2020-04-01 Forbes Africa

APRIL 2020 FORBES AFRICA| 13

FORBESAFRICA

WHAT’S NEW•WHO’S NEXT

Photo by Jamel Toppin for Forbes

A

WEEKAFTERTAKINGSHOTS

atPresidentTrump’simmigration

policiesonJimmyFallon’sTonight

ShowlastJanuary,Grammy-

nominatedrapperShe’yaa“21Savage”Bin

Abraham-JosephwasdetainedfortendaysbyU.S.

Immigration& CustomsEnforcement.Bornin

theU.K.,Abraham-JosephmovedtoAtlantaatage

7 withhisfamilyandhadoverstayedhisoriginal

visabymanyyears.“He’sa gangster,”the27-year-

oldperformersaidofthepresidentinanOctober

interviewwithForbes. “Hedon’tgivea damn.”

21 Savage,a memberofthe 2019 Forbes

Under30,is a “Dreamer”—oneofanestimated

3.6millionpeoplelivingintheU.S.afterhaving

arrivedundocumentedasa youth.Amongthem

arenearly800,000who,bymeetinganyofa

number of criteria (military service, a high-school

diploma,nocriminalrecordandmore),were

approvedforPresidentObama’sDeferredAction

forChildhoodArrivalsprogram(DACA)—an

initiativethatTrump,whorecentlycalledsome

Dreamers“nolongerveryyoung”and“very

tough,hardenedcriminals,”wantstoshutdown.

TheSupremeCourtwilllikelydecidetheirfate

nextyear.

“Despitethefactthatsomanypeoplewantto

seeusfail,wearethriving,”saysSarahiEspinoza

Salamanca,30,a DreamerfromtheForbesUnder

30 classof2016.“Wearebecomingdoctors,

teachers,lawyers,engineers,entrepreneursandso

manyotheramazingthings.”

Includinghip-hopstars.Forsure, 21 Savage

hasit betterthanmostofhiscohort.Hisaverage

nightlyconcertgrosswasabout$50,000around

thetimeofhisdetention;it hasdoubledsince,as

hehasbecomea causecélèbre.

“I’manexample,” 21 Savagesays.“People

whodidn’tthinkit affectedcertainpeoplecan

say,‘Wow,it affectedhim. Who would’ve ever

thought that?’

I’m an

example.

CORONAVIRUSPLAYSSPOILSPORT

Aswithallotherindustriesworldwide,the

worldofsport’scontributiontotheglobal

GDPwilltakea massivehitasit dealswith

Covid-19.Theindustry,estimatedtobeworth

over$500billion,hashadmajorsporting

events,fromsoccer,tennis,basketball

andeverythinginbetween,postponedor

cancelled.TheNBA'sinauguralBasketball

AfricaLeague(BAL),consistingof 40 games

overa three-monthperiod,wassettokickoff

inMarchinDakar,Senegal.

It hassincebeenpostponedwithnonew

datesasthescaleofthecoronavirusonthe

continentis stillunfolding.

TheTokyo 2020 Olympicstoo,expected

tostartinJuly,is atriskofbeingcancelled

if thevirusis notcontainedbythen.The

InternationalOlympicCommitteeis currently

conductingtalkswithinternationalsports

federations before reaching a final verdict.

BILLGATES’INCREASEDFOCUS

ONPHILANTHROPY

MicrosoftannouncedthatbillionaireBill

Gateswouldbesteppingdownfrom

thetechcompany’sboardofdirectors

todevotehistimeandeffortstohis

philanthropicprioritiesincludingglobal

healthanddevelopment,education

andclimatechange.Gates,whoco-

foundedMicrosoftin1975,willalsostep

downfromhispositionontheboardof

BerkshireHathaway,whichbillionaire

WarrenBuffetthasbeenservingas

chairman and CEO of since 1970.

IT’SNOTIMETORELEASE

It’snotimetodieforJamesBond.With

thecoronavirusscaretheworldover,the

releasedateofthe25thJamesBondspy

actionmovie,NoTimetoDie, featuring

DanielCraigreprisinghisiconicrole

asJamesBondforthelasttime,Ralph

FiennesandRamiMalek,hasbeenput

offtoNovember.

Thefilmwasinitiallyscheduledto

premiereinLondonlastmonth,before

itsglobalrolloutinApril.Thefilmalso

features,forthefirsttime,Britishactress

LashanaLynch,toutedinpublicity

brochures to be introduced as “the new

007”.