Session comes as South Africa leads G20
JOHANNESBURG - Team South Africa took centre stage at the Africa CEO Forum, which wrapped up in Ivory Coast this week.
A high-level panel discussion focused on unlocking the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
It also included the country's economic priorities, investment outlook, and broader role on the continent.
The session comes at a critical time, as South Africa leads the G20.
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Across these pieces, a founder wrestles with structure versus intuition, received wisdom against lived reality. Image: Photo by Kevin Turcios on Unsplash. I've had a front-row seat to Sona Mahendra's latest entrepreneurial chapter, watching her transition from backing founders at 54 Collective to building her own startup. The transformation has been fascinating: seeing how lessons learnt while supporting other people's ventures now play out in her own. After her initial TechTides Africa column hijack, African Tech's Next Big Challenge: Matching Venture Capital to Realistic Outcomes, I've been tracking how she navigates the founder's chair with fresh perspective from the other side. Her four-part Sona's Field Notes email capsule series offers a window into this evolution, both psychological and practical. The first instalment tackled that haunting question keeping African founders awake: "But is it VC-backable, though?" Mahendra pushed back. Why pre-filter ideas through investor lenses when most founders are too early for VC conversations anyway? Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Freedom from market-size obsession, she argued, actually speeds up learning. March brought The Market Size Misconception, challenging founders who abandon promising ideas over perceived total addressable market limitations. 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These are people who are process-driven, detail-oriented, and consistent. They build strong companies based on fundamentals that are ready for scale, but they don't naturally gravitate to startup ideas that align with venture capital's high-growth demands. Different markets reward different people We often look at founder-market fit through the lens of whether the person suits the market. But we should also ask: does the market suit the person? Different industries reward different skill sets: Healthcare rewards operators and domain experts who bring trust and credibility. Deep tech favours highly technical people who can navigate complexity and build deeply technical products. Consumer and innovation-led sectors often reward visionary sellers who can successfully fundraise. People who can tell compelling stories are able to rally teams and attract capital, all of which is needed to get customers to move away from the status quo. 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You can't find success by being something you're not" — Alan Knott-Craig (Founder, Fibertime) Success is the only metric that matters In reality, strong people are only recognised in hindsight, after they've succeeded. If you browse LinkedIn bios of high-profile company builders, you'll see a wide variety of backgrounds: music majors, ex-corporates, serial entrepreneurs. There is no formula, and that's the point. People are rewarded for solving problems and investors are rewarded not for the "obvious" bets, but for having a differentiated thesis about what kind of person wins in that particular market and opportunity. Anyone can be a business builder. At the end of the day, success (carving out room for yourself in a market) is the only metric that matters that can truly determine if you're a 'strong' builder. I'm wrapping up this share while grappling with a lot about what it means to build a business from scratch in real time while also navigating a few significant life changes. 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How the world's top trophy hunters are killing off leopards
A new report documents unabated hunting despite leopard numbers plummeting across Africa. At night, in the African bush, a zebra carcass dangles from a tree, rigged as bait. Nearby, a hunter waits in a hide, rifle trained, night-vision goggles focused. When the leopard arrives — silent, cautious, regal — it climbs for its meal. A crack splits the night. The cat falls, dead before it hits the ground. Later, its skull will be dried, measured and entered into a record book. The hunter will go home triumphant, the leopard's skin later draped across his study wall. Meanwhile, in the wild, the species edges closer to extinction. This scenario is from a new report commissioned by the Wildlife & Conservation Foundation, The Leopard Hunters, which uncovers the scale and players behind the global leopard trophy hunting industry. It points to a disturbing nexus of wealth, status and political influence driving the killing of one of Africa's most iconic predators. According to the report, more than 700 leopard trophies were exported from Africa in 2023, despite the species being listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) — a designation reserved for species at risk of extinction, where trade is meant to be highly restricted. Of those trophies, half went to the US, making American hunters the largest importers by far. Most of the rest were shot by hunters from Europe. Leading the pack was Steve Chancellor, a US billionaire and close political ally of President Donald Trump. Chancellor, the world record holder for the largest leopard ever shot, is reported to have killed around 500 animals for trophies, including 50 lions and five cougars, some reportedly shot with a handgun. His California home — where he once hosted Trump fundraisers — is described as a private museum of taxidermy. 