Author: AFP

Lagos store brings modern African luxury to Nigeria’s rich

The interior of the Alara retail store on Victoria Island, Lagos. (Pic: AFP)
The interior of the Alara retail store on Victoria Island, Lagos. (Pic: AFP)

Take a sought-after architect, add the king of “new Africa cuisine” and a smattering of famous designers, and you get a concept-store in Lagos that seeks to bring modern African luxury to Nigeria’s ultra-rich.

The chaotic, cosmopolitan metropolis has largely failed to cater for its mega-rich minority despite a big appetite for high-end shopping and eating in a country that houses 11 of Africa’s 50 biggest fortunes, according to Forbes magazine.

So, Reni Folawiyo, a businesswoman married to one of the 11 – multi-millionaire Tunde Folawiyo – decided to create Alara, a four-storey building housing a mix of African fashion, design and art and a selection of work by Western designers, complete with a gourmet restaurant.

Nestled in the heart of Lagos, the store does not attract droves of shoppers in a country where the vast majority still lives on less than $2 a day, but it already has its share of discreet regulars who rarely leave the building empty-handed.

David Adjaye building

The price tags are in dollars and often count several zeroes, aimed at customers who are used to travelling far and wide and shopping abroad.

But while they can afford items in New York and Paris luxury stores, these don’t necessarily always cater for the tastes of African women or their body shape.

“We like colour, we’re dramatic, adornment is our way of expression,” says Folawiyo.

Enter Alara, which she says is geared towards “the flamboyance of the Africans”, from the retro, multi-coloured dresses by Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, futuristic glasses by Kenya’s Cyrus Kabiru to the python bags made by Nigeria’s Zashadu.

The store also has a personal shopping service on offer to cater for customers’ varying needs.

“We are specific in terms of our bodies. We don’t necessarily fit into a sort of international mould, in terms of the size and shape,” says Folawiyo.

The building itself – an imposing black and orange-ochre bloc whose square, openwork patterns bring to mind Nigeria’s traditional Adire textile – was designed by David Adjaye.

The store is the first major work on African soil by the British architect of Ghanaian origin, who is also behind Washington’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, among others.

‘A cultural re-awakening’

It’s a first for Nigerian designer Duro Olowu too, who grew up in Lagos but now spends his time between London and New York.

The man who counts US First Lady Michelle Obama among his customers had initially refused to have his creations sold in Lagos, but was so taken by Alara that he allowed the store to showcase them.

“Lagos was seen as a mishmash of badly presented things,” Olowu says of the 20-million-strong heaving city better known for its giant traffic jams and poor infrastructure.

“I wanted my clothes to be stocked somewhere that represented everything I believed in. And Alara is stylish but also cultural.

“This store is also a place where young people can walk in and be inspired,” he added.

Fashion aside, a gourmet restaurant is also due to open soon on the ground floor.

The menu will be drawn up by Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam, one of the biggest names in contemporary African cuisine who owns several restaurants in New York.

Like Olowu, this is his first collaboration in Africa, which he left in 1989 but still remains his main source of inspiration.

On the menu, dishes that blend African street food with Western classics such as millet and peanut lamb risotto, quail grilled with suya spices typical of northern Nigeria, hibiscus tart served with palm leaf, coconut and lime flavoured ice cream.

“I wanted this place to be a cultural reawakening, bringing what we’ve known as Africans into the new world,” says Folawiyo.

Lupita Nyong’o joins fight to save Africa’s elephants

Lupita Nyong'o delivers a speech during a press conference at the Villa Rosa Kempinski hotel in Nairobi on June 30 2015. (Pic: AFP)
Lupita Nyong’o delivers a speech during a press conference at the Villa Rosa Kempinski hotel in Nairobi on June 30 2015. (Pic: AFP)

Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o has returned home to Kenya to spearhead a new campaign to stop the record slaughter of elephants for their valuable ivory.

More than 30 000 elephants are killed every year to satisfy demand for ivory in China and the Far East where it is worth more than $2 000 a kilogramme.

The 32-year old actress – who won an Oscar for her portrayal of the slave girl Patsey in 12 Years a Slave and will appear in Star Wars: Episode VII later this year – said on Tuesday her visit to a national park and elephant orphanage in Kenya had been “life-changing”.

“It was my first time to really have an intimate experience with elephants. What struck me was how big they are, how quiet they are,” she said. “It was really a breathtaking experience.”

The Hollywood star and model has signed up as an ambassador for conservation organisation WildAid, which engages celebrities to spread awareness of poaching and wildlife crime.

Nyong’o said she hoped her involvement would help save Africa elephants for future generations.

“I really do intend for my children to have that same experience,” she said.

For Nyong’o, who was born in Mexico to Kenyan parents, grew up in Kenya and studied in the United States, the visit was also a homecoming.

“I am proud of my Kenyan heritage, and part of that heritage is the incredible wildlife haven that is in our care,” she said, speaking with an American accent in English. “Poaching steals from us all.”

