Mobile network operator Safaricom has launched a 5G network in Kenya. This makes it the second country in Africa to roll out the technology to customers, according to GSMA, an organization representing mobile network operators worldwide. The company is trialling the technology in four towns, and expects to expand it to nine over the next year.
Africa continues to be the global leader in mobile money services, a position boosted by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced people to turn to digital services as a safer transaction method than using cash.
In the Oscar-shortlisted Night of the Kings, a young man (Koné Bakary) is sent to La MACA, an Ivorian prison in the middle of a forest that’s ruled by inmates.
Kenya’s first Showmax original series is a police procedural and legal drama inspired by real-life crime stories, reviving debate and discussion around controversies that might have otherwise faded from the news.
The African health tech sector is booming, thanks in part to increased opportunities presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.
China is donating thousands of its vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, including in Africa, in what is viewed as a soft-power push to bolster its global influence.
Super Sema, a Kenyan animated superhero series that debuted on YouTube this week, follows the adventures of a 10-year-old girl who lives in a futuristic African world and uses powers fueled by STEAM—science, tech, engineering, the arts, and math—to save her village from a robot villain.
Internet shutdowns have become increasingly common in Africa to fight dissent and restrict protest action, particularly during elections or moments of economic crisis. For Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, these actions are violations that the world cannot ignore.
Flutterwave, an Africa-focused payment technology company, has raised $170 million in a Series C round, positioning itself to further connect and capitalize on the continent’s thriving yet highly fragmented digital payment landscape.
Spotify is expanding to 40 more African countries. The audio streaming service is trying to tap into the growth opportunity presented by the continent, following its initial entry into South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia in 2018. In total, Spotify is entering 86 new markets in different parts of the world, to help “ensure that sounds and stories that once remained local can reach a global audience,” the company says.
African logistics startups are positioning themselves to play a key role in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), the largest free-trade area in the world by the number of participating countries, which launched on Jan. 1.
African entertainment startups had their best funding year on record last year, even as they struggle to find business models that work in the continent, according to a new report.
Compared to other regions, Amazon’s physical presence in Africa is limited. And yet at the same time, Amazon is everywhere.
A new Kenyan bill seeks to license and regulate digital lending platforms in the country, in a bid to clamp down on the issuance of high-interest loans as well as the predatory practices that have accompanied the industry’s massive growth.
Satire has been a key feature of Kenyan political culture for decades now, humorously exposing and criticizing wrongs while also acting as a litmus test for free speech.
When Kenya secured a $3.2 billion loan from China in 2014 to construct the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) connecting its capital Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa, critics termed the project costly and worried about its debt burden on Kenya.
