THE NEW//AFRICA
CC Attribution - ShareAlike 3.0 Germany:
You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor and the work or content is shared also in adapted form only under the conditions of this
Wedekind, Beate
Mariappan, Preethi
Tadesse, Julian
It's about time to connect with the arising middle classes of young African achievers. THE NEW//AFRICA is a new media brand with a social impact, sharing success stories, building new alliances, putting young professionals, startups and entrepreneurs on the international agenda. Let's forget clichés and misconceptions, still prevailing in the perception of the public: We are focussing on perspectives and progress, on chances, challenges and changes. THE NEW//AFRICA is a platform aggregating the most interesting success stories from all over the continent, introducing exceptional talent, knowhow and visions. It's a thermometer of the international bloggers' opinion. It's an event scheme and an annual yearbook on the life and work of the global thinking young African professionals. This session is discussing a fresh viewpoint on the African economy, presenting new forms of co-operation and networking. Presented by THE NEW//AFRICA-founder Beate Wedekind, renowned German journalist, publisher and TV-person, Preethi Mariappan, Head of Digital of TBWA Germany, and Julian Tadesse, MA in African Studies and Political Science.
 The new Africa, an upcoming platform for showing people who are entrepreneurs, enablers, starters who have ideas presented by its founder and a person who is known as a people's person, a people's writer, a people's enabler, Beata Wittigind and welcome. And she has a talk first with Till who will talk about the new Africa and after that more people will come to stage and you will listen to what's going on there. Have fun. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So welcome also from my side. I have a pleasure to guide you through the whole one hour and maybe before I give a little bit sort of a structure because we're going to have quite a few people helping us and displaying what the new Africa is. A few welcoming words from Beata in the beginning right now. Yes, hello, my name is Beata Wittigind. I'm 62 years old. I live here in Berlin and in Nardis Ababa and I am, you will not believe it, I am a startup entrepreneur and my startup is called the New Africa and we will talk about it, what it's about within the next hour. But I'm extremely happy to be here at the Republika because you all are what we do and what we need you for. We want to communicate about Africa today and you are all communicators and we really want to motivate and convince you to become part of the new Africa and how we can do this. We can talk later, also individual talks and I'm happy to also see some friends from the AFRI labs like Markus from others. It's a little bit, I see somebody from Ghana, from Nigeria and I appreciate very much that Republika has decided to put an emphasis and focus on Africa. This is just great and that's why I'm extremely happy to be here. Thank you. Yeah, so basically we want to convince you all to become a member and participate in the New Africa after this one hour and just to let you know what we're going to talk about, we'll share a little bit of light on Beata and her career and her person because she is the main initiator of the whole TNA and how she wants to engage and bring people together here. Basically, it's her new venture so it's really something that needs to grow. It's a strong idea that needs to get bigger and bigger and it's this intimate talk today that we want to share with you and hope to inspire everyone here who's in the rooms so far. Basically, the second part would be why and what is TNA. So give you understanding what we believe is going to be strong with that platform and then we will show some cases that we want to feature with TNA. Then we have a team sitting here also in the audience which will one by one call to the station also give short introduction in the cases here and after that we give a short introduction about the business of TNA because obviously it's not necessarily only a spare time occupation by Beata because it's meant to get something bigger here and the last part of course is the Q&A session. Everything is going to be from our side at least in English today but if you have questions in German, no problem or we'll translate in any case. The Q&A session is planned for afterwards but is there any misunderstanding or questions in between please raise your hands and ask us that should be totally okay from our side. So to get started here, I think I directly hand over to Beata with one important question for her as a person. So you being a reporter from your history and all your career, what is so special about you and you being a reporter? First of all my first profession was being a banker but I was a reporter for my heart from the very beginning of that I'm thinking. I was always a storyteller, I was always curious, I was asking people questions that they could not believe that a three year old girl could ask these questions so I always felt that I am a communicator but only decided when I was 30 to make a profession out of this. So I was a banker before and I was working in an advertising agency but when I was 29 I was working at the Free University in Berlin and the professor whose secretary I was because he was a fantastic social democrat politician. He says you have to do something else with your life than sitting in my office and he sent me on the street becoming a reporter so I started here in Berlin being a reporter when I was 30 years old with the abans. But perhaps I should introduce myself as the true African that I am in my heart and I say this from deep of my heart because I have a very strong African story in myself also as being a communicator and as a journalist. My very very first TV broadcast I ever saw was in 1961 a fantastic TV reporter Peter von Zahn and his series Reporter der Windrose berichten. I have to ask your parents or your grandparents they might know this. I was 10 years old and I was sitting there fascinated because he was doing an interview with Mobutu in Zaire in the pre revolution Zaire and I saw the first pictures of Africa and you will believe it or not. But I was sitting there and I was amazed and I was fascinated. Ten years later I was in an air hostess with Condor which is a Lufthansa brand and I had a stopover in Mombasa and I found it so fascinating there that I took a false sick leave because with this false sick leave I could stay another four weeks in Mombasa getting the next turn so that's how I experienced everyday life. I was sitting at the castle tell 10 hours a day. I was going with a bicycle on the streets. I didn't spend my time on the beach and that was a little continuation of my fascination through a very strange profession. And then I was 25 and still a banker and I was going with the German volunteer service to Ethiopia being a logistics manager for a team of 75 volunteers. I was living in Al-Fazabi but I had my own land rover. I had my own pickup and I was driving because I was a logistics person. I was driving through Ethiopia for two years within days of revolution and that's where it really kicked me and hit me that somebody like me has a very, very certain emotional aspect with connecting with Africa. I was always with the families. I was always in the streets and whenever I returned back to live in Berlin I felt like a culture shock and since then I made a career. I was editor-in-chief. Please ask again your mothers. I was first editor-in-chief of Elle which is a fashion magazine and of Elle Décoration and Ambiente and then I became editor-in-chief in famous, famous Bunta magazine. I was doing this. I was a first editor-in-chief. I was 40 years old. First editor-in-chief of 300 people and 300 million responsibility and guess what happened? I was 42 and I had a burnout. At that time it wasn't called like this. It was called differently. And then I decided now it's over with a career. I want to really concentrate on contents and then I was starting again to work with an NGO in Ethiopia and develop the idea of becoming a communicator for the young African generation. I think that's the perfect keyword for me again, Beata, because what I learned from that basically being a journalist and having such a multiple faceted career, one point that struck me when learning to know you is really connecting people is one of the passions you have in being a reporter, getting the stories, transporting them, making them bigger and helping some other audiences to understand these. And the other part of that is really being in Africa and it's a mediated experience. The first one you talked about, about watching German TV in the 60s. The other one is really this breaking the rules, having a sick leave, a forced sick leave in Mombada. I think that's another strong trait of your personality and the other part is it's not a lot of work. I think many more in my life, I only want to tell you. And the other part is being, how is it called in English, a development aid worker, I think in that point of time it hasn't been an easiest job. So it's really, for me seeing how we in the northern world or at least in Germany see Africa in the media is quite maybe coined, I could call it through misconceptions. So really a lot of poverty, of crisis, of wars, of catastrophes in the nature, etc. So we have a quite clear picture. But these misconceptions might be not the way you are looking forward to Africa and to talk about it, isn't it? So since 10 years I'm commuting between Berlin and Alizabeth and really commuting means sometimes I go for three days to Alizabeth or I stay three days in Berlin. Then I go for five weeks and I really fly back and forth. I can only recommend with the Turkish Airlines 474 Euros back and forth. It's less than you go to Mallorca these days. And it's no jet lag and it's really, it's like Alizabeth is a fantastic, modern, diversified city. And what my, the first years I was mostly working for an NGO in the rural areas. But already there I saw, I have to always say to me, stay in the today, but also there I saw the first signs of future. And I saw that these are not people who want to depend on age, that they need know-how, that they need vocational training, that they need schools and education because there was none. And I saw how much talent is there that is really not getting any attention beyond the circles of the villages or their towns or their own communities. And there I already started to write books about these communities and then I