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Analysts at The CrossBoundary Group wrote this week about why the 600 million Africans without electricity number hasn’t changed, even though more Africans have electricity. They discovered that even though 70 million more Africans now have access to electricity, the number of Africans without power hasn’t changed since 2014.
Their analysis is based on World Bank’s most recent Africa Pulse report which took a dive into the state of electricity access on the continent. And there’s much to be done.
The household electrification rate in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest in the world, around 42% in 2016. There’s also a big gap between electricity access in urban households (71%) versus rural households (22%). Naturally this means the level of actual electricity consumption is very low. Between 2010 to 2014, the average annual consumption per capita in sub-Saharan Africa was equivalent to just 4% of consumption per capita in the United States.
Overall, the total installed capacity of electricity in the region was 96 gigawatts (GW) in 2015, compared with 325 GW in India and 1,519 GW in China. Of that, South Africa accounts for nearly half of the region’s generation capacity. In fact, even though it has a population a quarter the size of Nigeria’s, South Africa has four times the installed generation capacity.
That said, having installed generation capacity is no guarantee that locals will actually get reliable electricity supply, cautions the World Bank. The inefficiencies of many of the traditionally built grids and delivery systems means electricity generation is only up to 40% of the potential output given the installed capacity.
Based on traditional grid expansion or new builds, it would cost around $50 billion of investment a year to get anywhere near universal electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. It shows why innovative technology, strategies and regulation are desperately needed.
But there are spots of good news. Gabon, Swaziland, and Kenya, have all seen the pace of electrification grow rapidly, with access rates increasing by more than 50% between 2000 and 2016. Kenya is also a leader in renewable energy on the continent with over 40% of its electricity coming from non-hydro renewable sources.
— Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
Stories from this week
Safaricom is positioning M-Pesa to become a social media network. As a dominant mobile money service, M-Pesa has revolutionized how people in Kenya and beyond send and receive money. Building on this success, Safaricom has now introduced a service, Bonga, that will allow its customers to conduct transactions and chat similar to all-in-one platforms like China’s WeChat.
Trump tried to use Buhari’s visit to mobilize his own evangelical base but triggered Nigerian Christians instead. President Muhammadu Buhari stayed on message during a meeting with Donald Trump this week, even overlooking discussing the US president’s much-reported demeaning comments about Africa. But as Mark Amaza explains, Trump on his turn rallied his evangelical supporters by suggesting he would help Christians targeted in killings in Nigeria.
The 3D project digitally preserving the architecture of one of the world’s most conflict-ridden cities. A brutal, two decade-long civil war completely destroyed Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, wrecking its historic statues, luxury hotels, and ancient areas of worship. Abdi Latif Dahir reports on the group of Somali architecture students who want to connect with the past by digitally recreating these ruins.
Africa’s fragmented opposition parties are uniting to take on political behemoths. Opposition parties in countries like Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are weak and beset by factionalism, inter-wrangling, and disorganization. In Johannesburg, Lynsey Chutel interviewed South Africa’s main opposition leader, Mmusi Maimane, about a new pan-African opposition coalition that aims to boost multiparty politics and push for democratic change.
Google and Amazon could help repressive regimes by blocking domain fronting. The tech giants announced they would end domain fronting, a technique that helps developers disguise the source of their traffic online. Digital rights activist say the move will stop millions of people around the world from exercising their rights online.
Chart of the Week
Private equity bets in Africa have amounted to profit despite headwinds. Slow economic growth and currency fluctuations didn’t slow African private equity exits in 2017, though a good number of those sales were to other private equity firms. Yomi Kazeem finds why the continent remains a promising frontier and what sectors investors are looking at for their next bets.
Other Things We Liked
How China is developing a media footprint across Africa. The transition to digital TV in Africa was expected to “democratize” airwaves and help create a plurality of voices. Not so fast, Dani Madrid-Morales writes in Africa as a country, explaining how the Chinese government is investing in content production and distribution in Africa that exalts Beijing’s positions.
Mo Salah’s soaring career is breaking social and religious barriers. As the breakout star this season, Mo Salah has galvanized soccer fans across the world. But as Britain faces increasing Islamophobia, his Muslim and North African background has cast him as a significant figure to watch, Rory Smith reports for the New York Times.
Let’s not view Cambridge Analytica’s actions in Africa through a “colonialist” lens. Christopher Wylie, the Canadian whistleblower and former employee of Cambridge Analytica, described what the controversial company did as “an example of what modern day colonialism looks like.”. But Smith Oduro-Marfo, thinks that’s misguided, as in several cases Cambridge Analytica was recruited by African politicians.
Keep an eye on
African Union and innovation hubs conference (May 6-7). Dubbed the “largest-ever gathering of community innovation hubs,” the African Union’s department for trade is collaborating with pan-African digital group i4Policy and others in Kigali to streamline policies to support startups.
Africa’s Travel Indaba (May 7-10). Considered Africa’s largest travel trade show, the event will take place in the city of Durban and showcase the best of South Africa’s tourism.
*This brief was produced while listening to Who No Know Go Know by Just A Band + Childish Gambino (Kenya/USA) with their take of the Fela Kuti classic.
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, 3D models of damaged African cities and spare private equity investment dollars, Wenger gone memes to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day. This newsletter was compiled by Abdi Latif Dahir and edited by Yinka Adegoke.
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