Business

Africa.com’s CEO writes about how she felt after this special invitation

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 10 June 2022 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- I was invited to dine with Bill Gates last week during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The terms of the invitation, which was extended to six others besides myself, were that the discussion would be off-the-record. Therefore, I can’t write about anything discussed that evening. What I can tell you is what we ate, and what I thought about after the dinner.

The menu, prepared by chefs at Microsoft House – the temporary headquarters of all things Microsoft at the Davos conference – was superb. The first course was an Asian beef salad, followed by a main course of rack of veal and the most tender asparagus I’ve ever had. The meal ended with a mango sorbet with fresh fruits. It all tasted as good as it sounds.  

What I thought about afterwards was my own cynicism regarding Gates’ optimism that his plan can prevent the next pandemic. His book on this topic, published just weeks before our dinner, was something I spent a good deal of time understanding in preparation for the dinner discussion. I never doubted the wisdom of what he proposed in the book; but I had, and continue to have, concerns about our global leadership’s ability to receive wise counsel and act in concert, in the interest of humanity, absent selfish nationalistic objections. I listened intently as Bill spoke that evening, and initially considered his optimism to be naive. I admit that it took some time and reflection afterwards for me to appreciate that, had he set out with a cynical view, for example, with regard to his bold plan to cut childhood malaria deaths in half, based on a dim view of global leadership, he would never have achieved that goal. His optimism, I came to realize, is not naive; it is a necessary tool in his arsenal to achieve the global impact he desires.

As I continued to mull over his ambitious, yet practical plan to stave off the next pandemic, I arrived at a sense of gratitude that this unusually capable mind has dedicated its resources to solving crucial societal problems. Going into the dinner, I had an appreciation for his intellect and drive. What I discovered over dinner was his passion and commitment for leaving the world a better place than he found it. Given the vastness of his foundation’s work over the last 22 years, that may sound obvious; but some continue to question his motives. After spending two uninterrupted hours with him over a small dinner table, I can declare, to myself at least, that his motives are genuine. He seems excited about this shiny toy – his agile mind – and he enjoys playing with it, and testing its limits to understand its capabilities. He has chosen to do just that with regard to preventing the next pandemic.

His book on how to prevent the next pandemic is an exercise in the use of that great mind for the common good – a gift to society from a unicorn. Who else has the experience of having scaled one of history’s largest efforts to improve public health globally, a deep understanding of bio-science, epidemiology and statistics, unfettered access to the leading, relevant subject matter experts, and the independence to opine without concerns about political backlash? It seems to me that he might even consider it irresponsible to possess this unparalleled knowledge that can save lives, and not couple it with an optimistic expectation that the world will follow.

In his book, “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic,” Gates has synthesized the learnings from the last two and half years into a practical, easy to digest action plan for those who are committed to ensuring that we learn from our mistakes. He has taken an apolitical view of the countries that have had the best outcomes, and examined what they did right in their management of the novel Coronavirus. He notes that Australia demonstrated a deft orchestration of virus diagnostics – they did early testing widely – and executed lock down policies with great effectiveness, leading Australia to one of the lowest death rates from COVID among wealthy countries. From Japan, he notes that the well established habit of wearing masks served the country well in maintaining low transmission rates. South Africa, in partnership with UNICEF, counteracted the spread of misinformation about the pandemic in rural communities with a multimedia truck with huge LED screens to broadcast local stories and information. South Korea did an excellent job using cell phone data for contact tracing, though he notes that this use of private information would not likely be well received in most democratic countries.  

Gates processes all of this information, together with his deep and vast global public health experience, to inform a plan with three key pillars, to be orchestrated by a newly established, centralized, global pandemic response team that he proposes. The three pillars of his plan are as follows:

1.   Invest in better vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. Successful ideas can take years to research before they are actionable, so the time to invest is not after the start of a pandemic; investment must be part of an on-going plan.

2.   Improve disease monitoring with Global Epidemic Response & Mobilization – GERM. This is one of the most important steps to stop the next pandemic. GERM would be a permanent organization of experts who are fully paid and prepared to mount a coordinated response to a dangerous outbreak at any time. A key aspect of their work would be to ensure preparedness by running “fire drills” – exercises to practice the response protocols for an actual outbreak.

3.   Strengthen health systems – the pandemic showed us that until we are all safe, none of us is safe. Health systems need to be strong in low, middle and high income countries and communities. We need well functioning hospitals, clinics and most importantly, health care workers. These resources can not be developed overnight, and also need investment as part of an on-going plan.

