AN INCREDIBLE DECADE OF FORBES AFRICA

NELSON MANDELA, ALSO KNOWN as Madiba, proudly said “remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare the road ahead” and to honor his words, we celebrate this issue which marks an important milestone – FORBES AFRICA turning 10. To say the very least, it has been an incredible journey. I still remember our intense negotiations with Forbes in early 2009 that culminated in an agreement around May 2011.

- RAKESH WAHI

Most people who understand the media space, particularly in Africa, thought that we had lost our mind by launching a new print title just when the world was still tottering from the effects of the 2008 financial crisis. Although the publishing industry is unique, the word ‘insane’ was often used for most entrepreneurs who believed and bet their shirts on the African story almost two decades ago. An important quality, consistent with most business people who have ventured into sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), is perseverance. My second book (soon to be announced) will cover a number of these investment decisions when I discuss the power of hindsight but irrespective of limited commercial success, I personally believe that this project was an excellent decision. Most importantly, the team had a lot of fun building this media asset in Africa; that in essence is one of the many reasons for our triumph.

Forbes was founded in 1917 by Bertie Charles Forbes who was born in Scotland and ended up miraculously in Johannesburg in 1901 to work for the editor of the Rand Daily Mail, Edgar Wallace. He moved to the United States in 1904 and founded Forbes in 1917 during the First World War, amidst a lot of rhetoric of insanity. Three important coincidences stand out in the journey of FORBES AFRICA; that it’s not exceptional for Forbes to be launched in the middle of a crisis, neither is it uncommon for people to criticize the timing of its launch, and thirdly, Forbes has a connection with Johannesburg since 1901. While I can sagaciously say that I had all this in mind in 2009, the truth could not be further. My real benchmark was the very impactful launch of