really, like five years ago I said we cannot do magazines only for an elite 20,000 people or even 100,000 people. We have to communicate this new Africa on a larger scale. So then I was thinking how do I do this? And then that's when I decided to really have a deeper look in how urban can a young society be even living in the rural areas. How global thinking can somebody be who is living here and thinking Africa is just poor children dying. So I really tried with the topics that I choose to really connect these worlds but always with the real aim to make people here understand that Africa is much, much more than what everybody has in its head now. And that's also how I met the guys from ICE, others in Al-Zababa, young people who did barcams who really have an innovation hub. And through them also I met young professionals. Through them I met others in Nigeria, I met others in Ghana, I met others in South Africa. And then I decided yes, I have to do it. And as I think being 60 you can either decide okay I buy a new MS bag or you do something meaningful and I decided to take the challenge and the chance to do something new and this is what we are doing. What I do understand from your point, if you wanted to show the reality that you experience being in Africa and travelling forth and back and somehow as the name and the title tells us it's about the new Africa, isn't it? So my question would be logically what is the new Africa in your perspective? What's the idea? What's the purpose? So first of all the new Africa as a brand is really a media brand. It is a platform where we are collecting the most interesting stories of young people, young professionals, young entrepreneurs, but not only from the business side or work side but also how do we live? How do they live? And what music are they doing? What literature do they have? What films are they making? So I really want to show on the new Africa website the way of living that it's not estranged from what we are thinking when we think of connecting globally or when we think of connecting with the next generation. Did this answer your question or did I completely misunderstand it? Basically the question is answered. Maybe there are some points I would maybe share some light a little bit deeper. What do you understand of being a media platform? What's a media brand in your sense? What's going to happen on that platform? I think we talk a little bit later on that also but what is happening there we really aggregate stories. This is not about business plans, this is not about concepts and strategies like we see for Africa does or like how we made it in Africa does. We want, because I am a digital person but I believe in the human aspects of how people experience their own life. So we will tell the stories of the people behind the entrepreneurship, the people behind the industry, the people behind the goals that they have. So it's not a business platform, it is a people's platform but concentrating on the new generation. But it also has another aspect which is like of course we want to do workshops and conferences both in Africa and here in Germany and as I am coming from the printing press and as I love to do magazines and I love to do books we will have an annual yearbook that I promise you everybody wants to have it because you always get an outlook on what is going to happen in Africa in the year after and what we experienced in this year. So it's three dimensional, it's a website, it's workshops, conferences but it's also a print product. Basically this is when looking at the slide connecting across the continents was one key word for me and this idea having these contents you describe but bringing them to the northern hemisphere to Europe wherever is what you mean behind that sentence here, connecting. But also what I really have to say, the more I think about and the more I see what we are doing it really is that I am sometimes, I sit on my desk here in Berlin with disbelief of what people do not know about the modern Africa or of Africa today. So I really have a message, I have a mission that really I want us everybody in the northern hemisphere really to understand that this is a partner continent and this is not a continent where we just give and where we please our pity or whatever. And this is for me very, very important but also of course I want the northern hemisphere, the people really to understand that this is a continent worth traveling under different aspects than just going on safari or going to the beaches that you can really, there's a fantastic continent to discover through the people that you meet there. So I have a, if I might say so, I have a sort of mission, sounds perhaps a little bit stupid but it sounds like a mission so perfect and I think the best way to give a little bit more understanding to everyone here is to share some stories. And I'd like to call Julian onto the stage as well to support in displaying what actually is going to be the first contents you'll be seeing on the platform soon. Hi, Julian. Good afternoon everybody. How are you feeling out there? We all feel very African. So Julian is living here in Berlin, his mother comes from Ethiopia and Julian is, has a master in African studies and political science. He's doing his PhD right now on African entrepreneurship and we work together on the New Africa. He is the editor and he's helping me to put together the contents and to write the stories and I'm very happy that we both join Berlin as our stand-out and also Alisabeba so it makes life easier in understanding. So we have selected five stories that will be typical parts of the stories that we are going to tell from success stories from Africa and we have decided to select them from different fields so that you can see that it's really, there are no boundaries of how we see success and we will introduce you to some well-established young entrepreneurs to really young beginners. We will also tell individual success stories and what the whole of the New Africa is about is really we want people to be inspired of following in the footsteps of that yes, success can be made today. These are our kind of role models and I think Beata you will start with the first one as she is a friend of you. Yes, I really am very happy to know quite well, nearly be befriended with her Bethlehem Telahun, she is an Ethiopian and I have to say we as 2013 is the year of 50 years African Union and the African Union has been created in Alisabeba and also because I know Alisabeba and Ethiopia best we have the first focus on Ethiopia then comes Rwanda then comes Angola but we start with Ethiopia so that's why you find some more stories from Ethiopia than from other countries. So Bethlehem is 33 years old, she is a mother of three and she has created, she is a shoe designer her company is called Soul Rebels and actually the Rebels from the last revolution of Melissinavi they came they didn't have proper shoes they had the tires from cars as souls and they were called the Souls Rebels and what she is doing is she is doing from recycled material she is doing shoes, brands and I would not say that this is typically my style of shoes but as she had a fantastic distribution idea she only was distributed in the beginning through Amazon and she is now in Taiwan she is in Switzerland she is coming to Germany but every cent that she earns abroad is going to be reinvested in Ethiopia and she has built the factory of 300 people which she pays above average in her family's neighbourhood so because she said you know I want the people that I know also to be able to participate in my success and the company is completely sustainable completely green echo that you wouldn't believe it and I can only suggest to you that you go on the website it's called Soul Rebels foodwear.com and she to me is a fantastic example also that it's not only that you are an entrepreneur you also have to sell not only your products but also your story so I met her first at the World Economic Forum in Davos then I met her at the World Economic Forum in Alizabeba in last May and she is one of the global leaders and she is published in opera she is published in forums she is published everywhere but with a good story and so people are starting to talk about a young female entrepreneur with a brand that is really exceptional all over the place and to me she is one of my role models also my personal role models. Thank you so I'm going to introduce to you Randolph Oosu who is really a good example for the young generation of aspiring entrepreneurs out of Africa he's based in Ghana and he's a self-described technology and user and at just 22 years old he's still in university but he already founded his own first company called Oasis Websoft and he wants to produce software solution to real life African problems so he already created a web browser called Anansi Web which is open source you can download that also from his page and this is really the first African web browser he has also produced a Linux based software operating system that's called Anansi OS and yeah he's also a good example for collaboration he has worked together with other African developers in the launch of Africa app which is a pan-African mobile application platform and all this has led Forbes Africa magazine to call him the Mark Zuckerberg of Accra in 2012 November. And I think he is around but he has he's around at the Republic but he has another interview to do right now so might be he shares this later or we will talk to him outside. I like to introduce you to somebody who's name is Khalid Duri. Khalid Duri comes from a very from a family background of university presidents and of scientists but they are also entrepreneurs in like the fourth generation in Africa and he is 38 and he is he has he has had the idea to really build up a complete new industry of indigenous bamboo. Bamboo is in Africa and indigenous plant it's not from Asia but the business is not explored at all for African bamboo so what he does he is building a company from stretch training the bamboo farmers training the producers training the furniture builders the carpenters connecting from the very beginning globally to have markets for the products and this is a company that has been growing within the last three years to 150 employees and to a turnover of three and a half million US dollars but they are not still in the real exporting or mass exporting business and for me this is also he's also a very good example of creating a company in a sustainable way from scratch although he's coming from traditional entrepreneurship in Africa and his father who was a university