The level of discomfort within the audience as German-born entrepreneur Mallence Bart Williams delivered her speech at the TEDxBerlin event was so obvious. A confident Mallence asked tough questions, those that everybody else prefers to ignore and from the dead silence in the hall, it was clear that they were not ready for the smoke.
She started off by saying that despite studying finance and economics at some of the world’s best universities, she still found it puzzling how 5,000 units of African currency are worth 1 unit of foreign currency despite all the gold mines being in our continent.
Mallence also debunked the perception created by westerners which tends to suggest that Africa depends on them, making it clear that it is, in fact, the direct opposite. Despite having been born in the German city of Cologne to a Sierra Leonese father and a German mother, Mallence has maintained a strong connection with Africa and has constantly expressed her love for the continent.