-Covid-19 trade-offs between financial stability and economic renewal for African countries, and what specific financial sector development policies and regulations could restore stability. In the UK, the government channelled £330billion ($421 billion) into the banking system as a business support package under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
“The current economic shocks may turn into financial shocks because there is a limit to the amount of credit and liquidity that low income countries can generate in their own economies, and this has been compounded by the inability of these countries to meet their own foreign exchange needs and outflows of capital arising from the deteriorating economic conditions,” said Adeyemi Dipeolu, the special advisor on economic matters to the President of Nigeria. “This Covid-19 pandemic has led to financial shocks. The longer the economic conditions remain tight the more likely we are going to have financial shocks.” The banking system is now grappling with more loan defaults and restructuring, and delays in repayment, which could erode interest income — the lenders’ key source of revenue.
According to Dr Dipeolu, African governments are now confronted with the challenge of finding appropriate policies that will kick start economic growth without jeopardising the stability of the financial sector after the Covid-19 pandemic. “The trajectory of Covid-19 in low income countries is complex and this will compound the efforts to revive such economies,” he said. He added that post-Covid-19 recovery in developed countries may be slow and is likely to result in huge financing gaps, large debt service obligations, foreign exchange shortages and heightened credit risk in the banking industry. The World Bank has forecast a decline in growth in the region from 2.4 per cent in 2019, to between -2.1 per cent and -5.1 per cent this year, estimating that African economies could lose between $37 billion and $79 billion in output losses. According to ODI, economies will struggle to achieve financial stability and recover as concerns mount on issues around debt sustainability.
The crisis will also impact African countries’ financial sector development (FSD), which may also have implications for how policies and regulations are formulated and implemented in a post-Covid world. “We are looking at severe economic impact from Covid-19. We have got a crisis that we are dealing with,” said Jonathan Rosenthal, Africa editor of The Economist Magazine. Judith Tyson, a research fellow at ODI, called for the strengthening of both national and regional development banks to help in the recovery of economies destroyed by the pandemic. “We need to put greater emphasis on the strengthening and expansion of development banks to accelerate lending to the productive sectors of the economies post Covid-19,” she said.
The International Monetary Fund has cautioned banks against paying dividends to shareholders this year, saying that lenders need to preserve cash to boost resilience of the banking industry against Covid-19 related shocks. The fund’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva said banks should take measures to shore up their capital and liquidity positions to support fresh credit as the global economy braces for a deep recession this year, with only partial recovery expected in 2021. “One of the steps needed to reinforce bank buffers is retaining earnings from ongoing operations. The interests of bank shareholders are aligned with those of bank supervisors and customers. All stakeholders will ultimately benefit if banks preserve capital instead of paying out to shareholders during the pandemic,” Ms Georgieva said.“Protecting the banking sector’s strength now means that, once the recovery picks up, shareholders can expect large payouts — indeed the more profits retained now, the larger the eventual payout,” she added.
According to the Overseas Development Institute, the Covid-19 pandemic is already radically worsening the economic outlook for Africa. Poverty is expected to increase by two per cent of the regional population, with 26 million people falling under the poverty line, erasing five years of progress in poverty reduction. Half of the new poor will live in just five countries: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa — with Nigeria contributing the most with 6.6 million according to unpublished World Bank material. To stem an economic crisis, in the short-term international finance institutions need to support SMEs and micro-businesses directly or through financing via banks and micro financial institutions. In the longer-term, finance to support recovery — also known as ‘patient capital’ — will be key to replace lost bank lending, especially in sectors where employment and informal occupations are concentrated.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry
Ham and Maijid met at Grinnell College in Iowa, where they learned that they not only shared similar passions and interests, but also similar backgrounds (Ham is from Uganda and Maijid is from Ghana). The duo knew they wanted to collaborate and create something impactful at scale that leveraged their shared African heritage. Together, they founded Chipper Cash, which allows for instant cross-border mobile money transfers. Just yesterday, Chipper cash raised $13.8m from investors, including Deciens Capital. However, before the duo could go all-in on their new company, they had to overcome some very unique challenges.
