Airtel Africa Set to Revolutionize Mobile Money
Airtel Africa is spinning off its mobile money arm in a strategy that the service’s CEO, Vimal Kumar, says seeks “to unleash the power of mobile money.” Africa is the world leader in mobile money in many respects, and the growth of mobile money in the continent has led telecom firms to discuss further unlocking […]
The Most Powerful Players who Remain at the Helm of the Continent’s Ports
Two of the world’s top five, China’s Cosco Shipping Ports and Singapore’s PSA International, are completely absent from the continent, if one excludes Cosco’s minority stake (20%) in the large Egyptian terminal of Port Said, located at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. China’s Hutchison Ports, another global giant, has only gained a small […]
A Panacea for Economic Growth in Africa
Canada-based Instadose Pharma Corp completed a world record shipment of 2.125 tonnes of medicinal cannabis from South Africa to North Macedonia on 25 December 2021, boosting hopes that the African cannabis market will be worth over $7bn annually by 2023. A 2020 report by Prohibition Partners estimates that the bulk of the market will reside […]
Private Firms Named as Enablers of South Africa’s State Capture
Global consultancy Bain & Co. and Nedbank Group Ltd., South Africa’s fifth-largest lender, denied willfully facilitating or being party to corruption after a judicial inquiry found their conduct wanting in their dealings with state-owned firms. A panel, headed by Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, concluded in the first of a three-part report that the state […]
Africa has a Long Way to Go if it is to Break Free of the Resource Curse
The United Nations defines a country as dependent on commodities if they are more than three-fifths of its physical exports. Fully 83% of African countries meet that threshold, up from 77% a decade ago. Some depend on produce such as tea, but most rely on mining or on pumping oil. When commodities crashed in 2015, […]
New Mastercard Podcast Shows How Financial Inclusion Is Creating An Equitable Future For All
Mastercard is shining a spotlight on the significance of financial inclusion in addressing some of the world’s most pressing socioeconomic challenges in a new podcast ‘Journey to One Billion’ ‘Journey to One Billion‘ charts Mastercard’s journey to deliver on its commitment to financially include one billion people into the digital economy alongside 50 million small businesses and 25 […]
Challenging The Development Paradigm
By Ranahnah A. Afriye Historically, racism and colonization have had significant influence in the context of development. For decades, the Global North directed development initiatives without meaningful consideration or feedback from communities who were intended to “benefit” from foreign aid. The power differential within this approach has been called out as neo-colonial, leading to calls […]
3 African Presidents, 1 Football Star, Others Emerge Winners In The 10th ALM Persons Of The Year Award
The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards committee has unveiled the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, as the African Political Leader of the Year 2021; the President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masis, as the African Peace & Security Leader of the Year 2021; Egyptian Football Star, Mo Salah, as ALM Young person of the […]
Blue Collar Skills And Training Development Can Help Combat High Unemployment Rate
By Kau Makgosa Project Facilitator at Economic Development Solutions In the second quarter of 2021, South Africa’s unemployment rate was at 34.4%, a 6.8% increase from the first quarter of 2019, pushing unemployment beyond crisis level. The government has acknowledged that current strategies need to be drastically scaled to address the extent of the problem […]
Underfunded And Deadly Tuberculosis Needs Its Own Bill Gates
By Busani Bafana Global efforts to end tuberculosis (TB) are futile without dedicated investment in research into the debilitating disease that is killing 4000 people a day, Stop TB Partnership warns. “TB is a disease that is not a darling of donors and investors,” Lucica Ditiu, the Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership, told IPS […]
