Every Shade of Black

Warning: This one is longer than usual, I’m sorry!

I believe if you want something say it out loud, put it out there, and the stars will align to get you there.

When I first penned the following words in my bio “I am a true believer of my continent Africa, of our talent and the need to learn how to build on our human capital, marketing ourselves inorder to transform our fortune on the global stage”, I didn’t realise how much I was articulating how proud I am to be an African, how much I appreciate our beauty, talent, potential and perennial sense of being perched at the edge of great destiny.

I also love our sense of audacity, capacity for risk, our resilience, entrepreneurship, our food, our music (my ‘boys’ Sauti Sol, Diamond Platnumz, Burna Boy, Master KG to name a few) and of course fashion. On the last point that is Fashion, oh my goodness, why else would the visual on this blog be of an amazing African designer - Melia by Jade, who tempted me with her designs in my hotel room in Lagos, no less!

I have spent the better part of more than two and half decades working in this market. And I love it.

But as with true love, you have to love completely, worts and all, taking in every shade of character.

I started a little over a month ago travelling to all the markets where the business I run has an office in Africa. Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, transits through Ethiopia and with Uganda and Rwanda to come.

The inspiration for this blog came on my way back from Lagos. I had missed that city, it had been 4 years since I had been there but every time it’s like the first time. I guess that’s why there may have been a suggestion in my demeanour that made every Nigerian ask me if it was my first time in Lagos!

There are many reasons I love that city and its people. Some and not limited to all is the vibrancy, the extremities, the grandness, the fashion (!) but most of all, the absolute self assurance of the people irrespective of their station in life!

There are many reflections from being in Lagos. The less positive being Murtala Muhammed International airport, the only airport that’s more problematic than my pet peeve, our very own Nairobi JKIA. The first time I travelled to Lagos was 22 years ago, with a colleague. She was very seasoned and repeatedly told me that I had to travel with only hand luggage however long the stay. I was under no circumstances to check in my bag. That first trip on arrival, I very quickly understood her absolute wisdom. That advise I carry to today.

This last trip, our flight landed at 2.00am after a seriously long delay on departure. It had been a very long week so I was already a little frayed. Armed with an e-visa, I confidently walked to the counter, one of the first there so really excited at thought I would be out in a jiff. At the first counter, the officer reviewed the papers gave them back to me and told me to go to the adjacent counter. Alas, the adjacent counter had already started to build a queue and there were chaps bringing the Immigration Officer passports on the side to stamp with no visible owners. Nonetheless I dug deep and stayed patient. My turn came, the usual processes and then the Officer says “You don’t have a visa!”

Huh?

The first chap reviewed the documents including the printed out document emailed to me with visa approved! What was he reviewing? Anyway he pointed to a room somewhere behind me from whence I came, told me to go to that “Lounge” for the processing. Now Lounge is a word we Africans abuse with reckless abandon. Think of all the bars, off-licences and wannabe discos in Kenya called “ Lounge” and you catch my drift.

So I resignedly retraced my steps back to the lounge to have my E-Visa validated. I will cut the story short here by simply saying I was there for another 45 minutes. In that time a row of 5 Officials in an assembly line format, all with a big computer screen in front but all using a ragged biro, reviewed the documents with their bionic eyes (my only explanation as to what they were doing) until the second last guy meticulously wrote all the details on a big ledger before passing the passport to the only guy who actually used the computer, stabbing at the keyboard at a painfully slow pace until he finally finished, and called out my name and handed back the passport.

One would think I could now sprint out. Nooo. Back to the original guys to review again and finally stamp. So with a sigh of relief I walked out, very glad I travelled light, i.e. with hand luggage, and confidently walked to the green channel of customs. I didn’t get far before hearing a “Ma we need to check your bagoh”. After some questions, realising there was nothing remotely interesting in the bagoh the Officer settled on telling me matter of factedly and with a big grin on his face “You can go but breakfast is on you”. After a few puzzled “Sorry? I don’t understand” from me, he relented and just told me to go! Time of arrival 2.00am. Time of departure from airport 3.30am. Did I say despite my fatigue, I was thoroughly entertained by the drama and yelling that always ensues somewhere? Talk of always fighting for your right!

The rest of the trip was great. Met amazing team members there and of course attended the quintessential Nigerian dinner party at a home in the one and only Banana Island. For context, a family member of the richest man in Africa lives in this enclave. Indeed I realised grandness lives right here in Africa as this very wealthy individual has a helipad on the roof and another in the garden. He goes to work and comes home for lunch every day in his chopper. His father too comes to visit in a chopper. So when he arrives, the son flies up, circles with his chopper to allow the fathers to land in the preferential parking on the roof, and then he parks his chopper on the less preferential ground level parking! Mind boggling.

