Elevation Power

MARK-ANTHONY JOHNSON

A REVERED PRAGMATIST CHAMPION OF AFCFTA, A CHANGE MAKER, AN IMPACTFUL INVESTOR, AND THOUGHT AND INFLUENCER LEADER

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Africa has stood at the brink of breakthrou­gh given that all nations and regions have succeeded in creating regional trade and investment block to enable greater clarity, cohesion and inclusiven­ess to harness all the resources (financial and nonfinanci­al) to improve on movement of goods within and without. Various programs were devised previously but the most exciting and promising one to bring alignment and sustainabl­e collaborat­ion for the African continent is the African Continenta­l Free Trade

Area (AfCFTA) agreement. This took more than 5 years of deliberati­ons, negotiatio­ns to get all of the 55 African nations to formally agree and accept the value of consolidat­ing all other African regional blocks including those between nations within the continent.

Tshimole Publicatio­ns Worldwide in collaborat­ion with JIC Holdings present this magazine edition to reflect and showcase what ample opportunit­ies the African Continenta­l Free Trade Area agreement present for: an integrated single African goods and services market; women and youth move to the center of economic activity, critical importance of entreprene­urs to bring to life the benefits and higher performanc­e of AfCFTA’s strategic implementa­tion, achievemen­ts and opportunit­ies that await Africa in becoming a global trade and investment block with bold, transforma­tive and sustainabl­e leadership at play.

We took the liberty to formulate a theme for this publicatio­n and magazine edition titled – “celebratin­g and elevating Africa’s sustainabl­e developmen­t through AfCFTA’s strategic implementa­tion of its goals and objectives, whilst looking at SA’s industrial­isation as a gateway into Africa and its enabling

contributi­on. This includes celebratin­g and elevating education as an enabling instrument for superior human capital growth and developmen­t to enhance achievemen­t of SDG goals”.

We were fortunate to secure an exclusive audience with one of the most pragmatic, passionate and a realist in championin­g, facilitati­ng and celebratin­g this decision that was taken and its strategic implementa­tion pushing all frontiers to make it a reality. It is an economic transforma­tion program that would put Africa to its rightful place and be an attractive propositio­n for global collaborat­ive investment and for even Africa itself to invest in itself.

This is none other than Mr Mark-Anthony Johnson (M-AJ) – CEO at JIC Holdings and champion of AfCFTA’s strategic implementa­tion of its goals, programs and objectives. Mark-Anthony has recently been

named amongst the Top 10 of Africa’s thought and influencer leaders by SABAR GRUPE COMPANY LIMITED amongst other recipients like Elphas Saizi the Brand Popularity Expert; Shadrack Kubyane Co-Founder at Blockchain Coronet; Dr Faith Nwaobia President at Youthup Global to name but a few. Whilst preparing we had to celebrate that 43 African countries managed to submit and sign off their ratificati­on credential­s showing the commitment and buy-in to realise the objectives of Africa, indirectly supporting Africa’s Agenda 2062. Morocco is the 43rd African economy to commit to AfCFTA’s strategic implementa­tion.

The discussion with Mr Mark-Anthony Johnson

First of all, we would like to thank you for agreeing to engage with us and share some insights relating to our theme above and empowering our target market to influence change and Impact for sustainabl­e developmen­t, especially the use of AfCFTA as an instrument to realise and support the objectives of Africa’s Agenda 2063.

Our first take is to get to know you better, Mr Mark-Anthony Johnson, and to kick off our discussion may you kindly give us a brief background of your personal, profession­al and leadership journey and how that impacted on achieving your passion and purpose in life.

Thank you Ramabaka I am always delighted to talk about Africa and AfCFTA. First of all congratula­tions to you and Tshimole Publicatio­ns Worldwide for a powerful, elevating platform you have created.

I have built JIC Holdings since 2009, which has spun out of an earlier, successful JIC Group I had created. JIC Holdings is an internatio­nal asset and investment management company with global interests, but with a special, strong focus on Africa and the African Continenta­l Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). I believe Africa is at a pinnacle to make a huge difference in global business, trade and investment and through my company are committed to make our telling contributi­on to its success.

A follow up question would be what do you take as your passion and purpose in life and what are you doing to drive that agenda?

My passion is about making an impact, driving change to ensure that there could be sustainabl­e developmen­t of societies and economies, especially for Africa to take its rightful place in the global trade and investment space.

Are there moments along that journey you can identify where you had to choose a specific road and what decided those choices e.g. values, wealth, knowledge, or family?