Tell us a bit about Chipper Cash?
Ham: At its core, Chipper is the first platform to support cross-border mobile payment in Africa. The reason why we set out to build this company was because Maijid and I knew quite intimately the challenges people were facing around moving money in Africa. We were both born and bred in Africa. I’m from Uganda and Maijid is from Ghana, so we’ve grown up knowing how difficult it is to send and receive money within Africa and saw an opportunity to try and solve that problem.
Maijid and I met during college at Grinnell College in Iowa, and that’s where our paths first crossed. We worked really well together on a number of projects and always wanted to do something together that leveraged the fact that we’re both born and bred in Africa. We’ve also had the fortune of being educated and trained in the U.S., so we knew that if we could find a way to marry those two subsets of skills, we could build something impactful at scale.
The initial brainstorming process, where we considered what types of projects we could build and what it would look like, led to us building Chipper. We’re a young company that launched in Uganda just over a year ago. We’re now operating in six countries–Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Nigeria.
Our headquarters is located in San Francisco, and we have a small office in New York as well as an office in Nairobi. A good portion of our team is based in Nairobi covering all of the functions, and we’re actively growing our employee base in Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ghana. I’d say we have close to 40 employees right now.
Maijid: Ham and I knew we wanted to do something together, and we had previously worked on a voice messaging app which was essentially a predecessor of Snapchat. That was a successful project, but we realized it was just another plaything that didn’t really impact the world.
Ham eventually went on to work at Facebook, and I was working at Imgur, and we were exploring what was next for us. Around this time in 2016, cryptocurrency really began taking off. We were playing around with Bitcoin, and both thought that moving money should be free and easy. Even though Chipper isn’t really a cryptocurrency platform, there’s a lot of crypto concepts out there that apply to it.
Almost every country has a free payment system, but Africa as a whole didn’t until we came along. In the long run, even if it’s not Chipper that fills this need for Africa, someone is going to do it. The turning point for our career paths was deciding that we’d rather do something meaningful and more long term. We want to leave a legacy behind.
Ham: What Maijid just said is really spot on. In a lot of ways, Maijid was a mentor of mine at Grinnell and showed me the ropes. One of the things we were both naturally aligned on was that we always wanted to start our own company. Having that shared mindset made us identify very well with each other. Like Maijid said, we worked on different projects together, and to me it was clear early on that this was someone who I’d be willing to take a bold step with.
What are some challenges you’ve encountered as an immigrant founder building a company in the U.S.?
Ham: When we decided that we were going to start our own company, I wasn’t thinking “We’re two African guys about to start a company in America”. What I was thinking was there’s a problem that exists and we might be able to fix it. Maybe when we look back we’ll say, “Wow, as a couple of international students we were able to build a company in the U.S.” But when you’re going through it like we are now, we’re really just trying to solve the problem and take it one day at a time. Maybe I’m missing the weight of the moment by looking at it from this perspective, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that Ugandans are particularly drawn to starting businesses more than anyone else.
However, you’re 100% correct in saying that there are challenges we had to overcome due to the fact that we weren’t born here. Starting a business isn’t an easy thing to do, and it’s even harder to do when you’re a non-American. So in that sense, being from Africa has been somewhat of an obstacle, but the larger obstacle is just constantly chasing the north star so to speak, and hoping our business continues to grow and thrive.
Maijid: One experience I can think of is applying for the H-1B visa. There’s roughly a 23% chance of getting an H-1B, and if you don’t get it, you have no choice but to leave the country. I had friends that had to go to the United Kingdom because they weren’t able to get it. Both at Yahoo and Imgur, I tried to get a visa but was unsuccessful. On a personal level, that uncertainty definitely drains you.