president he said to him I think my son this is a little bit too early what you're doing he said no I will prove that it's the right time to do this and they are cooperating with international companies so they have some money also to build it up in a sustainable very very good way it's not a start up it is a new industry that they are going to establish and they are on a very very good way and I was I happened to go within to the bamboo fields and that was something really crazy first of all of course a lot of flies and mosquitoes but it's incredible you see this little little Schleife oh you know little ribbons ribbon little ribbons you see them like okay in 40 40 meters of height and then I asked yeah but who did this and said we did it when this plant three years ago was only one meter high so you measure with this really the growing of the plants and the indigenous bamboo from Africa is really of the best quality that there is but right now the industry is not even furniture making it's like a substitute material and and to see that in the fields and in the bamboo woods or forests it was really amazing how people all of a sudden get an idea of how precious is what they are growing since many generations as a substitute for something on the market okay yes so the next example comes from an industry which has a long history in Africa and all around the world that's agriculture and here especially dairy farming I'm going to introduce Bagore Batili he's a startup entrepreneur who was the vision of empowering dairy farmers in Senegal and he's the founder of a company called La Latre du Berger and when he returned he got his PhD in Belgium as a veterinary and he returned to his native country Senegal in 2004 and he was surprised to find out that more than 90% of the milk that is sold in Senegal is imported in powder form so he thought this is strange this is a paradox because Senegal is a country where there are more than four million pastoralists who are capable of producing the milk for the local market themselves so he ventured to start his business with some family members and in 2006 he launched La Latre du Berger and his goal was to develop the dairy market and to promote the marketing for the pastoralist so he created a business model where he incorporated the local Fulani pastoralist and to create an efficient network where the milk is collected from the farmers and then brought to the markets in the urban centers so he also supports these pastoralists with veterinary services and training to increase also the efficiency of the cattle so until today he achieved, yeah they have more than 900 farmers that work with them and they produce 2500 liters of milk every day and they have about 4000 satisfied customers each day. And you should also mention that this is really a family business but yet organized as a startup so it's really a mixture of modern management methods plus incorporating the traditional family enterprises that they have there in the rural areas and now I really have the pleasure to introduce to you one of the protagonists and please forgive me that he's not black he's from Switzerland, he's a Stefan Jäger, is a film director and film producer who and that's why he's here today and he has every reason to be here today he is one of those guys who is really doing a fantastic partnering up with local talents and with a real co-production so this guy comes from Zurich he has done one film that you might know birthday very nice film and he has been living in Germany and in Italy and is now living in Switzerland and he has done a film Horizon Beautiful he only went there with four people from Europe and the rest is an Ethiopian team how did the idea come up and how did you achieve to put together this fantastic team so hi everybody this is very special to be here as the minority because as Beat is said the big part in this production were people from Ethiopia and this actually almost didn't happen because you know those emails from Gaddafi's nephew to transfer like 10,000 and then he will give you his five millions so I got this kind of email and I wanted to delete it until I've seen that there was the Swiss Embassy the good institute on the CC and I thought oh maybe I should read it and they asked me to go there to Addis Ababa like two years ago to teach at the Blue Nile Film and Television Academy this is a private school there is only one film school in Ethiopia and it's based on the great work of director of photography who studied in the Netherlands and who went back to his home and founded the school and so I went there I never been to Africa before north Ethiopia which is also part of and it was a great experience teaching those students totally motivated and I thought after two weeks that's not enough you know how can we get what they know because I don't know anything about daily life in Ethiopia I don't know anything about their needs about their wants and I can tell them about the western way of making movies but that's not it they have a great tradition in telling stories they have great stories and so I came up with the idea to ask the director of the school who as I've told is a director of photography if he would like make the camera I could direct and we would open the set and we would give them all the positions we need to come up with a with a movie and he said yeah from having the idea from the very idea yeah from the very beginning I said let's get them involved so and then I went back to Europe and I got those little crew members like five four five people also a very good writer who helped me he came back with me to Ethiopia like three months later and we said now let's start let's start with story and they came up with an amazing idea of a street kid a little at Masu who wants to become a football player like all the street kids and like all the kids anyway in Africa but he's smart enough to know that he has to find a new way of getting a chance so he learns that famous football boss we don't talk about FIFA but it's obvious there's this asshole coming from FIFA to Africa and he says hey I could get in touch with him and show him how good I am but then he doesn't get in touch because it's not as easy as he thought first but then he has the idea maybe he could stage a kidnapping and if he frees the football boss then he will get his chance and maybe he takes him to Europe and makes him a football player so that moment we should have a little glance into this film who is doing you do it just like again so these are two and a half minutes from from the boy and from the film and I hope you are as amazing as I was when I saw this guy and I saw the film should be sound so this little boy didn't talk any word of English when I've met him at the Mercato and at his ababa and yet three months to learn so now he's talking it's not connected but he talks really good English so then I tell the guard I see Mr. Franz Mr. Franz he can make us Mr. Franz he can make us Mr. Franz he can make us okay I'm not German I'm Swiss so no Nazi get it he gets dirty I sell you to a slave trader of So obviously this was the Schweizer Tat or Commissar who is the main white part, but how did you find the guy, the young guy? How did you cast him? I was asking the students, how would you do it? They said, let's go to the schools, let's go to the orphan homes, let's go to the Mercato and I said, what's the Mercato? And so we went to the Mercato, which is an amazing place. Whoever goes to Addis Ababa should go first to the Mercato. It's like the biggest open market in Africa still, but the government is like working that, they want to clean it up. So go there unless you don't go there. And the first kid I've seen on my tour through Addis Ababa was Hanok, standing there in the Mercato working like 10 hours a day with his, maybe his 12 years, we don't really know. His mother died on TB and his father doesn't talk with him because he has another religion. So I asked my assistant Solomon, Solomon, just talk to this little kid, he's mesmerizing. I want him to do something for us. And what we did is like, we took him in front of a camera and he sang a song, that was it. I knew this is my guy. So no cell phone, no people responsible for him, but I said, yeah, yeah, we can do it. And all the Ethiopian students say, you're crazy, this is never going to work. He's a street kid, he has to earn something for living. I said, okay, we can maybe handle, we can deal. And he did it. It was amazing, you know, because like three weeks later we had a casting with 60 kids from schools, from orphan homes. And we had a so-called recall and I said, my plane is leaving at seven and if he shows up at six, then I will tell him that he's the guy. And we had two other kids, also great actors. And we said, if you don't come on time, then it won't work. So what happened is like six o'clock he wasn't there, six thirty he wasn't there and everybody told me, see, we've told you it wouldn't work. So and at six forty, six fifty-five he came in running because he ran from the Mercato to the Bolle, which is an amazing distance and he did it because he couldn't afford the bus, you know. And so I said, okay, guy, this is your job, the next three months you're going to learn English, you want to have six teachers, all Ethiopian students, we had an English teacher and casting coach, we had a coach for acting, we had a football. So what is he doing today? What is Hennok doing today? He's working. What effect did it have? It was amazing because in the middle of shooting we said, now Hennok, we have a surprise, you can join Salaam Willich. Salaam Willich is a Swiss foundation who helps kids from the street. Normally only like three years old kids, but they said, okay, we make an exception and but then it took another two months, but now he's staying with them, he's going back to school and he wants to become a singer. So the final song in the movie, he sings himself and this is really the great achievement of what we did. Thank you very much and we will all inform you when the film is coming also to the theaters here. And for me, it was a good example of that you really from scratch do something together and I've seen the whole movie and it's a very, very touching movie. Thank you very much, Stefan, to come from Zurich. You're welcome, thanks. It's also on Facebook. Facebook Horizon Beautiful. Thanks a lot. Julian, let's just briefly explain how we are going to get the contents that we need, the stories that we need so that the new Africa is really going to be the unique platform, the only platform you have to click on when you want to know everything about