'Chancellor was part of a White House advisory committee set up to weaken protections for threatened species,' notes the report, highlighting his influence on policies that made it easier to import trophies of endangered animals into the US. He's far from alone. The report names a Who's Who of high-profile hunters whose names fill the pages of the Safari Club International (SCI) Record Book – a status symbol in the world of big-game hunting. Spanish hunter Tony Sanchez-Arino, a friend of former King Juan Carlos, has killed 167 leopards. Zimbabwean hunter Ron Thomson boasts of killing 30. The late Donald Holt, a renowned taxidermist, once held the world record for the third-largest leopard. There are currently a total of 2,071 leopards in the SCI Record Book. Big money This is not just about individual egos. The report describes an industry propped up by safari companies, international hunting fairs and online marketplaces like where leopard hunts sell for up to $156,000. Some packages bundle leopard hunts with lions, elephants, crocodiles — even cheetahs. 'The trophies include bodies, bones, skins, skulls and leather products,' states the report. 'Trophies are measured, scored and logged in record books. The bigger the animal, the greater the prestige.' Yet beneath the glamour lies a brutal reality. Accounts collected in the report describe questionable hunting methods: baiting leopards with live or freshly killed animals; wounding cats and chasing them for days; setting fires to flush out hiding animals. 'Dragging a squealing, gutted duiker across the ground to a tree where it was wired up (still alive) to attract a leopard to shoot after dark … diesel used to pour into warthog holes where a wounded leopard had run and then set on fire,' one account reads. In one case, 'over 200 rounds of gunfire shot into a palm island where they thought a male lion was holed up, but ended up shooting his pride and eight cubs. Later, setting the palm alight to 'smoke the sucker out'.' Numbers plummeting The ethical concerns are compounded by the conservation crisis. Population estimates are uncertain (leopards are nocturnal, secretive and hard to count), but it's widely believed that numbers have fallen from around 700,000 in the 1960s to roughly 50,000 today — a decline of more than 90%. While habitat loss and conflict with humans are factors, many studies have identified trophy hunting as a key driver of the decline. Leopards were classed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as recently as 2008. They have since jumped two levels to Vulnerable. Despite this, Botswana has just submitted to Cites a plan to reinstate leopard hunting. Ironically, hunters often claim they are conservationists. Safari Club International (SCI) and affiliated groups argue that trophy fees fund wildlife management and anti-poaching efforts. But conservation scientists are sceptical. 'The evidence shows that trophy hunting is having negative impacts across sub-Saharan Africa,' the US Congress concluded in a survey cited in the report. 'Unsustainably high rates of trophy hunting have caused population declines in African lions and possibly African leopards.' Zambia banned leopard trophy hunting in 2013. In South Africa, the Department of the Environment imposed moratoriums on hunting following legal challenges from NGOs. It has not published the finalised leopard hunting quotas for 2025. Even when governments respond, the industry fights back. The report describes how Conservation Force, a legal group founded by former SCI president John J Jackson III, sues governments to reverse trophy import bans. In New Jersey, for instance, Conservation Force won a court case overturning a law prohibiting the import of trophies of the Big Five. Meanwhile, the biological consequences go beyond mere numbers. By selectively targeting the largest, strongest animals, trophy hunting triggers 'artificial selection' that weakens the gene pool, says the report. Removing dominant males reduces genetic fitness and disrupts social structures, undermining the species' ability to adapt to environmental changes like climate shifts. And yet the race for trophies continues. Awards like SCI's African Big Five, Cats of the World, Predators of the World and Dangerous Game incentivise hunters to kill specific species. To qualify for the Hunting Achievement Award (Diamond), a hunter must kill at least 125 animals from different species. Leopards are a critical rung on this ladder. SCI publishes guides which tell trophy hunters where to go to shoot 'huge leopards and excellent maned lions'. Leopards can also be shot with handguns, crossbows, bows and arrows and with old-fashioned muzzleloaders to win the Multiple Methods Award. 