Music piracy is rife in Africa, presenting a major challenge for artists in monetizing their work. But many music streaming services have emerged on the continent in an attempt to use tech to combat piracy and help artists earn income.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has restricted 281 Nigerian personal accounts to ensure the platform’s security and prevent fraud, its founder and CEO has said.
Rwanda and Ethiopia are using creative marketing approaches to attract e-commerce users in China and increase their exports to the Asian country.
A female Rwandan referee has made history at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Cameroon by becoming the first woman to officiate a match in the tournament’s 65-year history.
Kenya has declined to make public the loan contracts for its Chinese-built railway in response to a court petition by two activists, saying they have non-disclosure clauses and that releasing them would amount to breaching a bilateral agreement, impairing relations between Kenya and China. This sheds light on the secrecy surrounding Chinese deals with developing countries, which experts say complicates debt renegotiation.
Warner Music Group (WMG) has bought a majority stake in Africori, a leading African digital music distribution, music rights management, and artist development company, in a move that could make Warner the top music distributor in Africa, opening up more opportunities for African artists to tap into the global market.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has announced a deal with the Africa Cup of Nations to become the official and exclusive cryptocurrency and blockchain sponsor for this year’s tournament, which is ongoing in Cameroon.
Kenya on Jan 11. suffered its third countrywide power outage in four years, with the entire country plunged into a blackout for almost four hours after a transmission line broke.
The European Union (EU) is lifting the air travel ban on southern African countries, according to France, which currently holds the union’s presidency. The EU is following in the footsteps of the UK, US and others in reducing measures they had adopted to curb the spread of covid-19’s omicron variant.
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.”
The African Cup of Nations (Afcon), the continent’s biggest and most prestigious international soccer tournament, kicks off in Cameroon on Jan. 9. But just like any other major global event these days, covid-19 threatens to cast a shadow, as numerous players and team officials test positive for the disease.
The US has barred Ethiopia, Guinea, and Mali from accessing the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a two-decade old agreement that provides African countries with duty-free access to the US market for more than 1,800 products.
With the American market becoming saturated, streaming firms are looking across the globe to gain more subscribers and increase their offerings, typically by investing in partnerships with local studios and developing local content for overseas viewers. Africa, with its population of more than 1 billion people and increasing internet connectivity, presents significant potential.
Africa has received millions of covid-19 vaccine doses as donations during the pandemic, as countries try to support the continent in protecting more people from the disease.
Countries around the world are imposing travel restrictions on travel from countries in southern Africa due to the recently discovered omicron variant of covid-19.
Africa’s aviation industry is highly fragmented. The continent has hundreds of independent airlines, many of which are unprofitable and on the brink of collapse as they struggle to compete effectively with big global carriers. Further, the aviation business has been hit hard by the covid-19 pandemic.
Kenya is preparing to restrict people who haven’t been vaccinated against covid-19 from receiving government services, in a move that has ignited debate on the government directive versus the reality of vaccine shortage in the country.
When it comes to discussions on China-Africa relations, debt is a common theme, with many saying Africa is overburdened by Chinese lending.
Africa’s death rates from covid-19 are notably higher in patients with diabetes, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, making diabetes a serious risk as the continent grapples with increase in diabetes cases and inadequate supply of covid-19 vaccines.
Less than 10% of African countries will meet the end-year target of fully vaccinating 40% of their populations against covid-19, compared to the 70% of high-income countries that have already achieved this goal. This is according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Twitter has temporarily disabled its Trends feature in Ethiopia in the latest case of a social media network becoming involved in the growing crisis in the Horn of Africa country.
Agriculture is a pillar of Africa’s economy, with the continent heavily dependent on the sector. It contributes 23% of the continent’s GDP and 49% of employment in the continent.
Last month, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic body, announced that 136 countries and jurisdictions had signed up to an agreement to have global corporations pay a minimum tax rate of 15%. But Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka had not agreed to the deal, the OECD said.
A looming scarcity of syringes may set back Africa’s already delayed covid-19 vaccination drive, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