Africa today. How are we going to do it? Our content model is aggregation model. So basically what we do is screen blocks, about 30 blocks in the beginning, who are based in Africa, in Nairobi, Lagos, Accra. So we screen these blocks from bloggers like Africa Innovator, how we made it in Africa, TechLoy. And then we curate the content and we give you the best stuff, the most important stories so that you have one place where you have to go to find out all the interesting news stories, success stories of what's going on in Africa. And for us it was very important to get bloggers and media, online media from African countries involved. So that's why we want to cooperate with bloggers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa. And so also what I like to mention, although I'm a white German, we will be a company that is going to be based in Africa. Most of our team will be Africans and I am always saying I'm the initiator. And at the very moment when all this is really running and when it's on healthy feet, then this should be really a platform and a media from Africa for Africans. But as I had the idea and as I'm really the person who likes to drive things forward, so I'm the one who initiated, but it is made for young people in Africa. Thank you Julian and you have to go back to your computer to create stories, to aggregate stories. But also what we really want in the next step is really we are connected with very good writers. So the next step is also that we will have original stories, but we start with the aggregation and we also found out in our work that there are fantastic stories around, but nobody really collects them. You know, there is like on every website you find those stories, but you don't know the website. And we are really, our task is now to collect it from everywhere onto our website, of course with all rights and with all mentioning and everything proper incorporation and contracts and everything. And how I said in the beginning, this is not a spare time occupation, I guess. So basically how do you set up TNA, the new Africa? What is your business behind it? How do you plan to run it? So first I just want to be very honest. I only wanted to do a magazine, as I told you before. But then I really, as I am a Facebook addict, I'm an internet addict and I really, I know how important it is, how fast we can connect through the internet and through the social media. I have decided no, this has to be online first, especially it has in Africa to be mobile first. And so last year I started in planning and by the end of the year I had the privilege of being one of the 150 startups that were selected by Hoopraum, an accelerator program set up by Deutsche Telekom. And I was there with 15 young startup companies, one of those and I learned incredibly, I learned a lot about different working methods. So I come from a big hierarchy of big enterprises and I had a very, I had a big TV production company as well. And so I have changed my workflow and my working attitude completely through this accelerator program. And I was very happy to find through the accelerator program two partners, one partner, Carmen, can I just ask you on stage and Ulrich, just come up here. This is through Telekom. I met Carmen. Carmen is from Telekom's, come here, from Telekom's consultancy firm, DTekon, working internationally and Ulrich, who before has only been a friend of mine. All of a sudden became my mentor because I found out he's from TBWA, responsible for new business. And we met and we then said, why don't we do this together? So tell me what did we do so far together and how did the idea come up in your personal minds to connect with the New Africa? Yes, thank you, Beata. DTekon has a consultants network. These are 200 consultants who will shape the future of this consultant network, middle consults network. And at the end of the last year, I was looking for a pro bono project to support a startup or an NGO. And a former DTekon consultant asked me, why don't you support Beata Vedekind with the New Africa? So this was a great idea and we started to build up this pro bono project with seven perfect consultants. And the first thing I was looking for, do they have expertise in Africa? And I looked at their map and they are working in 27 African countries for many, many years. And so I thought, oh, wow, these are the right partners. So actually, what did you do so far for us? I could also tell you, but you can please tell it. Yeah, we did a lot for you. We started the market analyzers to get an overview about the countries that African countries and we arranged it in a short list. We also did a competitive analyzers to get an overview about the whole competitors for years in the Africa platform. And we also did a short list with different criterias, with different categories and with some suggestions for you. We also started to create a business plan based on the Osterweider model. And last but not least, you also get a business case, but at the moment it's a business secret. And I just have to tell you, I alone, I am a business person. But I have not been a business person specialized in online communication. So I was really very happy to partner with LATICOM. And with my friend Ulrich Pröschl from TBWA. Ulrich, what was your approach towards the new Africa? It's very simple. Okay. As Piatte just said before, we met through Facebook, but we've been knowing each other for a couple of years. At least we know the names. And when I saw that she was so engaged with Africa, I thought that's a perfect match for us to dive back into the startup scene and really pro bono help one of those cool promising startups to do something. Because our roots, and some of you may know TBWA as being one of the top 10 global advertising networks, but we have an extremely strong root with Africa. We like to support new things that come out of the market. We have offices in 16 countries and all this stuff. And I think the most important things are that our global creative director is African. But not only this, he supported Nelson Mandela with his first election campaign. We are fighting with a lot of projects in the southern part of Africa for the freedom of speech, especially trying to fight the Mugabe regime. So there are really strong connections that we have down there. And we love the people. And we believe there are a lot of great, great initiatives that happen in Africa that need to have a platform. And so Beata came along and we were happy to support her with developing the brand and trying to build with her the technological infrastructure, the website that will be coming very soon. And yeah, this is what we are trying to do. So thank you very much for having us on the team. Thank you very much, Carmen. Thank you very much Ulrich. And once again, these are both pro bono supporters. And you dare to think that I have the money to pay them. You know, it's they really do it in their spare time. And we are working very closely and very well together. Thank you very much to BWA and DTECON. Thank you. What is left to me is just asking you, Beata, what's coming next? Yeah, the next part is quite an important and absolutely crucial one. I'm finishing the financial rounds in June. We are going better in the summer and we are going to have our first conference in November in Abizah Beba. And the first yearbook, of course, is going to come out in December. So 2013 is really the coming out of the New Africa. And it's really exciting to really do all these steps, step by step, like a startup. And I'm very much supported by people who know me from my former life. And I have, what's this, airguides? I have the ambition, you know, although I'm a very experienced professional, I want to be a startup and I'm really following what startups do. And so the next one is I'm pitching in front of investors. And you know, there's, if I have been bunte Chef Redector or not, that doesn't matter. Now what matters is what is this woman trying to achieve? And this is the next step. And I think one thing is for sure, you love to connect, isn't it? Yes, I really do. And you can connect already with us on our landing page, the newafrica.info. And please do that because we are going to inform you about every step that we are doing. And we have a Facebook page that is facebook.com, the New Africa, and who likes to connect with me more than welcome. The facebook.com, the other Vatican. And you have to be quick because right now it's still one can only have 5,000 friends. I already have 4,900 and something. But I mostly know them in person or I had the luck to really meet somebody through Facebook who I have met 20 years ago in real life and we reconnected again. So thank you very much. Thank you, Beata. Thank you everyone in the audience for listening and helping us spread the word about the New Africa. And maybe it's time for some questions and maybe answers or questions that we need to answer in the future. So whoever needs something clarified, please speak up. We have one question. The team right now, right now we have 5 people but we already have 20 people in our network system in Africa. And in the end, my business plan that has been worked out by Deticum is warning me, I should not have a too big team in the beginning. But we will be based in Al-Zababa and in Berlin. But the core team will be based in Al-Zababa. And how big it's going to be, it depends on our success. And so you've got journalists and bloggers working for you now? Yeah. So that's what I really want to say. Whoever you know, who is interested in writing or aggregating for us or who knows stories, please connect with us. Either by, I can also give you my business card or better is on the newafrica.info and applicants more than welcome who are good writers and who have an expertise in Africa. So the plan would be that the team drives out and gets the stories together. And second question, what's your business model? Is it based on advertising or? It has, it is, I love the word multifaceted. I have different, different sorts of business models behind it. One is advertising, but it's not the most important. And more, I don't want to tell you because it's quite unique what we are doing. Okay. Thank you. But this is why you have to connect with our info page and then you get the information. Cool. Thanks. Yeah. So another question. So really I'm here the whole afternoon and Julian also we are where the global innovation hub is around there. We are going to be there and whoever wants to talk to us, please feel free to talk to us and please connect through the newafrica.info. Thank you very much for your interest.