Nyong’o will soon feature in a series of WildAid adverts aimed at raising awareness of the elephant’s plight.

“It is time to ban sales of ivory worldwide and to consign the tragedy of the ivory trade to history,” she said.

Burundi: key facts about a troubled country

A Burundian soldier casts his ballot at a polling station in Bujumbura. (Pic: AFP)
A Burundian soldier casts his ballot at a polling station in Bujumbura. (Pic: AFP)

The small, landlocked African country of Burundi holds parliamentary and local elections on Monday after weeks of unrest, recalling its long history of conflict and ethnic massacres.

Opposition parties are boycotting elections – including a presidential vote due July 15 – saying that it is not possible to hold a fair vote.

The African Union has said it will not act as observer to the elections over fears the polls will not be credible.

Over 70 people have been killed in weeks of street protests that erupted after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to seek a third term in office.

Those protests were brutally suppressed, triggering an exodus of around 127,000 into neighbouring countries.

Ethnic divisions

Tensions between Burundi’s ethnic Hutu majority – some 85 percent of the 10 million population – and the Tutsi minority have boiled over repeatedly since independence from colonial ruler Belgium in 1962.

In 1972, a failed Hutu-led uprising against Tutsi-dominated rulers sparked a wave of massacres.

Later, the 1993 assassination of the first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, triggered a civil war between the Tutsi-dominated army and Hutu rebels that lasted until 2006 despite several peace deals.

Today, the fault lines are no longer simply ethnic – both Nkurunziza and his main rival Agathon Rwasa are Hutus. However, old divisions remain.

Economic frustration

Burundi – which lies in the Great Lakes region – is one of Africa’s most densely populated nations. Farming forms the backbone of the economy, with key exports of coffee and tea.

Manufacturing is underdeveloped, and the country suffers from a poor transportation network and government corruption that stifles the private sector.

The nation is green and fertile, but more than two thirds of the population live below the poverty line, with a gross average national income of just $260 (240 euros).

World Bank data put 2013 gross domestic product at $2.7 billion.

Constitutional challenge

Nkurunziza was first voted in by parliament in 2005, as part of the peace process to end the 1993-2006 civil war. In 2010 he was re-elected, this time by the people.

Opponents say a third term would violate the constitution and jeopardise deals that ended civil war that stipulated presidents cannot rule for more than a decade.

Nkurunziza’s supporters refute that, saying the constitution overrules earlier agreements, and states leaders can rule for two terms after elections by “direct universal suffrage”.

Militia forces

The international community has repeatedly warned of a risk of violence, with rival parties growing increasingly radical.

The United Nations has said is particularly worried about the ruling party’s youth wing, the Imbonerakure, a fearsome group whose name means “The Watchmen” or, literally, “Those Who See Far”.

The Imbonerakure are accused of being a militia force by the UN, carrying out a string of attacks.

Uganda’s ‘Uber for motorcycle taxis’ shows it pays to be safe

The SafeBoda app. (Pic: AFP)
The SafeBoda app. (Pic: AFP)

When Silver Tumwesigye, a sharply-dressed Ugandan motorbike taxi driver known by his nickname ‘Silverstone,’ had an accident six years ago it was a double blow.

First he had to pay for surgery for his head injury and weeks of hospital treatment, then he suffered months of no income as he recovered at home.

Motorbike taxis, known as “boda-bodas” in Uganda and elsewhere in East Africa, are an affordable and effective – but dangerous – way of cutting through the traffic clogging Kampala’s streets.

Now a startup, dubbed “Uber for motorcycle taxis” after the popular ride-sharing company, hopes to make them safer and more reliable.

Silverstone survived his accident but the loss of his daily income of around 20 000 shillings ($5) threatened his family with destitution.

“I was so worried – not about me, but about my children, my wife,” said the 36-year-old father-of-four. “I struggled to pay the rent and school fees.”

Close to 40 percent of trauma cases at Uganda’s main Mulago Hospital are the result of boda-boda accidents, according to a joint study in 2010 by the hospital and the country’s Makerere University.

Like similar services in other developing world urban hubs like Jakarta, SafeBoda hopes to ease traffic in the Ugandan capital connecting customers with a registered driver nearby with the tap of a finger.

The company has enlisted 75 drivers at 20 “stages” – the boda-boda version of taxi ranks – since its launch in November. Each receives driving lessons, motorcycle maintenance and customer service training, and a first aid course taught by the Uganda Red Cross Society.

Drivers pay a membership fee of 10 000 shillings a week and are given a smartphone, a bright orange reflective vest and helmet, and a spare helmet for customers.

“The boda-boda industry got a bad name,” said SafeBoda’s 28-year-old co-founder Ricky Rapa Thomson.

“We want to say we are safe bodas. We should create a good reputation that will lead to more business, so we make more money and become more successful,” said Rapa, who has been a boda driver for four years and also runs motorbike tours of the city.

