Libassa Wildlife Sanctuary in Liberia Offers Refuge to Orphaned Baby Pangolins
These small, scaly creatures are believed to be the most trafficked mammal in the world. Pangolins are found across Africa and Asia, but all eight species are at risk of extinction, killed for their meat and for use in traditional medicine. In Liberia, they are commonly known as “ants bears” owing to their very particular […]
Solving Nigeria’s Furniture Issues
Nigerian startup Woodshare.ng hopes to scale its furniture e-commerce platform across Africa once it has secured funding, having seen strong early uptake in its home market. Founded by Harry Brainstone and Dele Fayemi, Woodshare began life selling on classified websites and marketplaces, but has since launched its own website and now operates B2B and B2C […]
A White Enclave Demonstrates Model for Living Off Grid
Most of South Africa is wallowing in endless power cuts, but a remote whites-only farming town in the country’s sun-drenched centre is close to producing enough electricity to be self-sufficient. At the end of a gravel track outside the Afrikaner town of Orania, a diamond mesh gate opens onto hundreds of photovoltaic panels mounted in […]
How Africa Will Be Affected by the IMF’s New Strategy
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved its first gender strategy, adapting to the evolving needs, challenges and priorities in member countries. The gender strategy has four pillars: Empowering IMF staff with access to relevant gender-disaggregated data and modelling tools to conduct policy analysis; setting up a robust framework to ensure that […]
Addressing Uncomfortable Truths about Women’s Cycles
Sara Eklund had hurdles importing the first menstrual cups into Ethiopia, but she hadn’t anticipated having to explain to confused customs officials what the small, pink silicone cups were used for. She had finally got a green light to bring an initial 200 Noble Cups into the country, only to have them confiscated by the […]
Climate Change Affects the Way African Women Do Business
On the African continent, for instance, small businesses are on the front lines of climate change. Over 50% of the African labour force works in agriculture, which is both very exposed to and dependent on climatic variability and change. But even businesses in urban centres are increasingly dealing with climate-induced challenges. These include unstable water […]
What Went Wrong in the DRC?
The acting head of the United Nations mission in eastern Congo said Wednesday that it would carry out a joint investigation with national police into the shooting deaths of three peacekeepers and a dozen Congolese civilians during anti-U.N. protests this week. Reuters reported Tuesday that its reporter saw peacekeepers shoot dead two protesters as people […]
Calls for Buhari to Go Squashed
Nigerian opposition senators are pushing for President Muhammadu Buhari to face impeachment, less than a year before the end of his second term in office, over the country’s spreading security problems. In February 2023, Nigerians go to the polls to elect a new president in a hotly contested vote where security and the state of […]
Race to Kenya’s Elections Littered with Problems
A Kenyan minister has said that the shortage of 100 and 200-shilling notes at the banks is down to politicians using the cash to bribe voters ahead of next month’s elections. “You have seen people who are carrying money in bags, lining up citizens, giving them 200 bob (shillings)… People are not working. They are […]
Why Africa is Unable to Produce its Own Drugs
Africa’s health systems were creaking even before the covid-19 pandemic and the cause was the continent’s low capacity in the manufacturing of medicine locally, the delays in shipping drugs to the continent, and after months of waiting, the high costs especially to customers outside of urban areas. But during a plenary on Africa’s health supply […]