 The new Africa, an upcoming platform for showing people who are entrepreneurs, enablers, starters  who have ideas presented by its founder and a person who is known as a people's person,  a people's writer, a people's enabler, Beata Wittigind and welcome.  And she has a talk first with Till who will talk about the new Africa and after that more  people will come to stage and you will listen to what's going on there.  Have fun.  Thank you very much.  Thank you very much.  So welcome also from my side.  I have a pleasure to guide you through the whole one hour and maybe before I give a little  bit sort of a structure because we're going to have quite a few people helping us and  displaying what the new Africa is.  A few welcoming words from Beata in the beginning right now.  Yes, hello, my name is Beata Wittigind.  I'm 62 years old.  I live here in Berlin and in Nardis Ababa and I am, you will not believe it, I am a startup  entrepreneur and my startup is called the New Africa and we will talk about it, what  it's about within the next hour.  But I'm extremely happy to be here at the Republika because you all are what we do and  what we need you for.  We want to communicate about Africa today and you are all communicators and we really  want to motivate and convince you to become part of the new Africa and how we can do this.  We can talk later, also individual talks and I'm happy to also see some friends from the  AFRI labs like Markus from others.  It's a little bit, I see somebody from Ghana, from Nigeria and I appreciate very much that  Republika has decided to put an emphasis and focus on Africa.  This is just great and that's why I'm extremely happy to be here.  Thank you.  Yeah, so basically we want to convince you all to become a member and participate in  the New Africa after this one hour and just to let you know what we're going to talk about,  we'll share a little bit of light on Beata and her career and her person because she  is the main initiator of the whole TNA and how she wants to engage and bring people together  here.  Basically, it's her new venture so it's really something that needs to grow.  It's a strong idea that needs to get bigger and bigger and it's this intimate talk today  that we want to share with you and hope to inspire everyone here who's in the rooms so  far.  Basically, the second part would be why and what is TNA.  So give you understanding what we believe is going to be strong with that platform and  then we will show some cases that we want to feature with TNA.  Then we have a team sitting here also in the audience which will one by one call to the  station also give short introduction in the cases here and after that we give a short  introduction about the business of TNA because obviously it's not necessarily only a spare  time occupation by Beata because it's meant to get something bigger here and the last  part of course is the Q&A session.  Everything is going to be from our side at least in English today but if you have questions  in German, no problem or we'll translate in any case.  The Q&A session is planned for afterwards but is there any misunderstanding or questions  in between please raise your hands and ask us that should be totally okay from our side.  So to get started here, I think I directly hand over to Beata with one important question  for her as a person.  So you being a reporter from your history and all your career, what is so special about  you and you being a reporter?  First of all my first profession was being a banker but I was a reporter for my heart  from the very beginning of that I'm thinking.  I was always a storyteller, I was always curious, I was asking people questions that  they could not believe that a three year old girl could ask these questions so I always  felt that I am a communicator but only decided when I was 30 to make a profession out of this.  So I was a banker before and I was working in an advertising agency but when I was 29  I was working at the Free University in Berlin and the professor whose secretary I was because  he was a fantastic social democrat politician.  He says you have to do something else with your life than sitting in my office and he  sent me on the street becoming a reporter so I started here in Berlin being a reporter  when I was 30 years old with the abans.  But perhaps I should introduce myself as the true African that I am in my heart and I say  this from deep of my heart because I have a very strong African story in myself also  as being a communicator and as a journalist.  My very very first TV broadcast I ever saw was in 1961 a fantastic TV reporter Peter von  Zahn and his series Reporter der Windrose berichten.  I have to ask your parents or your grandparents they might know this.  I was 10 years old and I was sitting there fascinated because he was doing an interview  with Mobutu in Zaire in the pre revolution Zaire and I saw the first pictures of Africa  and you will believe it or not.  But I was sitting there and I was amazed and I was fascinated.  Ten years later I was in an air hostess with Condor which is a Lufthansa brand and I had  a stopover in Mombasa and I found it so fascinating there that I took a false sick leave because  with this false sick leave I could stay another four weeks in Mombasa getting the next turn  so that's how I experienced everyday life.  I was sitting at the castle tell 10 hours a day.  I was going with a bicycle on the streets.  I didn't spend my time on the beach and that was a little continuation of my fascination  through a very strange profession.  And then I was 25 and still a banker and I was going with the German volunteer service  to Ethiopia being a logistics manager for a team of 75 volunteers.  I was living in Al-Fazabi but I had my own land rover.  I had my own pickup and I was driving because I was a logistics person.  I was driving through Ethiopia for two years within days of revolution and that's where  it really kicked me and hit me that somebody like me has a very, very certain emotional  aspect with connecting with Africa.  I was always with the families.  I was always in the streets and whenever I returned back to live in Berlin I felt like  a culture shock and since then I made a career.  I was editor-in-chief.  Please ask again your mothers.  I was first editor-in-chief of Elle which is a fashion magazine and of Elle Décoration  and Ambiente and then I became editor-in-chief in famous, famous Bunta magazine.  I was doing this.  I was a first editor-in-chief.  I was 40 years old.  First editor-in-chief of 300 people and 300 million responsibility and guess what happened?  I was 42 and I had a burnout.  At that time it wasn't called like this.  It was called differently.  And then I decided now it's over with a career.  I want to really concentrate on contents and then I was starting again to work with an  NGO in Ethiopia and develop the idea of becoming a communicator for the young African generation.  I think that's the perfect keyword for me again, Beata, because what I learned from  that basically being a journalist and having such a multiple faceted career, one point  that struck me when learning to know you is really connecting people is one of the passions  you have in being a reporter, getting the stories, transporting them, making them bigger  and helping some other audiences to understand these.  And the other part of that is really being in Africa and it's a mediated experience.  The first one you talked about, about watching German TV in the 60s.  The other one is really this breaking the rules, having a sick leave, a forced sick leave in  Mombada.  I think that's another strong trait of your personality and the other part is it's not  a lot of work.  I think many more in my life, I only want to tell you.  And the other part is being, how is it called in English, a development aid worker, I think  in that point of time it hasn't been an easiest job.  So it's really, for me seeing how we in the northern world or at least in Germany see  Africa in the media is quite maybe coined, I could call it through misconceptions.  So really a lot of poverty, of crisis, of wars, of catastrophes in the nature, etc.  So we have a quite clear picture.  But these misconceptions might be not the way you are looking forward to Africa and to  talk about it, isn't it?  So since 10 years I'm commuting between Berlin and Alizabeth and really commuting means sometimes  I go for three days to Alizabeth or I stay three days in Berlin.  Then I go for five weeks and I really fly back and forth.  I can only recommend with the Turkish Airlines 474 Euros back and forth.  It's less than you go to Mallorca these days.  And it's no jet lag and it's really, it's like Alizabeth is a fantastic, modern, diversified  city.  And what my, the first years I was mostly working for an NGO in the rural areas.  But already there I saw, I have to always say to me, stay in the today, but also there  I saw the first signs of future.  And I saw that these are not people who want to depend on age, that they need know-how,  that they need vocational training, that they need schools and education because there was  none.  And I saw how much talent is there that is really not getting any attention beyond the  circles of the villages or their towns or their own communities.  And there I already started to write books about these communities and then I really,  like five years ago I said we cannot do magazines only for an elite 20,000 people or even 100,000  people.  We have to communicate this new Africa on a larger scale.  So then I was thinking how do I do this?  And then that's when I decided to really have a deeper look in how urban can a young society  be even living in the rural areas.  How global thinking can somebody be who is living here and thinking Africa is just poor  children dying.  So I really tried with the topics that I choose to really connect these worlds but always  with the real aim to make people here understand that Africa is much, much more than what everybody  has in its head now.  And that's also how I met the guys from ICE, others in Al-Zababa, young people who did  barcams who really have an innovation hub.  And through them also I met young professionals.  Through them I met others in Nigeria, I met others in Ghana, I met others in South Africa.  And then I decided yes, I have to do it.  And as I think being 60 you can either decide okay I buy a new MS bag or you do something  meaningful and I decided to take the challenge and the chance to do something new and this  is what we are doing.  What I do understand from your point, if you wanted to show the reality that you experience  being in Africa and travelling forth and back and somehow as the name and the title tells  us it's about the new Africa, isn't it?  So my question would be logically what is the new Africa in your perspective?  What's the idea?  What's the purpose?  So first of all the new Africa as a brand is really a media brand.  It is a platform where we are collecting the most interesting stories of young people,  young professionals, young entrepreneurs, but not only from the business side or work  side but also how do we live?  How do they live?  And what music are they doing?  