'It's not about meat or survival,' argue wildlife campaigners in the report. 'It's about prestige, status and the thrill of the kill.' Other ways But alternatives exist. The report closes with the voice of Boniface Mpario, a Maasai elder and veteran wildlife guide in Kenya, who recalls building trust with a wild leopard he named Mrembo — Swahili for Beautiful. 'Each year, photographers came back to see her and her cubs,' he says. 'One leopard brought so many visitors, so much income for the community. Not from hunting, but from watching.' Mrembo has since raised multiple litters. Her daughters now have cubs of their own, continuing a family line that draws tourists — and tourist dollars — to the Maasai Mara. Unlike the bloodied records of the hunters, Mrembo's legacy is one of life. The Wildlife & Conservation Foundation, which commissioned the report, is calling for an immediate global moratorium on leopard trophy hunting. 'If elephants were native to the United States, and endangered or threatened, they would not be hunted,' said Dan Ashe, former director of the US Fish & Wildlife Service. 'And neither would lions, rhinos, or leopards.' For now, the leopard remains in the crosshairs — its future caught between the crack of a rifle and the click of a camera. DM
IOL News
17 hours ago
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G20 Sherpas convene in South Africa to shape urban policy
Tshwane Mayo Dr Nasiphi Moya and Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero brief the media about the forthcoming U20 Sherpa gathering to be held in Tshwane. Image: Oupa Mokoena/Independent Newspapers Over the next few days, 96 U20 Sherpas from G20 member cities will be leading discussions and crafting policy recommendations - hosted by the Cities of Tshwane and Johannesburg. The Group of Twenty (G20) is an international forum for global economic and financial cooperation, bringing together the world's largest economies and South Africa holds the presidency of the G20 this year. The City is ready for this landmark occasion, Tshwane Executive Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya said. She gave the assurance that the City of Tshwane, where this first Urban 20 Sherpa Meeting and African Mayors Assembly will take place - a first on African soil - is geared for the occasion. 'This is a landmark moment for our capital city. It is also a turning point in the story of how cities, particularly African cities, are stepping forward to shape the future of our urban world,' Moya said during a media briefing on Monday. It is the first time the Urban 20 convenes on the African continent. Moya said it comes at a time when the global context demands urgency, unity, and bold leadership. Cities will align their voices and set out a shared vision for urban progress. 'Across South Africa and around the world, cities are grappling with the interconnected challenges of climate change, inequality, and economic strain. These pressures require more than conversation. They call for coordination, commitment, and action.' Moya added that by hosting the U20 Sherpa Meeting and the African Mayors Assembly, we are ensuring that Africa's voice is not only present but actively shaping the G20 agenda at the highest level. She explained that while the issues we face are global, the most effective solutions are local. Cities are where policy meets reality. 'African cities, with all their complexity, determination, and creativity, are central to building a more just and sustainable future.' The U20 will for the first time also take place alongside a dedicated African Mayors Assembly - a platform for addressing our continent's specific priorities. From climate adaptation to equitable service delivery, the Assembly will ensure that Africa's urban agenda is meaningfully reflected in the final Communiqué, Moya said. As part of this week's programme, the U20 Schools Legacy Programme will also be launched at Groenkloof Nature Reserve. It aims to equip young people with the practical skills, exposure, and inspiration they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world. On June 14, some of the City's most iconic sites, such as the Union Buildings, Dinokeng Game Reserve, and Freedom Park, will be showcased to the delegates attending the U20 meeting scheduled for later this week.. Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero meanwhile explained that four priorities are tabled that would anchor the U20 agenda—each deeply reflective of South Africa's developmental trajectory but also resonant with global urban realities. The first is economic opportunities and urban financing, which will focus on unlocking investment pipelines for cities and closing the growing infrastructure gap. Climate action and urban resilience will also come under the spotlight, recognising that cities must be proactive planners in an age of climate disruption.
