Is the Africa Startup Space Ripe for Investment?
This episode of Bloomberg Next Africa offers a deep dive into the African startup scene as Bloomberg launches its inaugural 25 African Startups to Watch list. From United Nations initiatives like 'Timbuktoo' to the role of private equity in supporting entrepreneurs, this is a pivotal moment for business innovation in Africa. UNDP's Ahunna Eziakonwa and Alterra Capital Partner's Genevive Sangudi speak to Jennifer Zabasajja. (Source: Bloomberg)
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News24
3 hours ago
- News24
China's new trade offer looks generous. But SA must learn from the past
Chinese authorities may lower import tariffs for various goods from African countries. But SA needs to draw appropriate lessons from experience, says Wandile Sihlobo. South Africa's agricultural export focus means the country must always keep an open eye for any potential new market expansion. One country that has consistently been on our radar is China. The country's dominance in global agricultural imports, stable economy, large population, and current low penetration by South Africa's agriculture make it an ideal area for expansion. However, the nonexistence of a preferential trade agreement in agricultural products has disadvantaged South Africa relative to its competitors, such as Australia, Peru, and Chile, among others, which access the Chinese market at a tariff-free rate or with low tariffs. It is against this backdrop that we found the official announcement by the Chinese authorities that they would consider lowering import tariffs for various goods from African countries encouraging. While no official details have been released yet, we view the message as consistent with what the official representatives of the People's Republic of China have been communicating, particularly regarding agriculture. For example, in April, Wu Peng, current Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, stated that '…China and South Africa need to strengthen our bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Chinese government welcomes more South African agricultural and industrial products to enter the huge Chinese market.' China's signalling the willingness to absorb more South African agricultural products is only the first step in what will likely be a long journey, as trade matters generally take time. Ideally, the following steps should be a clear and pragmatic plan for reducing import tariffs and removing phytosanitary barriers that certain agricultural products continue to encounter in the Chinese market. Indeed, the work must be led by South Africa's Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition, as well as the Department of Agriculture, and at specific points, also the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. This will help ensure that China proceeds beyond statements to actual business collaboration. South Africa remains a small share in the Chinese list of agricultural suppliers, at about 0.4%. However, this current access in China is vital for the wool and red meat industry. China accounts for roughly 70% of South Africa's wool exports. There is a progressive increase in red meat exports, even though animal diseases currently cause glitches. The focus should be on expanding this access by lowering duties and other non-tariff barriers to encourage more fruit, grain, and other product exports to China. Still, it is essential to emphasise that the focus on China is not at the expense of existing agricultural export markets and relationships. Instead, China offers an opportunity to continue with export diversification. As we stated recently, the Trade Map data show that China is among the world's leading agricultural importers, accounting for 9% of global agricultural imports in 2024 (before 2024, China had been a leading importer for many years). The US was the world's leading agricultural importer in the same year, accounting for 10% of global imports. Germany accounted for 7%, followed by the UK (4%), the Netherlands (4%), France (4%), Italy (3%), Japan (3%), Belgium (3%) and Canada (2%). It is this diversity of agricultural demand in global markets that convinces us that South Africa's agricultural trade interests cannot be limited to one country but should be spread across all major agricultural importers. Importantly, the approach of promoting diversity and maintaining access to various regions has been a key component of South Africa's agricultural trade policy since the dawn of democracy. For example, in 2024, South Africa exported a record $13.7 billion of agricultural products, up 3% from the previous year. These exports were spread across the diverse regions. The African continent accounted for the lion's share of South Africa's agricultural exports, with a 44% share of the total value. As a collective, Asia and the Middle East were the second-largest agricultural markets, accounting for 21% of the share of overall farm exports. The EU was South Africa's third-largest agricultural market, accounting for a 19% share of the market. The Americas region accounted for 6% of South Africa's agricultural exports in 2024. The rest of the world, including the United Kingdom, accounted for 10% of the exports. In a nutshell, China's signalling the willingness to lower import tariffs is a welcome development. However, it will only become more substantial once more information becomes available. From a South African side, the relevant government departments should consider, through the local Embassy, sending an enquiry about unlocking this process. Ultimately, China is one of the focus areas in South Africa's long-term agricultural export diversification strategy, and any opportunity to further this plan should be pursued vigorously. Importantly, while China's offer looks generous, a country like South Africa needs to draw appropriate lessons from experience. Unilateral duty-free, quota-free market access is a double-edged sword: in the short to medium term, they can help a country increase the share of its exports in a significant market, but since these are not anchored in reciprocity, the largesse can disappear if there are frictions between the two parties, for example, over geopolitics. In short, non-reciprocal arrangements can lead to dependence and can easily be exploited by the benefactor as a means of political leverage to achieve strategic ends. While South Africa—and indeed African countries—should take advantage of this opportunity, we must aim to conclude a bilateral trade agreement with China that guarantees predictability and certainty and is durable. Wandile Sihlobo is chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz).