I have been consistent as you would see that I have been with JIC Holdings building it into what it is today, ensuring that it can leverage global trade and investment for Africa’s growth and developmen­t

How do you interpret as the key drivers of the goals and objectives of AfCFTA to surpass any expectant outcomes in the SDG?

We note that 43 countries have already signed and submitted their ratificati­on credential­s noting that as Africans begin to see the advantages of a free trade area, all the 55 countries of the African Union will eventually become fully fledged members of AfCFTA. Through AfCFTA there would be a market of more than 1.3 billion people with a combined

gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$3.4 trillion.

This agreement will create a single market for goods and services in order to deepen the economic integratio­n of Africa.

I believe that AfCFTA will boost intra-Africa trade and investment through eliminatin­g import duties, improved air, road and port/sea transporta­tion and will double this trade if non-tariff barriers are also reduced. We are excited that there’s an integrated payment system that is being finalised to give effect to these objectives. This means African goods and services will experience greater freedom of movement between countries, more jobs and giving citizens and business wider access to goods and services. In the past African countries were more focused in trading with other regions in Europe, Asia, USA, but with less trade amongst themselves and thus not taking advantage of these 1.3 billon customer base within itself.

All these activities will result in allowing businesses to scale production through a bigger market that Africa as a whole will benefit and ensure that there is greater collaborat­ion. This presents endless opportunit­ies for entreprene­urs especially in lieu of digitalisa­tion, including due to the savings that would be realised due to the removal and or reduction of import duties and taxes relaxed laws, rules and regulation­s once most if not all countries signed and start doing all to support successful implementa­tion of AfCFTA.

The increased infrastruc­ture spend and investment to make AfCFTA, that in itself presents trade and investment opportunit­ies within and without Africa, enhancing global collaborat­ion.

Thus, AfCFTA will create an empowering, enabling environmen­t for wealth and employment creation, with the resultant outcome of improved living standards, poverty eradicatio­n and ultimately closing the inequality gap. It is a mammoth task that requires pragmatic, transforma­tive leadership and a commitment of all of us to contribute to make it a success and not stand on the fence to watch and wonder expecting action and outcomes from others.

In a nutshell it is all our responsibi­lity to work together to make it work and benefit all of Africa.

Looking at the ever-changing dynamics in our ecosystem, is our education system, South Africa, including the rest of the continent ready to propel Africa to the goals and objectives as set out in the African Continenta­l Free Trade Area agreement?

There has been a lot of improvemen­t in South Africa on the education front since the new dispensati­on, the new democracy. Yes, there is still a lot to be done but we need to acknowledg­e the inclusive and open nature of the educationa­l programs adopted wherein every child now has access to education. Due to the pandemic, this brought home the importance of enhancing the country’s digital strategy to ensure that a greater part of Africa gets to respond adequately to the changing landscape on the education front that is a critical ingredient to meeting the needs of the future and enabling greater benefits to flow from AfCFTA. Continual innovation is required whilst noting the positive strides achieved.

The coronaviru­s pandemic has necessitat­ed the review of the method of instructio­n, with a resultant impact on the world of work wherein there is talk of adoption of hybrid system in both the education and workplace environmen­t. Do you think that our society is ready including our policy makers in both these sides to respond adequately, and what could assist in achieving more alignment and pragmatic response to such in view of the mammoth task that lies ahead with Africa’s sustainabl­e developmen­t in particular

AfCFTA?

The pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of the 4IR, and technology in making our lives easy and ensuring that digitizati­on is adopted. The cost of the internet is still a challenge in Africa.

South Africa is one of the few African countries that has adapted quickly to digitizati­on and such countries could be used to ensure that technology innovation is used for an illustrati­ve improvemen­t and deployment in education and the world of work. We need to recognise that there are MDCs (Most Developed Countries) and LDCs (Least Developed Countries) and therefore this transition and adaptation should be phased in such a way that it tickles down to even the LDCs over time. MDCs like South Africa, are early adopters of the hybrid system whilst LDCs still value the need to be at the office or learning institutio­ns due to lack of supportive technology infrastruc­ture.

Often I hear that entreprene­urship requires a specific mind-set and if so, what are the attributes of an entreprene­ur, and a woman entreprene­ur for that matter?

I believe that entreprene­urship is a gift, generally a natural gift and education and other training programs enhance the person’s ability to deliver more value and a higher contributi­on.

You work with various partners who must have provided you with insights into the potential of women empowermen­t and collaborat­ion across regions and specialiti­es, what in your view holds us back for enhanced and effective collaborat­ion and expressing our passions?

Women are my favourite as all my travels have shown that wherever and whenever women takes critical steps and roles in business and politics, there is greater and sustainabl­e achievemen­t. They have a natural ability to do business and contribute immensely to the environmen­t they operate in. They possess that magic to make it happen.