After my dinner with Bill, I was inspired to learn more about him and how he formed his ambitious world views. I read a blog he wrote, in which he quoted the great epidemiologist, Larry Brilliant, who said that “outbreaks are inevitable, but pandemics are optional.” Listening to those with unparalleled expertise and experience, and adopting their plans to contain outbreaks before they become pandemics should be the strategy of every world leader. And while I continue to have my concerns about whether global leadership has the vision, and the wherewithal, to take the actions proposed by Gates, and implement such plans effectively, I respect his optimism that his plan will be adopted in some form. Without such optimism, surely it would be impossible. And I close with a quote from another wise man, Nelson Mandela, who used his leadership to overcome seemingly unattainable goals: “It always seems impossible, until it is done.”

Distributed by African Media Agency on behalf of Africa.com.

ABOUT TERESA CLARKE

Teresa Clarke, Chair, CEO and Executive Editor of Africa.com since its founding more than a decade ago, was the first African-American woman named managing director in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs & Co. Ms. Clarke, an expert on African investment, served on President Obama’s Advisory Board on Doing Business in Africa. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Leadership Council of the New York Women Corporate Directors. A frequent lecturer on the topic of African investment, she has lectured at the following business schools, among others: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Wharton, Stanford, Oxford, and Lagos Business School. Named one of the Top 25 Women in Business, she currently serves on the board of Arthur J. Gallagher (NYSE:AJG), the global insurance brokerage with operations in 56 countries. She is the former board chair of Australian fintech, Change Financial (ASX:CCA) and she served on the board of Cim Finance (SEM:CIM), a financial services company. Ms. Clarke founded the Student Sponsorship Programme of South Africa, which has awarded over $20 million in scholarships to South Africa’s high performing high school students. She chairs the US board of the Legal Resources Centre, the largest public law organization on the continent of Africa, which employs nearly 100 attorneys and staff working human and civil rights matters. Ms. Clarke earned an A.B. cum laude from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

PRESS CONTACT

Africa.com

Laura Joseph

+27 82 332 0473 (mobile & WhatsApp)

Email: laura.joseph@africa.com

The post My Dinner with Bill Gates appeared first on African Media Agency.

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

Business

Africa.com’s CEO writes about how she felt after this special invitation

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 10 June 2022 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- I was invited to dine with Bill Gates last week during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The terms of the invitation, which was extended to six others besides myself, were that the discussion would be off-the-record. Therefore, I can’t write about anything discussed that evening. What I can tell you is what we ate, and what I thought about after the dinner.

The menu, prepared by chefs at Microsoft House – the temporary headquarters of all things Microsoft at the Davos conference – was superb. The first course was an Asian beef salad, followed by a main course of rack of veal and the most tender asparagus I’ve ever had. The meal ended with a mango sorbet with fresh fruits. It all tasted as good as it sounds.  

What I thought about afterwards was my own cynicism regarding Gates’ optimism that his plan can prevent the next pandemic. His book on this topic, published just weeks before our dinner, was something I spent a good deal of time understanding in preparation for the dinner discussion. I never doubted the wisdom of what he proposed in the book; but I had, and continue to have, concerns about our global leadership’s ability to receive wise counsel and act in concert, in the interest of humanity, absent selfish nationalistic objections. I listened intently as Bill spoke that evening, and initially considered his optimism to be naive. I admit that it took some time and reflection afterwards for me to appreciate that, had he set out with a cynical view, for example, with regard to his bold plan to cut childhood malaria deaths in half, based on a dim view of global leadership, he would never have achieved that goal. His optimism, I came to realize, is not naive; it is a necessary tool in his arsenal to achieve the global impact he desires.

As I continued to mull over his ambitious, yet practical plan to stave off the next pandemic, I arrived at a sense of gratitude that this unusually capable mind has dedicated its resources to solving crucial societal problems. Going into the dinner, I had an appreciation for his intellect and drive. What I discovered over dinner was his passion and commitment for leaving the world a better place than he found it. Given the vastness of his foundation’s work over the last 22 years, that may sound obvious; but some continue to question his motives. After spending two uninterrupted hours with him over a small dinner table, I can declare, to myself at least, that his motives are genuine. He seems excited about this shiny toy – his agile mind – and he enjoys playing with it, and testing its limits to understand its capabilities. He has chosen to do just that with regard to preventing the next pandemic.