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scale AI's 30-year-old billionaire cofounder has a warning for anyone who craves work-life balance: ‘maybe you're not in the right work'
The billionaire cofounder of Scale AI, , has a message for anyone who craves work-life balance: Maybe you're in the wrong job. This millennial wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and doesn't clock off until midnight—and it's a philosophy that's catching on among founders now openly embracing China's 996 grind. Work-life balance has become the holy grail of modern employment. It's the non-negotiable perk that trumps salary and title—with Gen Z and millennial workers willing to walk away from jobs that don't deliver it in abundance. But what if instead of walking out on jobs that don't provide balance, they should leave the jobs that make them crave it instead? That's because, according to Lucy Guo, the 30-year-old billionaire cofounder of Scale AI, the need to clock off at 5 p.m. on the dot to unwind might signal that you're in the wrong job altogether. Guo, who dropped out of college and built her fortune in the tech industry, says her grueling daily schedule—waking up at 5:30 am and working until midnight—doesn't feel like work to her at all. 'I probably don't have work-life balance,' Guo tells Fortune. 'For me, work doesn't really feel like work. I love doing my job.' 'I would say that if you feel the need for work-life balance, maybe you're not in the right work.' That doesn't mean she's completely ignorant to life outside the office. The uber successful millennial, just dethroned Taylor Swift as the youngest self-made woman on the planet, according to Forbes' latest rankings. The 5% stake she held on to when she left her post at Scale AI is now worth an estimated $1.2 billion. Now, she's busy running another venture, the creator community platform Passes. Yet even when working '90-hour workweeks,' she says she still finds 'one to two hours' to squeeze in family and friends. 'You should always find time for that, regardless of how busy you are.' That, she suggests, is about making time for life—not running from your work. 5:30 a.m.: Wake upOn the morning of our interview in London, LA-based Guo says was up all night: 'I'm so jet lagged.' But she typically wakes up at around 5:30 and does two to three high-intensity workouts at Barry's every day. 9 a.m. onwards: In the office'Every day looks very different,' Guo says. 'Some days, I am doing more marketing pushes. I'm talking to our PR, I'm doing podcasts, etc. Other days I am more product-focused… Reviewing designs, giving user experience feedback.' She has her daily black coffee hit and lunch al desko. Midnight: BedtimeThe founder says she's typically working until 12 a.m.—when she finally will shut the laptop and go to sleep. The thing keeping her up so late? Keeping a beady eye on the customer support inbox. She gives her team just five minutes to respond to their customers before responding to them herself. 'Having that white glove customer service is what makes startups stand out from big tech,' Guo explains. 'While you have less customers, it's very possible for the CEO to answer everything which makes people more loyal. It's impossible for like the Uber CEO to do this nowadays. So that's the kind of mentality I have.' 'If you want to grow, your reputation is everything, and the best thing you do for your reputation is, offering the best, support to your customers. So I'm constantly doing that.' While Guo's routine may sound extreme to the regular worker, for founders, it's the new norm. Entrepreneurs have been taking to LinkedIn and claiming that the only way to succeed in the current climate is by copying China's 996 model. That is, working 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. Harry Stebbings, founder of the 20VC fund, ignited the latest debate at the start of the month when he said Silicon Valley had 'turned up the intensity,' and European founders needed to take notice. '7 days a week is the required velocity to win right now. There is no room for slip up,' Stebbings wrote on LinkedIn. 'You aren't competing against random company in Germany etc but the best in the world.' 'Forget 9 to 5, 996 is the new startup standard,' Martin Mignot, partner at Index Ventures echoed on the networking platform. 'Back in 2018, Michael Moritz introduced the West to China's '996' work schedule… At the time, the piece was controversial. Now? That same schedule has quietly become the norm across tech,' Mignot added. 'And founders are no longer apologizing for it.' But it's not just startup chiefs that are having to put in overtime to get ahead, CEOs admitted to Fortune at our recent Most Powerful Women Summit in Riyadh that they work well beyond the 40-hour benchmark. 'I don't know that I finish work psychologically,' Leah Cotterill CEO of Cigna Healthcare Middle East and Africa revealed, adding that she fully immerses herself into work all day and night 'Monday through Thursday' but tries to 'ease that off' on Friday for the weekend. Others put a number on the hours they work, from up to 12 a day to 80 a week. But like Guo, many said they do it—not in reaction to the current market conditions, but because they're passionate about what they do. 'I'm always working 24/7 I'm a workaholic, so I don't stop working because I enjoy what I do,' Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, Culture House's CEO added. And the next generation of workers probably needs to take note. Unfortunately for work-life balance-loving young people, experts have stressed that 40-hour workweeks aren't enough if they want to climb the corporate ladder. In a leaked memo to Google's AI workers, Sergey Brin suggested that 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot'. This story was originally featured on
