A Theatre Piece that is Positive about Sierra Leone’s Pride and Rich History
‘Sing, Freetown’ is a dynamic film with a deep understanding of the country’s rhythm, as well as the ebb and flow of the two men’s rapport. This is a hugely special, rewarding documentary whose ending manages to encompass both victory and loss. Cinema is often connected to dreams and triumphs, and yet failure can make […]
Senegalese Footballer Makes Life Back Home a Little Easier
Senegal and Liverpool football star Sadio Mane has donated $693,000 to help fund the construction of a hospital in his hometown of Bambali in Senegal. The village, about 400 kilometers outside the capital city Dakar, did not previously have a hospital. Mane met with Senegalese President Macky Sall earlier this month to discuss the project, […]
Burundi Breaths Sigh of Relief
The lifting of financial sanctions by the European Union has been welcomed with relief in Burundi. Since 2016, the EU had suspended its aid after a political crisis triggered by former president Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term. For Jean Dieu Mutabazi, president of the National Observatory for the Prevention and Eradication of Genocide, […]
Reducing the Costs of Moving Goods in North Africa
Cairo-based digital trucking marketplace Trella has completed a US$42 million Series A funding round, comprising US$30 million in equity and US$12 million in debt facilities, for major expansion in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP). Founded in 2018, Trella is a B2B technology platform and trucking marketplace connecting shippers with carriers in […]
Chimamanda’s Opinion Challenged
For more than a decade, Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has coached and mentored African writers through her annual creative writing workshop. The workshops, with just 20 students out of thousands of applicants, are intimate and for some graduates, career-defining, leading to book deals, prizes and residencies. In a lengthy essay published on her website […]
A New Approach to Spotting and Investing in Africa’s Most Promising Early Stage Ventures
Maya Horgan Famodu appeared on the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 list in 2018 in the technology category. She has been photographed shepherding Silicon Valley tech moguls across Africa. She has invested, through her venture capital firm Ingressive Capital, in leading African startups including the genomics company 54gene and Paystack, the Nigerian fintech leader now […]
An Upward Swing in the Economy is on the Cards for Zimbabwe
A World Bank report says Zimbabweans living in rural areas are doing better than their counterparts in the urban areas thanks to subsistence farming. The report says a record 7.9 million Zimbabweans are “extremely” poor, earning less than 30 U.S. dollars a month. Mukami Kariuki, who heads the World Bank in Zimbabwe, says the economy […]
Ballots are Still being Counted in Ethiopia’s Parliamentary Poll
Africa’s second-most populous country went to the polls on Monday but an opposition boycott, a months-long war in the northern region of Tigray, ethnic violence elsewhere and logistical challenges overshadowed the vote in some regions. Abiy’s newly formed Prosperity Party (PP) is seen as the frontrunner in a crowded field of candidates, mostly from smaller, […]
How Soon can We Expect ‘Made in Africa’ Vaccines?
The COVID-19 crisis has revived discussions on localising vaccine manufacturing to the African region to reduce the dependence on imports. Several companies have announced their intention to produce COVID-19 vaccines in Africa. These include Aspen in South Africa and Saidal in Algeria. Expertise related to other types of vaccines also exists, for example, in the […]
The First African Country to Receive Payment for Reducing Carbon Emissions
Gabon has become the first African country to receive payment for reducing carbon emissions by protecting its rainforest. The UN-backed Central African Forest Initiative (Cafi) has handed over $17m – the first tranche of a $150m deal struck in 2019. Nearly 90% of Gabon is covered by forest, which captures more carbon than the country […]
