BBC World News 'Rendezvous With Zeinab Badawi' Showcases Africa

Series features fashion designer Ozwald Boateng, R&B and hip-hop superstar Akon, & the President of the African Development Bank Group

Africa is drawing the world's attention like never before. President Obama has just made his second visit and the new Chinese President, Xi Jinping, toured Tanzania, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo on his first trip abroad. Economic growth is strong in a number of countries and, overall, poverty is declining. Starting 6th July, BBC World News' Rendezvous with Zeinab Badawi hears from the Africans who are driving success and turning the traditional view of Africa on its head.

For this six part series, which runs throughout July and August, presenter Zeinab Badawi visited the African Development Bank Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco to meet leading African entrepreneurs, musicians, politicians and CEOs to ask the social, cultural, political, and business questions that are pertinent in today's Africa.

In programme one, Zeinab speaks to Nigerian musician Seun Kuti, youngest son of the legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti; Ethiopian entrepreneur, Sara Menker, CEO of hi-tech agricultural business, Gro Ventures; and veteran South African Cabinet Minister, Trevor Manuel, and asks if there are still opportunities for Africa's younger generation.

For the third episode, Zeinab meets pioneering fashion designer Ghanaian-Briton Ozwald Boateng OBE; Senegalese-American R&B and hip-hop superstar Akon; and African-American musician and actor Dante Terrell Smith, also known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey, to discuss Africa's cultural success and whether the stars of the African diaspora make a difference to the lives of people in the continent.

Later in the series, Zeinab talks to Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria; Professor Assia Bensalah Alaoui, adviser and ambassador at large to the King of Morocco; and Frannie Leautier, Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation, to discuss whether there is a new and growing threat of militancy that is linking all of the African continent and how best to confront the threat of Jihadism.

Full series details are below, all times GMT:

Episode 1: Youth
July 6th 05.30; 18.30; 23.30
July 7th 11.30
In the first of this special series from Marrakesh in Morocco, Zeinab Badawi talks to three of Africa's high achieving young individuals: Nigerian musician Seun Kuti, youngest son of the legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti; Ethiopian entrepreneur, Sara Menker, CEO of hi-tech agricultural business, Gro Ventures; and veteran South African Cabinet Minister, Trevor Manuel, who spent his own youth as a political activist fighting apartheid. With high rates of unemployment leaving young Africans frustrated and despondent, Zeinab Badawi asks if there is now a generation gap between an old elite and a younger generation who feel impoverished and marginalised.

Episode 2: Good Governance
July 13th 05.30; 18.30; 23.30
July 14th 11.30
In the second episode of the series, Zeinab Badawi talks to three prominent Africans who are in the front-line battle against corruption: Rwandan-born Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank Group; Nigerian Obiageli Ezekwesili, one of the founding members of Transparency International and a former Vice-President of the World Bank; and Kerfalla Yansané, Finance Minister for Guinea, a country which, until recently, has faced dictatorship, corruption and human rights abuses. Zeinab asks what progress is good governance making in Africa and whether the scramble for Africa's resource wealth is fuelling corruption from outside players.

Episode 3: Culture
July 20th 05.30; 18.30; 23.30
July 21st 11.30
In the third episode of the series Zeinab Badawi talks to Ghanaian-Briton pioneering fashion designer Ozwald Boateng OBE, Senegalese-American R&B and hip-hop superstar Akon, and African-American musician and actor Dante Terrell Smith, also known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. Zeinab asks why Africa is a cultural super power and whether the stars of the African diaspora make a difference to the lives of people in the continent.

Episode 4: Security
July 27th 05.30; 18.30; 23.30
July 28st 11.30
In the fourth episode of the series Zeinab Badawi talks to Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria; Professor Assia Bensalah Alaoui, adviser and ambassador at large to the King of Morocco; and Frannie Leautier, Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation. They discuss whether there is a new and growing threat of militancy that is linking all of the African continent and how best to confront the threat of Jihadism.

Episode 5: Business
3rd August 0430, 1730, 2230
4th August 1030
In episode five, Zeinab Badawi meets three leading lights of African business: Daphne Mashili-Nkosi, CEO, Kalahari Resources; who has gone from the poverty of a South African township to being one of the richest women in Africa by mining manganese for steel; award winning Ivorian banker Jean-Louis Ekra, President of the African Export-Import Bank, whose role is to help Africa become a driving economic and trade power both within the continent and abroad; and Guinean journalist and broadcaster Oumarou Barry, who reports on business for francophone People TV. Can Africa's business potential and natural resource wealth deliver prosperity for all its people?

Episode 6: Social Issues
10th August 0430, 1730, 2230
11th August 1030

In the final episode of the series, Zeinab Badawi talks to three prominent Africans about civil rights and social freedom in Africa. Senegalese-born Bineta Diop, feminist founder of Femmes Africa Solidarité, has led peace building initiatives in fragile states for many years.

Moroccan writer Mahi Binebine, artist and author, describes the world of the dispossessed in his books about economic emigrants and suicide bombers. Naomi N'gwira, deputy governor of Malawi's central bank, represents a country where human trafficking and child labour have been highlighted in international reports and where homosexuality is illegal. Zeinab asks what kind of social freedom is there in Africa and why is there a cultural divide between its Arab north and the rest of the continent?

ZEINAB MOS DEF, AKON OZWALD BOATENG .03 (2)

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