What literature do they have?  What films are they making?  So I really want to show on the new Africa website the way of living that it's not estranged  from what we are thinking when we think of connecting globally or when we think of connecting  with the next generation.  Did this answer your question or did I completely misunderstand it?  Basically the question is answered.  Maybe there are some points I would maybe share some light a little bit deeper.  What do you understand of being a media platform?  What's a media brand in your sense?  What's going to happen on that platform?  I think we talk a little bit later on that also but what is happening there we really  aggregate stories.  This is not about business plans, this is not about concepts and strategies like we  see for Africa does or like how we made it in Africa does.  We want, because I am a digital person but I believe in the human aspects of how people  experience their own life.  So we will tell the stories of the people behind the entrepreneurship, the people behind  the industry, the people behind the goals that they have.  So it's not a business platform, it is a people's platform but concentrating on the  new generation.  But it also has another aspect which is like of course we want to do workshops and conferences  both in Africa and here in Germany and as I am coming from the printing press and as  I love to do magazines and I love to do books we will have an annual yearbook that I promise  you everybody wants to have it because you always get an outlook on what is going to  happen in Africa in the year after and what we experienced in this year.  So it's three dimensional, it's a website, it's workshops, conferences but it's also  a print product.  Basically this is when looking at the slide connecting across the continents was one key  word for me and this idea having these contents you describe but bringing them to the northern  hemisphere to Europe wherever is what you mean behind that sentence here, connecting.  But also what I really have to say, the more I think about and the more I see what we are  doing it really is that I am sometimes, I sit on my desk here in Berlin with disbelief  of what people do not know about the modern Africa or of Africa today.  So I really have a message, I have a mission that really I want us everybody in the northern  hemisphere really to understand that this is a partner continent and this is not a continent  where we just give and where we please our pity or whatever.  And this is for me very, very important but also of course I want the northern hemisphere,  the people really to understand that this is a continent worth traveling under different  aspects than just going on safari or going to the beaches that you can really, there's  a fantastic continent to discover through the people that you meet there.  So I have a, if I might say so, I have a sort of mission, sounds perhaps a little bit stupid  but it sounds like a mission so perfect and I think the best way to give a little bit  more understanding to everyone here is to share some stories.  And I'd like to call Julian onto the stage as well to support in displaying what actually  is going to be the first contents you'll be seeing on the platform soon.  Hi, Julian.  Good afternoon everybody.  How are you feeling out there?  We all feel very African.  So Julian is living here in Berlin, his mother comes from Ethiopia and Julian is, has a master  in African studies and political science.  He's doing his PhD right now on African entrepreneurship and we work together on the New Africa.  He is the editor and he's helping me to put together the contents and to write the stories  and I'm very happy that we both join Berlin as our stand-out and also Alisabeba so it  makes life easier in understanding.  So we have selected five stories that will be typical parts of the stories that we are  going to tell from success stories from Africa and we have decided to select them from different  fields so that you can see that it's really, there are no boundaries of how we see success  and we will introduce you to some well-established young entrepreneurs to really young beginners.  We will also tell individual success stories and what the whole of the New Africa is about  is really we want people to be inspired of following in the footsteps of that yes, success  can be made today.  These are our kind of role models and I think Beata you will start with the first one as  she is a friend of you.  Yes, I really am very happy to know quite well, nearly be befriended with her Bethlehem  Telahun, she is an Ethiopian and I have to say we as 2013 is the year of 50 years African  Union and the African Union has been created in Alisabeba and also because I know Alisabeba  and Ethiopia best we have the first focus on Ethiopia then comes Rwanda then comes Angola  but we start with Ethiopia so that's why you find some more stories from Ethiopia than  from other countries.  So Bethlehem is 33 years old, she is a mother of three and she has created, she is a shoe  designer her company is called Soul Rebels and actually the Rebels from the last revolution  of Melissinavi they came they didn't have proper shoes they had the tires from cars  as souls and they were called the Souls Rebels and what she is doing is she is doing from  recycled material she is doing shoes, brands and I would not say that this is typically  my style of shoes but as she had a fantastic distribution idea she only was distributed  in the beginning through Amazon and she is now in Taiwan she is in Switzerland she is  coming to Germany but every cent that she earns abroad is going to be reinvested in  Ethiopia and she has built the factory of 300 people which she pays above average in  her family's neighbourhood so because she said you know I want the people that I know  also to be able to participate in my success and the company is completely sustainable  completely green echo that you wouldn't believe it and I can only suggest to you that you  go on the website it's called Soul Rebels foodwear.com and she to me is a fantastic  example also that it's not only that you are an entrepreneur you also have to sell not  only your products but also your story so I met her first at the World Economic Forum  in Davos then I met her at the World Economic Forum in Alizabeba in last May and she is  one of the global leaders and she is published in opera she is published in forums she is  published everywhere but with a good story and so people are starting to talk about  a young female entrepreneur with a brand that is really exceptional all over the place and  to me she is one of my role models also my personal role models.  Thank you so I'm going to introduce to you Randolph Oosu who is really a good example  for the young generation of aspiring entrepreneurs out of Africa he's based in Ghana and he's  a self-described technology and user and at just 22 years old he's still in university  but he already founded his own first company called Oasis Websoft and he wants to produce  software solution to real life African problems so he already created a web browser called  Anansi Web which is open source you can download that also from his page and this is really  the first African web browser he has also produced a Linux based software operating  system that's called Anansi OS and yeah he's also a good example for collaboration he has  worked together with other African developers in the launch of Africa app which is a pan-African  mobile application platform and all this has led Forbes Africa magazine to call him the  Mark Zuckerberg of Accra in 2012 November.  And I think he is around but he has he's around at the Republic but he has another interview  to do right now so might be he shares this later or we will talk to him outside.  I like to introduce you to somebody who's name is Khalid Duri.  Khalid Duri comes from a very from a family background of university presidents and of  scientists but they are also entrepreneurs in like the fourth generation in Africa and  he is 38 and he is he has he has had the idea to really build up a complete new industry  of indigenous bamboo.  Bamboo is in Africa and indigenous plant it's not from Asia but the business is not explored  at all for African bamboo so what he does he is building a company from stretch training  the bamboo farmers training the producers training the furniture builders the carpenters  connecting from the very beginning globally to have markets for the products and this  is a company that has been growing within the last three years to 150 employees and  to a turnover of three and a half million US dollars but they are not still in the real  exporting or mass exporting business and for me this is also he's also a very good example  of creating a company in a sustainable way from scratch although he's coming from traditional  entrepreneurship in Africa and his father who was a university president he said to him  I think my son this is a little bit too early what you're doing he said no I will prove  that it's the right time to do this and they are cooperating with international companies  so they have some money also to build it up in a sustainable very very good way it's not  a start up it is a new industry that they are going to establish and they are on a very  very good way and I was I happened to go within to the bamboo fields and that was something  really crazy first of all of course a lot of flies and mosquitoes but it's incredible  you see this little little Schleife oh you know little ribbons ribbon little ribbons you  see them like okay in 40 40 meters of height and then I asked yeah but who did this and  said we did it when this plant three years ago was only one meter high so you measure  with this really the growing of the plants and the indigenous bamboo from Africa is really  of the best quality that there is but right now the industry is not even furniture making  it's like a substitute material and and to see that in the fields and in the bamboo woods  or forests it was really amazing how people all of a sudden get an idea of how precious  is what they are growing since many generations as a substitute for something on the market  okay yes so the next example comes from an industry which has a long history in Africa  and all around the world that's agriculture and here especially dairy farming I'm going  to introduce Bagore Batili he's a startup entrepreneur who was the vision of empowering  dairy farmers in Senegal and he's the founder of a company called La Latre du Berger and  when he returned he got his PhD in Belgium as a veterinary and he returned to his native  country Senegal in 2004 and he was surprised to find out that more than 90% of the milk  that is sold in Senegal is imported in powder form so he thought this is strange this is  a paradox because Senegal is a country where there are more than four million pastoralists  who are capable of producing the milk for the local market themselves so he ventured  to start his business with some family members and in 2006 he launched La Latre du Berger  and his goal was to develop the dairy market and to promote the marketing for the pastoralist  so he created a business model where he incorporated the local Fulani pastoralist and to create  an efficient network where the milk is collected from the farmers and then brought to the markets  in the urban centers so he also supports these pastoralists with veterinary services and  training to increase also the efficiency of the cattle so until today he achieved, yeah  they have more than 900 farmers that work with them and they produce 2500 liters of  milk every day and they have about 4000 satisfied customers each day.  