But I was lucky that I applied to this program called Remote Year, which allowed me to travel the world for twelve months while working remotely for a company. At the time, I had a Ghanaian passport, which makes it hard to travel the world, so I had to apply for a visa basically in every country I visited. Sometimes the visa interviews were in Spanish, and there was a ton of uncertainty regarding whether or not I’d be able to complete the program.
When I look back on my path, it’s hard to think of it from a more general perspective. I was always thinking about what’s next and taking things one step at a time. Being in a constant state of thinking about the larger picture and making sure I was on top of the visa process was a little overwhelming at times.
Ham: In terms of the immigration process, I can’t emphasize how important and difficult that was for us to navigate. I actually had to leave the country because of my visa. I had to work at Facebook in Dublin because I couldn’t work at Facebook in the U.S. due to visa-related issues.
When Maijid and I were starting the company, neither of us had U.S. visas. In that moment, we could’ve said, “Man, how are we supposed to get our U.S. visas and also figure out how to raise money and grow our company?”. We could have easily given up and tried to figure something else out, but I’m incredibly glad that we didn’t.
Did either of you ever encounter any uncertainty or self-doubt that made you more resilient?
Ham: The biggest disappointment I encountered professionally was the fact that I had to leave America after graduating. That was incredibly hard for me because I worked very hard to get a job at Facebook and had put everything on the line to get that job, but I couldn’t take it because of my visa. Even though my plan was always to break off and start something of my own, it was important for me to first have some really strong years of experience in a fast-growing company with great opportunities. To lose out on that opportunity because of my visa was really tough.
Luckily, I ended up getting a different role at Facebook in Ireland, but in my mind, it was always a reminder that I couldn’t have the one that I wanted in the U.S. It was almost like a deviation from my path of where I wanted to go. I wanted to be a successful entrepreneur, and a lot of that hinged on access to capital, talent, and other things that were available in the U.S. I didn’t see that path being possible in Dublin.
There was a moment for me when I had to come to terms with reality and accept that my plans might not pan out like I thought they would. However, I was quite determined to make sure those hopes and dreams I had didn’t get lost in this new reality. That’s probably the closest thing I can point to in terms of grappling with some self-doubt.
Maijid: I also had to deal with leaving the U.S. I had worked for two years in the U.S., and didn’t get the visa that I had fought so hard to earn. I remember I was on a plane from San Francisco to Lisbon, and I felt like I had worked so hard the past few years, only to be sent away because my name wasn’t randomly picked by a computer. It just felt unfair, and I cried all week leading up to Lisbon.
I was able to apply for a green card while traveling through my Remote Year program, but even that process was very uncertain and was going to take anywhere from two to four years. To not know which direction I was going in, and to feel like my hard work had gone unrewarded, it just made me really worried about what would happen next.
During my remote year, we were building Chipper on the side. This is where I still saw the value of working remotely because even though I was not in Silicon Valley, I was still connected to so many people working there. It’s like when you leave home, you end up feeling more connected to it because you look at it through a different lense. After a while, my confidence in the company began to grow, and I ended up getting my green card after about 19 months. I started working at Imgur part-time, which is also about the time when Ham quit his job and came to San Francisco.
Just being able to come back to the country where we both wanted to be for so long was amazing. We both went through experiences that had so much uncertainty, but here we are. We were always doing Chipper on the side, but now we’re in a place where Ham and I are all in.
Ham: In hindsight, the parallels between the two paths are so obvious, but at the time it didn’t seem that way.
One of the things that I wanted to emphasize was the sadness that we felt when leaving the U.S. Having moved from Africa to Iowa and spending most of our time in the U.S., we already invested so much in making America our new home. The connections we built, the people that we loved, there was just a lot to be optimistic about here in the states. Coming to the realization that we had to leave and go through the immigration process again was really scary.