Rigorous vetting

It was on one of his tours that a visitor from Britain suggested meeting 30-year-old Belgian social entrepreneur Maxime Dieudonne, to help him develop an app to increase safety and provide better service.

Rapa teamed up with Dieudonne, Scottish development economist Alastair Sussock, 29, and the Rwanda-based mobile tech company HeHe Labs to create SafeBoda.

Sussock said the start-up conducts a “very lengthy process of driver training and multiple interactions and recommendations for drivers”.

“The recent issues in India with Uber, with one of the drivers accused of raping a passenger, shows the challenges on background checks or lack of any checks,” he said.

Sussock said that while this made SafeBoda different from Uber, Lyft and other apps which allowed drivers to sign up very easily, it ensured a “higher quality of drivers”.

Rigorous vetting means there are now 250 boda-boda drivers on the SafeBoda waiting list. Silverstone plans to join up, saying that his accident taught him the hard way that safety pays.

The SafeBoda app is also evolving and will soon add another Uber-like touch, allowing customers to rate drivers.

The company hopes to have at least 1 000 boda-bodas across Kampala by the end of the year, before expanding regionally, and perhaps even farther.

“There’s a couple of other countries like India that could be really interesting,” said Sussock.

For the last six years Juma Katongole, 32, has ferried passengers around Kampala’s notoriously potholed roads. He joined the SafeBoda programme soon after its launch.

The father-of-four has gained three new regular customers and reckons he takes home an extra 10 000 shillings a day.

“In the future I’m planning on building a house because I’m still renting,” he said. “I’m happy and customers are also happy with SafeBoda, they appreciate it,” he said.

Bringing museums into homes: Benin’s Wakpon app

A man tries out Wakpon, a new smartphone application that allows people to view pictures and works of art. (Pic: AFP)
A man tries out Wakpon, a new smartphone application that allows people to view pictures and works of art. (Pic: AFP)

Admiring paintings or photographs by Africa’s greatest contemporary artists is a luxury in Benin, where museums are scarce and most people lack money to travel farther afield.

But a new application developed by a foundation based in Cotonou, the largest city in this West African state, is seeking to bring art to the masses by allowing anyone with access to a printer and smartphone or tablet to turn their place into a museum.

“For 10 years, the Zinsou Foundation has been striving to bring contemporary art to people who don’t have access to it because we think culture is a right, not a luxury,” said Marie-Cecile Zinsou, the Franco-Beninese head of the foundation that created the “Wakpon” app.

Budding art enthusiasts need only print out colourful images available on the app’s website onto pieces of A4 paper and hang them on the walls of their home, school or government building – just like paintings in a museum.

Visitors can then aim at these images with their smartphones or tablets using the app, and a painting by Benin’s voodoo artist Cyprien Tokoudagba or a photo of Nigerian hairstyles by J.D. Okhai Ojeikere will pop up, alongside information on the work of art.

All in all, 44 pieces by 10 artists are available on the app, all taken from the foundation’s collection.

Low visibility for African art

Zinsou said she convinced her father, who has just been named Benin prime minister, to set up the foundation after she realised that like many other African countries, there were no museums in Benin to showcase the continent’s contemporary art, despite its growing popularity elsewhere.

Leading African artists were virtually absent from art sales just a decade ago but now contemporary works feature strongly in several international auction houses.

Bonhams in London recently described the continent as “one of our hottest properties on the art block”.

Since 2005, the foundation’s show room in Cotonou puts on free exhibitions of Beninese and foreign artists, and once showcased US legend Jean-Michel Basquiat – a first in Africa.

In 2013, it opened a museum in an old building of the former slave trade hub of Ouidah, some 40 kilometres away from Cotonou.

All in all, nearly five million people have visited both places in a decade – most of them them children who often come the first time with their schools, return on their own and then bring their families.

Zinsou said the Wakpon app – which once downloaded does not need to be connected to the Internet – aims to widen access to a broader population.

‘Tomorrow’s museum’

Mobile phone penetration has been low in Benin, particularly for smartphones, because of poor infrastructure.

But competition from international mobile operators and under-sea cables is increasing take-up, as prices come down for both handsets and Internet services.

“This application is amazing,” said Beninese artist Romuald Hazoume, whose work has been showcased abroad and is also available on the app.

“African people will be able to have access to their culture, to their artists who are known around the world but whom they cannot see due to a lack of exhibition sites, of money or visas.

“It’s like a bait. People will know works of art, their story, and they will want to see them for real. It’s tomorrow’s museum and it’s what all big collections should be doing.”

In the Cotonou showroom, those who visit are given a Wakpon demonstration at the end of their tour.

“Wakpon” means “come and see” in Fon, the most widely spoken local language in Benin.

“It’s great. My cousin has a good telephone, I’m going to plead with him to activate the application and our entire district will take a look,” says Obed, 15, who came with his class.

Zinsou said people in Africa had a tendency to think that culture will emerge only once their countries are developed.

“But no, culture is essential for development,” she added.