Barcelona on Sunday, won Copa del Rey for the 31st time, equaling Real Madrid’s 92 titles record. The Catalonian giants piped Athletico Bilbao 4-0 to clinch their first title since 2018/19 season.

After a barren first half, French forward Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring with a 59 minute strike to put Barcelona ahead. Dutch midfielder Frenkie De Jong doubled the lead in the 63rd minute, and Argentine wonder boy Lionel Messi sealed the victory with a brace netted in the 68th and 72nd minutes of the match.

It was a breath of fresh air for Barcelona that has been riddled with crises, which have put the future of its captain Messi in doubt. The club is hoping to convince the six-time Ballon D’or winner to stay by returning to winning ways. Messi, who last year, requested to leave Barcelona, has been unhappy with the performance of the club, in and off the pitch, and was desperate to find joy in his trade by winning titles once again.

The Spanish giants got knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday by Paris Saint German, narrowing their title hope for the season under the leadership of new coach, Andy Koeman.

“We are really happy for this title. It has been really tough Copa del Rey, suffering in a lot of games. We won all the ties. It is always special to celebrate a title, a great day for the club,” Messi said after the match.

The 2020/21 season began shaky for the Catalan side, casting doubt on the ability of Koeman to convince Messi to stay. But things turned around eventually, and Barcelona moved to top three in the league table from sixth position.

The Copa del Rey title is expected to change Messi’s decision and make him stay in his childhood club. In March, following the election of a new president, Joan Laporta, the goal has been to convince Messi to stay, even though Barcelona is also dealing with a financial crisis.

“I’m convinced that Messi wants to stay, he is deeply rooted in Barca. That’s what we want most. We will try to do whatever it takes, within our possibilities so that he continues to play for the club of his life,” Laporta said after the Copa del Rey title win.

Reports from Spain said Laporta’s plan is to convince Messi with a contract that will start with a lower salary than what he has now, and increases as the financial situation of the club improves.

Messi has maintained that his love for Barcelona goes beyond money, and he only wants a club with projects and a winning team. The recent changes in the club, from the president to coach to players, are believed to be wielding enough conviction for a better future that will make Messi stay.

“It’s been a difficult year. Like in life, you fall down and have to get back up. The team has turned the situation around. In 2021, the team is different, playing well. With a president who’s come back, Joan Laporta… it’s like starting again, a reset,” Gerard Pique, Barcelona’s center back said.

Barcelona is currently at the third position in the La Liga table with eight matches remaining, which means there is still a chance for the club to win the double in the season. With Copa del Rey down, a La Liga title will make the job of getting Messi to sign a new contract easier for Barcelona.

Amina J. Mohammed, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Bozoma Saint John and others are on WeForGood’s 2021 ‘100 Women Creating A Better Africa’ List

WeForGood is glad to announce the results of its 2021 ‘100 Women Creating a Better Africa’ campaign, an initiative aimed at putting the spotlight on women making a difference across the continent. This year’s edition of the campaign was launched on the 9^th of March 2021 with a call for nominations to the public in commemoration of the International Women’s Day (IWD) celebrated annually on the 8^th of March.

The past year has been particularly burdensome for women. According to the United Nations, Women stand at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, as health care workers, caregivers, innovators, community organizers and as some of the most exemplary and effective national leaders in combating the pandemic. The crisis has highlighted both the centrality of women’s contributions and the disproportionate burdens that they carry requiring us all to celebrate the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. For this year, WeForGood has also deemed it a time to applaud the acts of courage and determination of all women specifically those whose work has helped to alleviate the effects of Covid-19 on the continent in one form or the other.

The Chief Executive Officer of WeForGood International, Temitayo Ade-Peters, expressed her excitement over the results. Speaking about the initiative, she stated that the campaign is WeForGood’s way to celebrate, honour and also showcase women making impact across various communities in Africa. “We are pleased with the makeup of the final list. We believe it will greatly inspire other women as it presents an incredible picture of women from different walks of life and at different stages of influence but with a common commitment to make Africa better for us and for the next generation. Though 100 in number, each face on the picture collage represents thousands of women who continue to push the boundaries in their various fields to create a better Africa.” she stated.