His book on how to prevent the next pandemic is an exercise in the use of that great mind for the common good – a gift to society from a unicorn. Who else has the experience of having scaled one of history’s largest efforts to improve public health globally, a deep understanding of bio-science, epidemiology and statistics, unfettered access to the leading, relevant subject matter experts, and the independence to opine without concerns about political backlash? It seems to me that he might even consider it irresponsible to possess this unparalleled knowledge that can save lives, and not couple it with an optimistic expectation that the world will follow.

In his book, “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic,” Gates has synthesized the learnings from the last two and half years into a practical, easy to digest action plan for those who are committed to ensuring that we learn from our mistakes. He has taken an apolitical view of the countries that have had the best outcomes, and examined what they did right in their management of the novel Coronavirus. He notes that Australia demonstrated a deft orchestration of virus diagnostics – they did early testing widely – and executed lock down policies with great effectiveness, leading Australia to one of the lowest death rates from COVID among wealthy countries. From Japan, he notes that the well established habit of wearing masks served the country well in maintaining low transmission rates. South Africa, in partnership with UNICEF, counteracted the spread of misinformation about the pandemic in rural communities with a multimedia truck with huge LED screens to broadcast local stories and information. South Korea did an excellent job using cell phone data for contact tracing, though he notes that this use of private information would not likely be well received in most democratic countries.  

Gates processes all of this information, together with his deep and vast global public health experience, to inform a plan with three key pillars, to be orchestrated by a newly established, centralized, global pandemic response team that he proposes. The three pillars of his plan are as follows:

1.   Invest in better vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. Successful ideas can take years to research before they are actionable, so the time to invest is not after the start of a pandemic; investment must be part of an on-going plan.

2.   Improve disease monitoring with Global Epidemic Response & Mobilization – GERM. This is one of the most important steps to stop the next pandemic. GERM would be a permanent organization of experts who are fully paid and prepared to mount a coordinated response to a dangerous outbreak at any time. A key aspect of their work would be to ensure preparedness by running “fire drills” – exercises to practice the response protocols for an actual outbreak.

3.   Strengthen health systems – the pandemic showed us that until we are all safe, none of us is safe. Health systems need to be strong in low, middle and high income countries and communities. We need well functioning hospitals, clinics and most importantly, health care workers. These resources can not be developed overnight, and also need investment as part of an on-going plan.

After my dinner with Bill, I was inspired to learn more about him and how he formed his ambitious world views. I read a blog he wrote, in which he quoted the great epidemiologist, Larry Brilliant, who said that “outbreaks are inevitable, but pandemics are optional.” Listening to those with unparalleled expertise and experience, and adopting their plans to contain outbreaks before they become pandemics should be the strategy of every world leader. And while I continue to have my concerns about whether global leadership has the vision, and the wherewithal, to take the actions proposed by Gates, and implement such plans effectively, I respect his optimism that his plan will be adopted in some form. Without such optimism, surely it would be impossible. And I close with a quote from another wise man, Nelson Mandela, who used his leadership to overcome seemingly unattainable goals: “It always seems impossible, until it is done.”

Distributed by African Media Agency on behalf of Africa.com.

ABOUT TERESA CLARKE

Teresa Clarke, Chair, CEO and Executive Editor of Africa.com since its founding more than a decade ago, was the first African-American woman named managing director in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs & Co. Ms. Clarke, an expert on African investment, served on President Obama’s Advisory Board on Doing Business in Africa. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Leadership Council of the New York Women Corporate Directors. A frequent lecturer on the topic of African investment, she has lectured at the following business schools, among others: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Wharton, Stanford, Oxford, and Lagos Business School. Named one of the Top 25 Women in Business, she currently serves on the board of Arthur J. Gallagher (NYSE:AJG), the global insurance brokerage with operations in 56 countries. She is the former board chair of Australian fintech, Change Financial (ASX:CCA) and she served on the board of Cim Finance (SEM:CIM), a financial services company. Ms. Clarke founded the Student Sponsorship Programme of South Africa, which has awarded over $20 million in scholarships to South Africa’s high performing high school students. She chairs the US board of the Legal Resources Centre, the largest public law organization on the continent of Africa, which employs nearly 100 attorneys and staff working human and civil rights matters. Ms. Clarke earned an A.B. cum laude from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

PRESS CONTACT

Africa.com

Laura Joseph

+27 82 332 0473 (mobile & WhatsApp)

Email: laura.joseph@africa.com

The post My Dinner with Bill Gates appeared first on African Media Agency.

