The CEO Magazine Asia — January 2018

132 | theceomagazine.com

ELECTRIFYING

Africa

While US President Donald Trump may have dismissed

renewable energy as “really just an expensive way of making

the tree-huggers feel good about themselves”, the

entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley beg to differ. In fact, there

is fierce competition between US companies in the battle

to bring solar power to off-grid regions in Sub-Saharan

Africa. In the same way that mobile phones bypassed the

need for telephone poles, solar can bypass the need for

power poles in remote regions. Currently, only one-fifth

of Sub-Saharans have access to electricity.

Lovely loafers

One of the best investments you can ever make is in a pair of

well-crafted shoes. Here are three of our current favourites:

2. Tom Ford Valois chain-detail velvet loafer. US$1,190.
   3. Gucci leather loafer. US$890.

UNIQLO’S

TARGET

Retail giant Uniqlo, currently ranked as the

third-largest clothing chain behind Zara and

H&M, believes it has what it takes to become

number one. Founded in Japan in 1984, Uniqlo

now has more than 1,900 stores across 18

markets. Parent company Fast Retailing

announced that its operating profit hit a record

high of ¥176.4 billion (US$1.5 billion) for the year

ending August 2017, thanks in large part to

a 95.4% increase in Uniqlo’s overseas earnings.

Despite this, Uniqlo only ranked ninety-first on

the Forbes list of the world’s most valuable brands

in 2017. According to John Jay, president of global

creative at Fast Retailing, this is evidence of

enormous capacity for growth, and that Uniqlo

has only just begun as a global brand.

1. Sutor Mantellassi Olimpo loafer in blue. US$895.

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