Also commenting on the nominations Ade-Peters said, “We appreciate the fact that these are people’s choices from their various communities; we called for nominations and here are the results. It’s a great learning point that people are taking note of the effort women put into making their communities better and we’re glad to be providing such a credible platform for them to be celebrated.”

Nominees are from over 20 nationalities, which remains impressive for this edition. It is also important to note that, just as with the previous campaign, quite a number of men participated in this campaign with 42% male nominations.

The 2021 IWD campaign theme is ‘Choose to Challenge’ with the core message that a challenged world is an alert world, encouraging all to individually take responsibility for their own thoughts and actions.

As the name implies, the ‘100 Women Creating A Better Africa’ is a list of 100 women making a difference on the continent. As part of the criteria for selection, each woman on the list is contributing her quota to the achievement of one or more of the 17 UN SDGs (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals) in Africa. With this initiative, WeForGood hopes to accelerate the attainment of the SDGs, while inspiring more women to push beyond the boundaries and make their mark on the continent.

You can find the full list and read more about the ‘100 Women Creating A Better Africa’ campaign on www.weforgood.org.

The full list is here.

About WeForGood International

WeForGood International is a sustainable development firm focused on communications, training and programmes that target the fulfillment of the SDGs, with the overall mission to raise a new crop of African leaders to champion its sustainable development.

We support organisations in their journey towards purpose and profit, from strategy to execution. Our training and coaching arm focuses on helping young people and professionals gain the right leadership skills to create sustainable value in competitive landscapes.

Our digital community at www.weforgood.org brings people and organisations together to act on causes they care about.

Squarespace, a well-known software-and-hosting provider for SMB websites, has released its S-1 filing. The company is pursuing a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE. It will trade under the ticker symbol “SQSP.” TechCrunch has the story.

The company’s financial results paint the picture of a rapidly growing company that has a history of profitability.

Squarespace also has listed financial results that are inclusive of some share conversions, among other matters. Its pro forma results presume that “all shares of our convertible preferred stock had automatically converted” into different types of common stock. The pro forma results are also inclusive of a private placement, and its recent acquisition of Tock.

It will take some time to unspool that particular knot. For now we’ll stick to Squarespace’s historical results through 2020 without those accoutrements; if you intend to buy shares in the company, you’ll want to understand the more complicated math. For now let’s focus on Squarespace’s own metrics.

In 2019, Squarespace generated revenues of $484.8 million, leading to gross profit of $402.8 million, operating income of $61.3 million and net income of $58.2 million. In 2020 those numbers changed to revenues of $621.1 million, gross profit of $522.8 million, operating income of $40.2 million and net income of $30.6 million.

Squarespace’s revenue grew just over 28% in 2020, compared to 2019.

For reference, its pro forma results for 2020 include a modest revenue gain to $644.2 million, gross profit of $530.5 million, an operating loss of $246.4 million and a net loss of $267.7 million.

Squarespace has a history of cash generation, including operating cash flow of $102.3 million in 2019 and $150.0 million in 2020. The company’s cash flow data explains why Squarespace is not pursuing a traditional IPO. As Squarespace can self-fund, it does not need to sell shares in its public debut.

Turning to Squarespace-specific metrics, the company’s “unique subscriptions” rose from 2.984 million in 2019 to 3.656 million in 2020. Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) rose from $549.2 million to $705.5 million in 2020.

Squarespace’s ARR grew around 28.5% in 2020, a faster pace of expansion than its GAAP revenues.

Per the company’s SEC filing, the company “completed its estimate of the fair value of its Class A common stock for financial reporting purposes as a weighted-average $63.70 per share for shares granted prior to March 11, 2021.” That should help form a reference price measuring stick for now.