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)

Business

CANNES, France, Le 09 Juin 2022 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/- Le satellite de télécommunications NILESAT 301, fabriqué par Thales Alenia Space, société conjointe entre Thales (67 %) et Leonardo (33 %), pour le compte de l’opérateur égyptien NILESAT, a été lancé avec succès depuis le centre spatial de Cape Canaveral, en Floride, à bord d’une fusée Falcon 9 de SpaceX. 

Grâce à sa puissante mission en bande Ku, NILESAT 301 permettra à NILESAT de renforcer son leadership commercial dans les services de radiodiffusion depuis la position orbitale de 7° Ouest, afin de couvrir le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique du Nord, et d’offrir de nouveaux services au-dessus de l’Afrique australe et du bassin du Nil. De plus, une charge utile multifaisceaux en bande Ka de nouvelle génération garantira l’entrée de cet opérateur sur le marché de la connectivité haut débit au profit de tout le territoire égyptien.

En tant que maître d’œuvre, Thales Alenia Space a été chargée de la conception, de la fabrication, des tests et de la recette en orbite du satellite. NILESAT profitera également de centres de contrôle refaits à neuf au Caire et à Alexandrie, qui sont déjà opérationnels pour contrôler le satellite NILESAT 201 en orbite.

Basé sur la plateforme Spacebus 4000-B2, ce satellite de 4 tonnes au lancement est conçu pour une durée de vie nominale en service de plus de 15 ans.

Après Nilesat-201, NILESAT 301 est le deuxième satellite de télécommunications géostationnaire réalisé par Thales Alenia Space pour le compte de NILESAT. Il s’agit également de la quatrième charge utile développée par Thales Alenia Space pour cet opérateur. 

« Nous sommes ravis de continuer à soutenir NILESAT sur le chemin de la croissance, en lui apportant des produits satellitaires sur mesure aux performances exceptionnelles », a déclaré Hervé Derrey, Président-Directeur général de Thales Alenia Space. « Ce contrat démontre que notre offre de produits est en parfaite adéquation avec les besoins du marché des télécommunications, et que nous sommes pleinement en capacité d’apporter aux opérateurs des solutions sur mesure à même d’améliorer la connectivité globale et de réduire la fracture numérique. »

« L’Égypte est considérée comme l’un des pays les plus avancés en termes de technologies spatiales en Afrique et au Moyen-Orient. Thales est présent en Égypte depuis des décennies, offrant à nos clients des capacités dans les domaines de la défense, du transport, de l’aérospatiale, de l’espace, de l’identité numérique et de la sécurité » a déclaré Sherif Barakat, Directeur Général de Thales Égypte. « C’est un honneur et une source de fierté pour nous tous de faire partie de ce projet stratégique et nous sommes très heureux du lancement réussi du satellite de communication NILESAT 301 ».

Distribué par African Media Agency (AMA) pour Thales.

À propos de Thales Alenia Space

Combinant plus de quarante ans d’expérience et une diversité unique en termes d’expertise, de talents et de cultures, les architectes de Thales Alenia Space conçoivent et délivrent des solutions innovantes pour les télécommunications, la navigation, l’observation de la Terre et la gestion de l’environnement, l’exploration, les sciences et les infrastructures orbitales. Les institutions, gouvernements et entreprises comptent sur Thales Alenia Space afin de concevoir, réaliser et livrer des systèmes satellitaires : pour géolocaliser et connecter les personnes et les objets partout dans le monde ; observer notre Planète ; optimiser l’utilisation des ressources de la Terre et celles de notre Système solaire. Thales Alenia Space a la conviction que l’espace apporte une nouvelle dimension à l’humanité pour bâtir une vie meilleure et durable sur Terre. Société commune entre Thales (67 %) et Leonardo (33 %), Thales Alenia Space forme également la Space Alliance avec Telespazio pour proposer une offre complète de solutions incluant les services. Thales Alenia Space a réalisé un chiffre d’affaires d’environ 2,150 milliards d’euros en 2021 et emploie environ 8900 personnes dans 10 pays, avec 17 sites en Europe et une usine aux États-Unis.

www.thalesaleniaspace.com

THALES ALENIA SPACE – CONTACTS PRESSE

Tarek Solimane      

 Tél. : +971 (0)501045934   

 tarek.solimane@thalesgroup.com

Sandrine Bielecki

Tél. : +33 (0)4 92 92 70 94

sandrine.bielecki@thalesaleniaspace.com

Catherine des Arcis

Tél. : +33 (0)4 92 92 72 82

catherine.des-arcis@thalesaleniaspace.com

The post Lancement réussi du satellite de télécommunications NILESAT 301 appeared first on African Media Agency.

Source : African Media Agency (AMA)