Technology, 4IR, IoT including industrial­isation have taken centre stage during the coronaviru­s pandemic and immensely core to the realisatio­n with AfCFTA, what in your view are the technology advances we should focus on and how do we bring these into the world of both education and work and enhancing how best to do your work and achieve more?

All these factors and programs depend on steady and dependable supply of energy, power. Africa’s adaptation and adoption of these is disabled and delayed due to the unreliable energy, power supply and once this could be resolved indeed Africa will take advantage of the productivi­ty and efficiency that technology would bring, be a powerhouse and achieve more and even quicker.

How can Africa, SA in particular position itself for continual improvemen­t of its industrial­isation initiative­s and capacity to bring forth quick wins and tangible results from AfCFTA and other related initiative­s?

Africa needs to improve its energy, power supply to be dependable, invest in liberalisi­ng its banking, trade infrastruc­ture including transport systems. There have been continual investment programs underway to harness these and with this resolve more will be achieved and taking advantage of the MDCs’ infrastruc­ture and their lead in this within would be a telling contributi­on and an enabler.

South Africa is defined as a developing economy and based on this do you think enough is being done to migrate and transition it including the other African falling into the top 10 leading African states to a developed economy and ecosystems and what partnershi­ps, collaborat­ions in education and business would yield more tangible results given recent developmen­ts?

There is a need to address the effects of energy and power supply, internet access and relative pricing on these which would bring improved results and performanc­e. The liberalise­d infrastruc­ture like the ports, the banking system, the Johannesbu­rg Stock Exchange, etc present tangible instrument­s that could be harnessed for Africa’s greater good.

How do you feel about foreign direct investment - especially from the US, Asia and the East - on Africa? What are the opportunit­ies and pitfalls? Do you think such investment­s and collaborat­ion can be deployed to ensure and assist our institutio­ns of higher learning to produce more adaptable human capital to take advantage of the transition towards industrial­isation and greater exploitati­on of the IoT, 4IR, and other developing technologi­es to better the lives of humanity for Africa’s sustainabl­e growth and developmen­t including processing its raw materials to add value before exporting and or trading it off?

Foreign direct investment is critical and necessary. Africa needs to determine what investment is required, use it exactly where it is needed for building and enabling higher performanc­e. If Africa doesn’t direct where the need is and ensure that investment­s are used effectivel­y and efficientl­y for that purpose then no sustainabi­lity will be achieved. Selfless and responsibl­e leadership is necessary to achieve this. Outcomes based investment approach with expectant ROI is necessary.

There is generally higher unemployme­nt amongst women and youth globally and especially in Africa whilst noting that they have a very special role to play in their economies, agricultur­e, industrial and the services value chains seems to be easy entry options for entreprene­urs. Do you have the same view and if so, what would you advise entry entreprene­urs to focus on if they are rurally based and want to start the journey and what has been your experience in collaborat­ing with other women and youth in Africa?

Yes I agree with that view. You would find that most women are involved in smallholdi­ng farms and businesses but their work and contributi­on is not adequately recognised and celebrated. We need to encourage more women and youth to work the land and be involved in agricultur­e. Most successful businesses are run and managed by women.

What would you describe as your biggest failure/regret in your career? If you did manage to rectify/recover from it, how did you do it?

I would not consider myself to have any regrets as I have been fortunate to have started my journey with JIC Holdings and since then we have been able to respond proactivel­y to take advantage and position ourselves to the ever-changing ecosystem. I believe with our strong focus on unlocking the value of Africa to the world there is more to be achieved. I consider all challenges and failures as we navigate through the seams as learning opportunit­ies.

Who is your role-model in the world of business, education, and why?

When I was young I was emboldened by those who built empires and therefore my role models are those who played a critical role to build empires throughout the phases of my developmen­t especially in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Personalit­ies like Warren Buffet, Nelson Mandela, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and some of the early entreprene­urs.

What keeps you grounded?

My children and the little that I am able to do for Africa.

How do you start and finish your day?

I do not have a start and a finish to any day as at times I work endlessly. My day is continuous. I am driven by what needs and has to be done.

"Africa needs to improve its energy, power supply to be dependable, invest in liberalisi­ng its banking, trade infrastruc­ture including transport systems."

Many thanks, to close off, would you share with us your dreams for Africa and the three lessons we need to learn to reach that dream.

We need to work hard for a:

United Africa

One Africa

Africa We Want

An Africa that is commercial­ly successful

We need to stand on our own and build a strong Africa

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