Egypt’s First Formal Network of Angel Investors
Cairo Angels has launched a syndicate investment fund to back pre-Series A startups in Africa and the Middle East. Cairo Angels, which invests in and supports startups and early-stage, high-growth businesses, said it has already started fundraising and aims to close during the first quarter of next year. The syndicate fund will target startups that […]
Africa’s Eating Choices Gives Rise to More Illnesses
The Global Burden of Disease Study estimates that diabetes is the fifth leading cause of deaths due to noncommunicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. Others ahead of it are stroke, ischaemic heart disease, congenital birth defects, and chronic liver diseases. The expected rapid rise in diabetes must not be overlooked as it could have devastating health […]
The Role of Social Media when Africans are Fed Up
Angola, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Swaziland and Zambia already introduced harsh laws that regulate “social media abuse”. Zimbabwe and Lesotho are also in the process of introducing new social media controls. While the regulations promulgated in these countries appear essential and even reasonably progressive on the surface, they contain problematic clauses aligned to dubious “national security” […]
Here’s Why this Nigerian Novel Forms a Staple in your Book Collection
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun has been voted the best book to have won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in its 25-year history. The Nigerian-born author, who won the prize in 2007, was chosen in a public vote from a list of all 25 winners. Other past winners include Zadie Smith, […]
Luanda Nips Demos in the Bud
Angolan police fired live ammunition and used tear gas against youths protesting against poverty Wednesday in Luanda. Protests against the government, usually met with violence, have been going on for several weeks in Luanda, motivated by high unemployment, the cost of living, and state corruption. Protesters, supported by UNITA, the main opposition party, also called […]
A Chilling Effect on Media Investigations in Mozambique
Journalist Carlos Cardoso’s assassination silenced more voices than just his own. On Nov. 22, 2000, the day Carlos Cardoso died, the 48-year-old journalist left the offices of the Metical — the paper that both defined his career and ended his life — to watch a soccer game at home. Instead, it was his assassination that […]
Saving Nairobi’s Ecological Landmark
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has issued a decree to save a much-loved century-old fig tree from being cut down to make way for a Chinese-funded highway in the capital Nairobi. The presidential decree described the tree, the height of a four-storey building, as a “beacon of Kenya’s cultural and ecological heritage.” The fig tree is […]
Uniting for the Sake of Ivory Coast
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and rival Henri Konan Bedie say they will continue discussions aimed at restoring peace following the Oct. 31 election that triggered clashes and left dozens dead. Ouattara described Wednesday’s initial meeting with former president and opposition candidate Henri Konan Bedie as an ice breaker, a first step toward establishing trust. Bedie […]
Nigeria’s Small Businesses Have Been Hit Hard
The survival rate for Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria has taken a massive hit this year amid a general slump in economic activity. A sharp drop in global crude oil prices, on the back of the coronavirus outbreak, slammed the country’s oil-dependent economy. The pandemic, which took a full course in the first two quarters of the […]
Africa Remembers Ghana’s Rawlings
Jerry Rawlings, who seized power twice in military coups but is now regarded as a driving force behind Ghana’s emergence as a stable democracy, has died, aged 73. Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, said in a statement that Rawlings had died on Thursday morning at a hospital in Accra after a short illness. “A great tree […]