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Forbes
Why Risk-Tolerant Founders Outpace The Competition
Uncertainty used to be something you planned around. A contingency. A footnote. But in today's business landscape—one shaped by technological upheaval, geopolitical flux, and consumer unpredictability—uncertainty is the headline. While traditional corporate environments often scramble to minimize risk, entrepreneurs tend to see it differently. Risk isn't a flaw in the plan. It is the plan. It's the fire that forges innovation, the tension that forces creativity out of hiding. So, how do the best entrepreneurial minds not only tolerate risk, but also build it into their operating DNA? The answer starts with a mindset shift and ends with a culture that sees every question mark as a potential springboard. Here are three strategies you can use to transform risk into a driver of innovation and growth. Risk isn't just a gamble. For entrepreneurs, it's an investment in information. Forward-thinking leaders use it not to predict the future, but to learn from it—faster and smarter than their competitors. This is a deliberate approach to exploring new ideas, guided by structure and strategy rather than chance. Prioritize things like A/B testing, MVP launches, rapid prototyping—all designed to generate data and insight while minimizing cost. You fail small so you can succeed big. There's evidence to support this strategy. Research reveals that teams and companies that run lots of tests outperform those that conduct just a few. Calculated risk-taking, when viewed as iterative learning, becomes not just safer, but smarter. Culture can be either a shield or a straitjacket. In environments where failure is feared, innovation suffocates. But where risk is normalized and learning is rewarded, creativity thrives. Entrepreneurs who lead resilient teams understand that psychological safety isn't a luxury—it's a necessity. When people believe they won't be punished for trying something new, they're more likely to take bold, high-value actions. Matt Rich, senior VP of digital sales at demandDrive, puts it this way: 'It all comes down to communication. When good ideas are really heard—even when there's potential risk—it helps people feel like they can expand their horizons with confidence. And when things do get challenging, a leader also needs to buckle down and get to work right alongside the team. That's what makes people confident, and what makes you the foundation that powers all that innovation.' Rich's perspective underscores a critical truth: Innovation grows in environments where trust and ambition work hand in hand. When leadership makes room for bold ideas and shows up in the trenches during tough times, teams internalize that risk is safe and even necessary. This kind of cultural resilience doesn't happen by accident. It's built through daily leadership modeling, systems that reward smart failures, and KPIs that measure learning velocity as much as revenue. Uncertainty pushes plans to their edge, revealing how adaptable and sustainable they really are. Entrepreneurs who thrive under volatility don't just hedge; they architect flexible strategies that can absorb the unexpected. Scenario planning, risk matrices, decision trees, etc. aren't merely corporate jargon—they're survival tools. They allow founders to explore multiple futures without being trapped by any one of them. By proactively anticipating risks, startups can build optionality into their roadmap. That might mean developing multiple revenue streams, flexible product iterations, or diversified supply chains. The goal is agility, not clairvoyance. Investors notice this kind of thinking. In 2024, startup funding hit $209 billion, but the bulk of that capital favored growth- and late-stage ventures. Early-stage funding, by contrast, dropped 12% to 14% year-over-year—a sign that investors are more selective, gravitating toward founders who demonstrate strategic foresight and resilience. Businesses that proactively plan for multiple scenarios and adapt quickly not only survive, but also earn the trust and capital to keep evolving. If you're waiting for certainty, you're already late. The market rewards movement, not perfection. And in a world where volatility is the only constant, those who hesitate miss the window. But entrepreneurs who see risk as opportunity—not obstacle—will always find new paths. They'll learn faster, move smarter, and build cultures where resilience moves beyond a buzzword to become the foundation of everything. The future doesn't belong to those who eliminate risk. It belongs to those who learn to ride it with curiosity, courage, and a strategy that turns uncertainty into their greatest asset.
