The implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and a Single Air Transport Market a few years ago was expected to have eased travel for Africans across the continent. While there have been some improvements, the majority of Africans still need visas to travel around the continent.
One constant this particular Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) has been endless surprises. A goal-less draw between Africa’s highest ranked FIFA team (Senegal) and Malawi, ranked 129th or Ghana’s defeat and eventual ouster at the hands of debutant Comoros.
Bukayo Saka was one of the breakout stars of the European soccer championships. Although he wears an England jersey, he is also increasingly popular in Nigeria. But devastatingly, he missed the crucial penalty kick to lose the final, and hand the trophy to Italy—for this, he has faced racial abuse on social media.
Fintech remains the most funded sector in Africa’s startup ecosystem. Chipper Cash, a cross-border, peer-to-peer payment service, further substantiated this with yet another huge investment.
While it can boast of the largest number of startups in the Africa tech ecosystem, Nigeria lags in other important metrics, a new report ranking the continent’s major tech sectors asserts.
Andela, the developer outsourcing company launched seven years ago in Nigeria, has announced plans to expand beyond its African beginnings and leverage the growth of engineering talents in Latin and South America.
The gig economy in Africa has grown significantly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, serving as a stopgap for consumers when businesses shut down during lockdowns, and offering employment for those shut out from formal and even informal opportunities.
Compared to other regions, Amazon’s physical presence in Africa is limited. And yet at the same time, Amazon is everywhere.
West Africa’s political elites have long been enamored with the UK’s leading education system. In the process, it has become a significant mechanism for illicit money flows, a report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has found.
The latest crackdown by Nigeria’s central bank on cryptocurrency has elicited outrage and confusion in a country where virtual currency has boomed in the last five years. It’s also emblematic of the struggle by financial regulators the world over to regulate the supercharged space of digital currencies.
Gregory Meeks, the new chairman of the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee, has promised that the Biden administration will seek to reverse US president Donald Trump’s “insulting” approach towards Africa.
US president Joe Biden’s quest for a de-Trumpification of US policies started at a fast pace, with the new president signing 25 executive orders a few hours after his inauguration. One of them was to reverse the “Muslim ban“, which served as great news for Nigerians.
WhatsApp may have delayed its plans to share its commercial user data with parent company Facebook due to global outcry over privacy but even if it does move ahead with the plans digital watchers say it’s unlikely there’d ever be an exodus from the app in Africa.