And you should also mention that this is really a family business but yet organized as a startup  so it's really a mixture of modern management methods plus incorporating the traditional  family enterprises that they have there in the rural areas and now I really have the  pleasure to introduce to you one of the protagonists and please forgive me that he's not black  he's from Switzerland, he's a Stefan Jäger, is a film director and film producer who and  that's why he's here today and he has every reason to be here today he is one of those  guys who is really doing a fantastic partnering up with local talents and with a real co-production  so this guy comes from Zurich he has done one film that you might know birthday very  nice film and he has been living in Germany and in Italy and is now living in Switzerland  and he has done a film Horizon Beautiful he only went there with four people from Europe  and the rest is an Ethiopian team how did the idea come up and how did you achieve to put  together this fantastic team so hi everybody this is very special to be here as the minority  because as Beat is said the big part in this production were people from Ethiopia and this  actually almost didn't happen because you know those emails from Gaddafi's nephew to  transfer like 10,000 and then he will give you his five millions so I got this kind of  email and I wanted to delete it until I've seen that there was the Swiss Embassy the  good institute on the CC and I thought oh maybe I should read it and they asked me to  go there to Addis Ababa like two years ago to teach at the Blue Nile Film and Television  Academy this is a private school there is only one film school in Ethiopia and it's  based on the great work of director of photography who studied in the Netherlands and who went  back to his home and founded the school and so I went there I never been to Africa before  north Ethiopia which is also part of and it was a great experience teaching those students  totally motivated and I thought after two weeks that's not enough you know how can we  get what they know because I don't know anything about daily life in Ethiopia I don't know anything  about their needs about their wants and I can tell them about the western way of making  movies but that's not it they have a great tradition in telling stories they have great  stories and so I came up with the idea to ask the director of the school who as I've  told is a director of photography if he would like make the camera I could direct and we  would open the set and we would give them all the positions we need to come up with  a with a movie and he said yeah from having the idea from the very idea yeah from the  very beginning I said let's get them involved so and then I went back to Europe and I got  those little crew members like five four five people also a very good writer who helped me  he came back with me to Ethiopia like three months later and we said now let's start let's  start with story and they came up with an amazing idea of a street kid a little at Masu  who wants to become a football player like all the street kids and like all the kids anyway  in Africa but he's smart enough to know that he has to find a new way of getting a chance  so he learns that famous football boss we don't talk about FIFA but it's obvious there's  this asshole coming from FIFA to Africa and he says hey I could get in touch with him and  show him how good I am but then he doesn't get in touch because it's not as easy as he  thought first but then he has the idea maybe he could stage a kidnapping and if he frees  the football boss then he will get his chance and maybe he takes him to Europe and makes  him a football player so that moment we should have a little glance into this film who is  doing you do it just like again so these are two and a half minutes from from the boy and  from the film and I hope you are as amazing as I was when I saw this guy and I saw the  film should be sound so this little boy didn't talk any word of English when I've met him  at the Mercato and at his ababa and yet three months to learn so now he's talking it's  not connected but he talks really good English so  then I tell the guard I see Mr. Franz Mr. Franz he can make us Mr. Franz he can make  us Mr. Franz he can make us okay I'm not German I'm Swiss so no Nazi get it  he gets dirty I sell you to a slave trader  of  So obviously this was the Schweizer Tat or Commissar who is the main white part, but how  did you find the guy, the young guy?  How did you cast him?  I was asking the students, how would you do it?  They said, let's go to the schools, let's go to the orphan homes, let's go to the Mercato  and I said, what's the Mercato?  And so we went to the Mercato, which is an amazing place.  Whoever goes to Addis Ababa should go first to the Mercato.  It's like the biggest open market in Africa still, but the government is like working  that, they want to clean it up.  So go there unless you don't go there.  And the first kid I've seen on my tour through Addis Ababa was Hanok, standing there in the  Mercato working like 10 hours a day with his, maybe his 12 years, we don't really know.  His mother died on TB and his father doesn't talk with him because he has another religion.  So I asked my assistant Solomon, Solomon, just talk to this little kid, he's mesmerizing.  I want him to do something for us.  And what we did is like, we took him in front of a camera and he sang a song, that was it.  I knew this is my guy.  So no cell phone, no people responsible for him, but I said, yeah, yeah, we can do it.  And all the Ethiopian students say, you're crazy, this is never going to work.  He's a street kid, he has to earn something for living.  I said, okay, we can maybe handle, we can deal.  And he did it.  It was amazing, you know, because like three weeks later we had a casting with 60 kids  from schools, from orphan homes.  And we had a so-called recall and I said, my plane is leaving at seven and if he shows  up at six, then I will tell him that he's the guy.  And we had two other kids, also great actors.  And we said, if you don't come on time, then it won't work.  So what happened is like six o'clock he wasn't there, six thirty he wasn't there and everybody  told me, see, we've told you it wouldn't work.  So and at six forty, six fifty-five he came in running because he ran from the Mercato  to the Bolle, which is an amazing distance and he did it because he couldn't afford the  bus, you know.  And so I said, okay, guy, this is your job, the next three months you're going to learn  English, you want to have six teachers, all Ethiopian students, we had an English teacher  and casting coach, we had a coach for acting, we had a football.  So what is he doing today?  What is Hennok doing today?  He's working.  What effect did it have?  It was amazing because in the middle of shooting we said, now Hennok, we have a surprise, you  can join Salaam Willich.  Salaam Willich is a Swiss foundation who helps kids from the street.  Normally only like three years old kids, but they said, okay, we make an exception and  but then it took another two months, but now he's staying with them, he's going back to  school and he wants to become a singer.  So the final song in the movie, he sings himself and this is really the great achievement  of what we did.  Thank you very much and we will all inform you when the film is coming also to the theaters  here.  And for me, it was a good example of that you really from scratch do something together  and I've seen the whole movie and it's a very, very touching movie.  Thank you very much, Stefan, to come from Zurich.  You're welcome, thanks.  It's also on Facebook.  Facebook Horizon Beautiful.  Thanks a lot.  Julian, let's just briefly explain how we are going to get the contents that we need,  the stories that we need so that the new Africa is really going to be the unique platform,  the only platform you have to click on when you want to know everything about Africa today.  How are we going to do it?  Our content model is aggregation model.  So basically what we do is screen blocks, about 30 blocks in the beginning, who are  based in Africa, in Nairobi, Lagos, Accra.  So we screen these blocks from bloggers like Africa Innovator, how we made it in Africa,  TechLoy.  And then we curate the content and we give you the best stuff, the most important stories  so that you have one place where you have to go to find out all the interesting news  stories, success stories of what's going on in Africa.  And for us it was very important to get bloggers and media, online media from African countries  involved.  So that's why we want to cooperate with bloggers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa.  And so also what I like to mention, although I'm a white German, we will be a company that  is going to be based in Africa.  Most of our team will be Africans and I am always saying I'm the initiator.  And at the very moment when all this is really running and when it's on healthy feet, then  this should be really a platform and a media from Africa for Africans.  But as I had the idea and as I'm really the person who likes to drive things forward,  so I'm the one who initiated, but it is made for young people in Africa.  Thank you Julian and you have to go back to your computer to create stories, to aggregate  stories.  But also what we really want in the next step is really we are connected with very good  writers.  So the next step is also that we will have original stories, but we start with the aggregation  and we also found out in our work that there are fantastic stories around, but nobody really  collects them.  You know, there is like on every website you find those stories, but you don't know  the website.  And we are really, our task is now to collect it from everywhere onto our website, of course  with all rights and with all mentioning and everything proper incorporation and contracts  and everything.  And how I said in the beginning, this is not a spare time occupation, I guess.  So basically how do you set up TNA, the new Africa?  What is your business behind it?  How do you plan to run it?  So first I just want to be very honest.  I only wanted to do a magazine, as I told you before.  But then I really, as I am a Facebook addict, I'm an internet addict and I really, I know  how important it is, how fast we can connect through the internet and through the social  media.  I have decided no, this has to be online first, especially it has in Africa to be mobile first.  And so last year I started in planning and by the end of the year I had the privilege  of being one of the 150 startups that were selected by Hoopraum, an accelerator program  set up by Deutsche Telekom.  