Now, who owns the company? Major shareholders include the company’s founder and CEO Anthony Casalena, who owns just around 76% of the company’s Class B shares, or 49,086,410 total units. Accel has 15,514,196 Class A shares. General Atlantic has 22,361,073 Class A shares and 4,958,345 Class B shares, while Index Ventures has 19,460,619 of the Class A equity.

The majority of voting power rests with the company’s CEO, with 68.2% control. Public market investors will have to vet how much they like having zero say in the company’s future direction.

Regardless, this is going to be a fascinating debut, adding to the number of companies defying the pandemic to go public.

Ask several people to describe a monster and you will get the same answer from all of them. To all these people – young, old, male, female, rich, or poor – monsters are ugly, malformed, heinous, and, above all, wicked. You might meet people that believe some monsters are friendly, but they will also be quick to tell you how ruthless they are to their ‘enemies’. In other words, monsters are always out to harm those different from them.

The last sentence of the paragraph above tells you that monsters are not just aliens with green eyes and spear-like teeth but also humans, like you and I, who have no qualms hurting their fellow human beings. Monsters are people whose presence causes stress and anxiety to others because of what they are capable of doing. They are demons in human forms. Put simply, any person that inflicts pains of any kind or harms others is a monster.

Recently, a pensioner’s life savings was wiped off by fraudsters. The old man was crying in the bank when a younger man saw him and decided to help out as much he could. This young man solicited help from internet users for the poor man and people responded to the call. But what if this old man doesn’t recover from this shock? How come these fraudsters did not pity this old man when they took away his money, his only means of livelihood? This act of wickedness can only be done by someone that lacks the heart of a human being. Those fraudsters, and other criminals, are examples of monsters.

What about those spouses that subject their partners to pains, humiliations, and fear? Stories of men that beat their wives even to death reach us every now and then. I watched a video, where a man that was beating his wife picked up the electric iron in the room and hit her with it. All this while, the children were screaming in the background and the woman was begging for her life, but this continued with his monstrous act. Could that man be referred to as a human being or a monster? What is it about him that is human?

Let’s talk about the oppressors of the weak and the defenceless; those that oppress orphans, widows, the poor, and the disadvantaged. There is a current Nigerian politician that specialises in land grabbing. Once he sees a piece of land that catches his fancy, he grabs it and builds an estate there without batting an eyelid or compensating the owner. No one could question or stop him. Who would even dare do that when he has thugs working for him? I heard he has a lot of cases concerning this land grabbing of a thing in the court but the only people that could dare sue him are those that have the means. But let’s leave this politician’s case and focus on those that grab lands from their brother’s widows because he had no son or his son is still too young to challenge to fight for his right? What about the people that turned their domestic staff into something lower than their dogs? Should we talk about those that rub people’s disadvantaged position on their faces? Well, if you happen to cause pain, stress, and anxiety to someone else, know it now that you have been defined as a monster.

Homewreckers still belong to a special category of monsters. A group of young Nigerians recently recounted their experiences in the hands of religious leaders, who told their families they were witches, wizards, marine spirits, and the rest of them. One of them said his brother is currently wasting away as a drug addict because a ‘man of god’ told his mother that he, the storyteller, and his younger brother were the reason her marriage didn’t work out. The woman turned her frustration and anger on these young boys and ended up wrecking the life of one. What should we say of this so-called man of god (sorry, he is NOT of God)? Is he not a monster?

Of course, I can never leave here without calling on bad bosses. Some time ago, a young lady recounted how her boss slapped and beat her in the office because she failed to buy food for him with her money. This might sound outrageous but many workers pass through a lot in their places of work. But that aside, there are employers, who do not want their workers to progress. I worked in a place where you are not allowed to go for further studies even if it is an evening or weekend programme. The school’s policy was that you should resign if you want to go back to school. Some colleagues that ignored that rule and enrolled in weekend programmes, which did not disturb their jobs, were later found out and sacked. I don’t know what to say about these types of bosses but their acts are monstrous. Many of us fell under this category and should, therefore, endeavour to amend our ways.