What’s also interesting is that we actually left at the same time in June of 2016. I was going to Dublin and Maijid was going to Lisbon to start his remote year, and then we came back at the same time, which was around February of 2018. So in hindsight, the parallels between our journeys are uncanny.
Looking back, we’re both so much better off because of the hardships we had to endure to get here. I’m better off because of the time I spent in Europe and what I learned there, and I think Maijid is better off because of the time he spent traveling around the world. It made us much more complete people, and has definitely benefited us in the journey we’ve taken with Chipper.
What advice do you have for immigrant founders building companies outside of their native countries?
Ham: People will often say, “ignorance is bliss”, and I think this applies to people looking to start their own companies. Sometimes, it’s good to not know everything you’re trying to accomplish, because those things can become distractions and turn into fears. If Maijid and I focused on the fact that we’re two kids from Africa trying to start a company in America, it would distract us from what we’re actually trying to accomplish.
For anyone trying to start a business outside of their native country, I would say to focus on what your primary goals on. Everything else is a distraction. Don’t think about the reasons why one goal may be unrealistic or constantly get caught up in doubting yourself. Other people can do that for you. Just focus on what you’re trying to do and everything else will take care of itself. At the end of the day, overthinking things doesn’t make what you’re trying to do more or less important, it only wastes your energy.
Maijid: I couldn’t have said it any better. I think if there’s one thing that I’d add, it’s that there’s a lot of distractions out there, and even the concept of someone giving you advice can be a distraction.
If you ask the world for advice, you’ll end up getting very different opinions that can be hard to grapple with. Sometimes, the advice you receive can be extremely confusing. The advice you seek should depend on what you hope to accomplish. Of course, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask people for advice, but at some point, you have to do what feels right for you.
Prioritizing your gut instincts makes it easier to power through when you hit a wall because you’re not blaming someone else who gave you bad advice. For me, it’s important to always look internally and really consider what I believe is the best course of action.
One Way Ventures invests in extraordinary founders who were deeply shaped by their immigration experience. The VC is one of the early investors in Chipper Cash.
Ideometry is a Boston-based full-service marketing agency serving a global client base. With a full suite of creative, development, and strategic services, Ideometry helps growth stage startups and Fortune 500 companies alike get the business results they’re looking for.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
Zedny the Egypt-based Arabic learning platform has launched with a prior investment of $ 1.2 million from angel investors. The platform starts with more than 200 online courses and 400 animated video summaries of global business bestsellers, as well as more than 5000 hours of learning.
Mohamed Youssef Elbaz, CEO of Zedny
“Zedny provides content in Arabic because it is the language with which most employees in Egypt speak and think,” said co-founder and CCO of Zedny Basil Khattab. “Currently, apart from Zedny, there is no localized cross-skills learning and development platform in Arabic that has it all.
Here Is What You Need To Know
Zedny.com is now available in the Middle East. Its target audience is that of individuals wishing to develop their business skills and acquire general knowledge. It also targets people looking for work and employees who want to climb the corporate ladder.
Zedny offers one-year online learning and development at a fraction of the cost of an offline training course for an employee. In addition, the platform can act as an external employee performance evaluator thanks to its AI integrations. It integrates gamification into the HR development cycle to encourage individuals to develop their skills and business acumen.
Zedny co-founder and CEO Mohamed Youssef El Baz said:
“It is essential that companies begin to explore modern L&D solutions in order to hire staff and develop employees.”
Through the platform, employees, managers and individuals are placed on a designated path of learning and career development. These paths address behavioral, social and commercial knowledge, as well as office and digital tools to broaden the horizons of users. Research suggests that online learning allows learners to absorb five times more material for each hour of training. As a result, productivity within organizations is increased and employee performance is improved.
The World Economic Forum predicts that a third of basic professional skills will change over the next five years. If the skills gap is not closed within the next 3 to 5 years, this would have a negative impact on the future growth of a business. Zedny says that for this reason, he aims to build Arab human capital, one business at a time.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