What are the other shades of this beautiful continent. Lusaka with its wonderful country feel; South Africa with its sophisticated kwaito vibe: Tanzania with its “pendo lako” groove and Accra with its “eh heh” charm, I could speak to each, but this will make this an even longer blog and I will lose you, if I haven’t already.

Having said that, as airports are my pet peeve given the amount of time I have spent in them, I will briefly speak to my exit from Kotoka International Airport, Accra. Of the many things I may have been profiled as, drug trafficker has not been one of them. So I was a little taken aback on arrival at this airport, dressed in my travel comfort clothes i.e. Nike sneakers, leggings and a t-shirt and armed with only a laptop back and carry on suitcase, I was stopped on exit by a gentlemen who identified himself as being from anti narcotics. He asked for my passport, asked what was in my bag (nothing interesting fortunately!) asked what I was coming to do and where etc etc. All of which I provided courtesy of a lovely folder I carry with all the information. He still proceeded to thumb his way slowly through the pages of my passport with exclamations when he saw stamps of interest “Ah you were in Nigeria” to which I would reply patiently yes. And “Oh you were in Barbados” and I again say uh-huh. And so it went on. All this was with an amiable smile on his face. I decided I needed to put a stop to it at some point by asking “Do I look like I’m carrying drugs?” to which he again amiably grinned, looking straight into my eyes. Unsettling. I then offered “Do you not have a dog. Perhaps if you bring it, you can speed up the process of review”. That last point seemed to have done it as my passport was handed back to me with a pleasant “Enjoy your time in Accra”! Recounting this experience to the team at the office, they were all very bemused and told me I completely missed the point of that exercise. There was a loose ‘page’ missing in my passport. Blast.

All that is light reading if you are still with me, but it does highlight the darker side of this continent. So let me speak to the brighter side as I share my three lessons from my travels with this love of mine.

Lesson 1: Self assurance is good when it’s for good.

I did not do justice to my Naijja time in my experiences above. If there is one thing I irrevocably admire about Nigerians, it is their self assurance and absolute self confidence no matter what card life has dealt them. As Africans we spend too much time deferring and ceding. We get caught up in the myth that if it’s not African, it’s better, it’s pure, it’s aspirational without recognising in doing that, we take away from ourselves. Nigerians have no time for that. They believe in who they, what they are and who they can be. Guess what, they have produced the first dollar billionaire who has created wealth as he creates enormous opportunities for his fellow Nigerians. 100 more Dangotes and we will be good I think!

Lesson 2: Don’t trip at the finishing line.

I watched an amazing Kenyan athlete, Ferdinand Omanyala break records in the 100 metres. As Kenyans we have cleaned up for years in long distance races. Nobody thought we could break barriers in the sprints, and in some ways we had rested on our laurels. Enter Omanyala. Imagine if after being quick off the blocks, powered off as he does, he had tripped a metre before the finishing line. Would people remember he was close, that he was ahead other than the misfortune of tripping? How did he decide to not tread the trodden path - marathon, steeple chase, long distance etc.

Why do we with a big grin demand ‘breakfast’ or ‘tea’ we haven’t earned. Don’t trip at the finishing line as that is short changing ourselves. Let us not cross that line - no pun intended.

Lesson 3: Take the centre stage - this is our TIME

Here is a link that speaks to the most amazing resorts in my home country Kenya. Another my current all time favorite star on the global stage Twiga foods leading the way and named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential companies in 2022.

In my past role at Stanford Seed, it would always pain me when I’d see how much money kids in Silicon Valley could raise and even more promising businesses in Africa were begging for a paltry $100,000 investment. The subtle message was we couldn’t be trusted, that money invested was squandered on high life and things other than the business. Sigh. Another shade of black we need to live with.

Rihanna aka Robyn Rihanna Fenty has recently announced she is bringing her amazing Fenty beauty to Africa. I was ecstatic when I heard this and would do anything to support the entry of this brand on this continent! I am a fan fan fan, having first been introduced by my young adults to Fenty Beauty. My dear husband has also been immersed reluctantly to the Fenty world when he’s sent to buy the Fenty ‘Bronzers’ or ‘’Highlighters’ or must have ‘Lip Luminizers’. I am always bemused by his stupor as to how, where and why they are all needed but even more bemused by the shock on his face when he gets to a Sephora till and has to pay. Being a man he assumes beauty comes cheap!

Fenty beauty recognises with passion that we need to take care of every one of us people of colour, now Africans, with all our smiles, passion and diversity of tones and shades.

Indeed we need to celebrate every shade of black!