Page 59 - Forbes - Africa (March 2020)

ADVOICE BY JOHN DEER
There are other ways
to look glamorous
and chic and it
doesn’t have to be
wasteful and terrible
to the environment.
herselftoSouthAfrica’sLadumaNgxokolo
ofMaXhosaAfricaandGreekfashion
designerMaryKatrantzou.
“Youcanmakeasilhouettesimilarto
somebodyelsebuttherealinterestingpart
isthefabric,soMalhiaKentdealswith
fabriccustomization,andthisiswhereI
learnedthatintheworldoffabric,youare
twoyearsaheadoftheindustry;likeChanel
orderstheirfabricfromMalhiaKent,”she
says.
Thatwasthespaceshewantedtobein.
Soinbetweenjobs,Nyandenico-
foundedGarbage,abusinessthatlooked
intoenvironment-friendlygarments.
“Wewantedtospeakonthenotations
ofhowdowepickupthefashionindustry
andsaythatthereareotherwaysto
lookglamorousandchicanditdoesn’t
havetobewastefulandterribletothe
environment.”
Thebusinessranforayearandsolda
fewgarments,butsadly,collapsed.That
inspiredthebirthofanidea,onethat
wouldsolelyworkforher,abusinessthat
wouldincludeallthatshehadlearnedfrom
fashionschoolandthestylishstreetsof
Paris.Shehadalsopersonallyworkedwith
Katrantzou,buildingaportfolioandafirst
collection.Shewasreadyandhadunder
$2,700insavings.
NyandenireturnedhometoSouth
Africaandregisteredhercompanyin2018.
“Inmyheart,IthoughtIwasgoingto
beabletobuysewingmachinesandasmall
cartotravelbackandforthforbusiness,be
abletogetstaplefabricsthatpeoplewould
love,”shesays.
It was not the case, but she started the
FORBESAFRICA.COM
DATA POSITIONS AGRICULTURE AS KEY
DRIVER OF AFRICA’S GROWTH
African farmers are at the heart of tomorrow’s global economy.
he potential to increase Africa’s
agricultural yields through the
strategic use of data could place
Tthe continent’s farmers at the heart
of tomorrow’s global economy.
“New technologies readily available to
Africa’s farmers mean that the continent
is finally at the moment where Africa’s
vast agricultural opportunity can be made
relevant to capital, mechanisation and
new global markets,” says Antois van
der Westhuizen, Managing Director: Sub
Saharan Africa, John Deere Financial.
Farmers in Kenya and Tanzania, for
example, now transacting on M-PESA can
access the formal economy by selling and
buying goods online. Since these previously Antois van der Westhuizen - Managing Director
economically excluded farmers now have Sub-Saharan Africa - John Deere Financial
a digital footprint, “we can start getting a
picture of their inputs, suppliers and costs, data can be used to build a supply chain
as well as their yields, off-takers, incomes for the mill that also provides the farmers
and payment histories,” says Van der guaranteed off-take. This data-driven view
Westhuizen. of the broader supply chain also gives
This new data holds the key to
revolutionising agriculture in Africa. financiers the confidence to extend credit,
Without even having a bank account, long-lease machinery or fertiliser to these
farmers, secure in the knowledge that the
“we now have a detailed view of the farmers will receive an income from the
input, production and earning numbers of mill and be able to pay.
previously financially invisible farmers,” says Moreover, “if we know that the 100
Van der Westhuizen. With GPS technology farmers have secure off-take agreements
able to provide accurate hectarage, “we with a local mill, we can provide tractors or
can quickly work out how certain inputs, harvesters to start-up agricultural service
and their cost, might be affordable to companies to plough these farmer’s fields
specific farmers given the increase in yield and harvest their crops, only collecting
that we know these inputs will drive in that
location,” says Van der Westhuizen. payment once the farmers have been paid
In short, with just a handful of data by the mill,” says Van der Westhuizen.
Using data in this way could justify
points, the ability to provide credit to a further investment in irrigation systems,
much broader segment of Africa’s farmers beneficiation plants, canneries or
increases dramatically. For the first time other industrial investment relevant to
in history, all of Africa’s famers are now expanding the agricultural value chain.
potentially able to present the credit, Taken to scale across Africa, this kind
expenditure, production and income of data has the potential to make most
records to make them bankable. African countries food-secure, freeing up
The next step will be to, “use the data the billions in hard currency that African
from multiple farmers collectively, to governments currently spend importing
develop new supply chains and markets,”
says Van der Westhuizen. food.
For example, if a grain mill in Kenya The technology is finally here, “for
requires 2,000 tons of a certain crop each Africa’s policy makers to use the new
data available on Africa’s farmers to place
month and John Deere has the data on agriculture – and Africa - at the heart of
100 farmers in that district, each with the tomorrow’s global economy,” concludes
potential to produce 20 tons a month, the Van der Westhuizen.