And I was there with 15 young startup companies, one of those and I learned incredibly, I learned  a lot about different working methods.  So I come from a big hierarchy of big enterprises and I had a very, I had a big TV production  company as well.  And so I have changed my workflow and my working attitude completely through this accelerator  program.  And I was very happy to find through the accelerator program two partners, one partner, Carmen,  can I just ask you on stage and Ulrich, just come up here.  This is through Telekom.  I met Carmen.  Carmen is from Telekom's, come here, from Telekom's consultancy firm, DTekon, working  internationally and Ulrich, who before has only been a friend of mine.  All of a sudden became my mentor because I found out he's from TBWA, responsible for  new business.  And we met and we then said, why don't we do this together?  So tell me what did we do so far together and how did the idea come up in your personal  minds to connect with the New Africa?  Yes, thank you, Beata.  DTekon has a consultants network.  These are 200 consultants who will shape the future of this consultant network, middle  consults network.  And at the end of the last year, I was looking for a pro bono project to support a startup  or an NGO.  And a former DTekon consultant asked me, why don't you support Beata Vedekind with the  New Africa?  So this was a great idea and we started to build up this pro bono project with seven  perfect consultants.  And the first thing I was looking for, do they have expertise in Africa?  And I looked at their map and they are working in 27 African countries for many, many years.  And so I thought, oh, wow, these are the right partners.  So actually, what did you do so far for us?  I could also tell you, but you can please tell it.  Yeah, we did a lot for you.  We started the market analyzers to get an overview about the countries that African  countries and we arranged it in a short list.  We also did a competitive analyzers to get an overview about the whole competitors for  years in the Africa platform.  And we also did a short list with different criterias, with different categories and with  some suggestions for you.  We also started to create a business plan based on the Osterweider model.  And last but not least, you also get a business case, but at the moment it's a business secret.  And I just have to tell you, I alone, I am a business person.  But I have not been a business person specialized in online communication.  So I was really very happy to partner with LATICOM.  And with my friend Ulrich Pröschl from TBWA.  Ulrich, what was your approach towards the new Africa?  It's very simple.  Okay.  As Piatte just said before, we met through Facebook, but we've been knowing each other  for a couple of years.  At least we know the names.  And when I saw that she was so engaged with Africa, I thought that's a perfect match for  us to dive back into the startup scene and really pro bono help one of those cool promising  startups to do something.  Because our roots, and some of you may know TBWA as being one of the top 10 global advertising  networks, but we have an extremely strong root with Africa.  We like to support new things that come out of the market.  We have offices in 16 countries and all this stuff.  And I think the most important things are that our global creative director is African.  But not only this, he supported Nelson Mandela with his first election campaign.  We are fighting with a lot of projects in the southern part of Africa for the freedom  of speech, especially trying to fight the Mugabe regime.  So there are really strong connections that we have down there.  And we love the people.  And we believe there are a lot of great, great initiatives that happen in Africa that need  to have a platform.  And so Beata came along and we were happy to support her with developing the brand and  trying to build with her the technological infrastructure, the website that will be coming  very soon.  And yeah, this is what we are trying to do.  So thank you very much for having us on the team.  Thank you very much, Carmen.  Thank you very much Ulrich.  And once again, these are both pro bono supporters.  And you dare to think that I have the money to pay them.  You know, it's they really do it in their spare time.  And we are working very closely and very well together.  Thank you very much to BWA and DTECON.  Thank you.  What is left to me is just asking you, Beata, what's coming next?  Yeah, the next part is quite an important and absolutely crucial one.  I'm finishing the financial rounds in June.  We are going better in the summer and we are going to have our first conference in November  in Abizah Beba.  And the first yearbook, of course, is going to come out in December.  So 2013 is really the coming out of the New Africa.  And it's really exciting to really do all these steps, step by step, like a startup.  And I'm very much supported by people who know me from my former life.  And I have, what's this, airguides?  I have the ambition, you know, although I'm a very experienced professional, I want to  be a startup and I'm really following what startups do.  And so the next one is I'm pitching in front of investors.  And you know, there's, if I have been bunte Chef Redector or not, that doesn't matter.  Now what matters is what is this woman trying to achieve?  And this is the next step.  And I think one thing is for sure, you love to connect, isn't it?  Yes, I really do.  And you can connect already with us on our landing page, the newafrica.info.  And please do that because we are going to inform you about every step that we are doing.  And we have a Facebook page that is facebook.com, the New Africa, and who likes to connect  with me more than welcome.  The facebook.com, the other Vatican.  And you have to be quick because right now it's still one can only have 5,000 friends.  I already have 4,900 and something.  But I mostly know them in person or I had the luck to really meet somebody through Facebook  who I have met 20 years ago in real life and we reconnected again.  So thank you very much.  Thank you, Beata.  Thank you everyone in the audience for listening and helping us spread the word about the New  Africa.  And maybe it's time for some questions and maybe answers or questions that we need to  answer in the future.  So whoever needs something clarified, please speak up.  We have one question.  The team right now, right now we have 5 people but we already have 20 people in our network  system in Africa.  And in the end, my business plan that has been worked out by Deticum is warning me, I  should not have a too big team in the beginning.  But we will be based in Al-Zababa and in Berlin.  But the core team will be based in Al-Zababa.  And how big it's going to be, it depends on our success.  And so you've got journalists and bloggers working for you now?  Yeah.  So that's what I really want to say.  Whoever you know, who is interested in writing or aggregating for us or who knows stories,  please connect with us.  Either by, I can also give you my business card or better is on the newafrica.info and  applicants more than welcome who are good writers and who have an expertise in Africa.  So the plan would be that the team drives out and gets the stories together.  And second question, what's your business model?  Is it based on advertising or?  It has, it is, I love the word multifaceted.  I have different, different sorts of business models behind it.  One is advertising, but it's not the most important.  And more, I don't want to tell you because it's quite unique what we are doing.  Okay.  Thank you.  But this is why you have to connect with our info page and then you get the information.  Cool.  Thanks.  Yeah.  So another question.  So really I'm here the whole afternoon and Julian also we are where the global innovation  hub is around there.  We are going to be there and whoever wants to talk to us, please feel free to talk to  us and please connect through the newafrica.info.  Thank you very much for your interest.
re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_0_1835.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_1836_3359.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_3360_3419.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_3420_3467.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_3468_4727.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_4728_6119.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_6120_6215.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_6216_14399.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_14400_22115.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_22116_22643.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_22644_24503.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_24504_24719.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_24720_26219.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_26220_31163.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_31164_39287.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_39288_42011.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_42012_43307.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_43308_43427.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_43428_46511.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_46512_48251.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_48252_48395.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_48396_52751.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_52752_54071.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_54072_56303.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_56304_56459.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_56460_57407.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_57408_61943.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_61944_62087.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_62088_62747.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_62748_62795.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_62796_62963.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_62964_63047.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_63048_64031.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_64032_64115.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_64116_64715.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_64716_64763.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_64764_64883.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_64884_64991.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_64992_65735.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_65736_66479.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_66480_66779.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_66780_67019.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_67020_69779.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_69780_70295.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_70296_70547.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_70548_72767.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_72768_73247.png re_publica_2013__THE_NEW__AFRICA_NPJRK8UUFBg_73248_77197.png