East and West African Startups Get a Funding Boost
The Novastar Ventures Africa Fund II has held its final close at US$108 million, which will be used to back breakthrough businesses in both East and West Africa. With offices in Nairobi and Lagos, Novastar is one of the largest platforms dedicated to financing early and growth stage businesses in Africa. The firm backs startups […]
Full Steam ahead in Building Egypt’s New Capital
While Egypt’s economy has stumbled due to the coronavirus outbreak, construction at a new capital taking shape east of Cairo is continuing at full throttle after a short pause to adjust working practices, officials say. The level of activity at the desert site – where trucks rumble down newly built roads and cranes swing over […]
EU Called to Task for Eritrea Construction
A Netherlands-based group of Eritreans sued the European Union on Wednesday, demanding it cease financing a project in the east African dictatorship that uses forced labor, the lawyer representing the group said, the first test of an effort by individuals and organizations to hold the bloc accountable for the way it spends billions in Africa. […]
A Sombre Ramadan in Kano
Kano, the commercial hub of northern Nigeria with an estimated population of some 13 million, was placed on lockdown by President Muhammadu Buhari on April 27 following the “unexplained deaths” of 640 people within two weeks. It came as local reports quoted gravediggers at cemeteries in the city as saying that they were burying a […]
DRC Diaspora in the US Mourn Coronavirus Death
An immigrant from Congo who worked at the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Waterloo has died of the coronavirus, the company confirmed Tuesday. The Congolese community in Waterloo has been mourning the death of Axel Kabeya, which several members announced Sunday on social media. A Congolese newspaper reported that Kabeya was one of the […]
COVID-19 Disrupts the Masaai Way of Life
Kenya’s famous Masaai warriors are renowned for rituals and customs which they keep to this day. Fears over the pandemic has forced them to cancel their semi-nomadic lifestyle and all the traditional celebrations. David Nina, a Maasai moran (youth) leader recounts how past diseases ravaged the community and fears they have over the current pandemic. […]
Africa’s Strict Measures to Combat ‘Disinfodemic’
In Mauritius, a man who falsely claimed that riots had erupted after the prime minister announced the closure of supermarkets and shops, was arrested under the Information and Communication Technology Act. In South Africa, authorities arrested people spreading the news that the virus was being spread by foreigners. And in Kenya, a 23-year-old man was […]
Worrying Silence Around Tanzania’s COVID-19 Stats
The US embassy in Tanzania has warned that there is a risk of “exponential growth” of Covid-19 cases in the country, at a time when the government is not releasing data on new cases. It added that hospitals in the main city, Dar es Salaam, were “overwhelmed” and that the chance of contracting the virus […]
Midwives Share Frontline Stories in Africa
When midwife Philomena Owusu Domfe gets up for work every day she is scared. Domfe has been at the Ridge Hospital in Accra, Ghana’s capital city, for eight years. And while social distancing is prescribed by the World Health Organization as a key defense against the spread of Covid-19, Domfe said it’s difficult when proximity […]
Maseru Records its Index Case of Coronavirus
One of the few places in the world to remain apparently free of coronavirus has recorded its first case. The government of Lesotho said on Wednesday there is now a likelihood that more cases could be recorded before the end of the week after the Ministry of Health said it was awaiting results for 301 […]
