Hi, Quartz Africa readers!
It is rocket science
We enjoy writing about space and the space business here at Quartz. The madcap adventures of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are both fascinating and essential business stories. Their space odysseys are captured excellently by our colleague, Tim Fernholz, in his recent book, Rocket Billionaires.
Needless to say, rockets and space are increasingly important to Africa, but the discussions here are often a lot more prosaic than how soon we’ll be vacationing on Mars. As we’ve noted, more African countries have been partnering to launch or launching their own satellites.
The satellites themselves are smaller than ever before. Powerful nano-satellites, the size of soccer balls, are able to deliver detailed imagery and information about a chosen territory from space. These advances in technology and cheaper launch vehicles mean more developing countries can use satellites to collect troves of valuable data to better manage their affairs.
While there has been some focus on security and communications, the more pressing needs are in areas including agriculture, food security and countering climate change. Scientists have repeatedly pointed out Africa is “extremely vulnerable” to the impact of climate change compared with other continents even though it produces the smallest global share of greenhouse gases. Yet African countries are experiencing droughts, heatwaves, floods, and rising sea levels more frequently. It’s worth pointing out that, especially in some African rural communities, security and communications challenges are linked to these environmental problems.
Fortunately, more African governments and institutions are underwriting or supporting initiatives to retrieve satellite data. The African Union’s science and technology department is partnering with the European Commission’s Copernicus program so African scientists and institutions can receive satellite data for free. Copernicus, which generates a mind-boggling 12 terabytes of earth observation data daily, is considered the world’s third largest data provider and offers digital aerial photographs of sea topography, land temperature, vegetation changes, and weather patterns.
Arguably, many African governments have been late to the satellite data game. Former Wall Street commodities trader, Sara Menker founded Gro Intelligence, which collects and analyzes data to provide governments and businesses with insights into the global agriculture industry. As the 2015 Quartz Africa Innovator honoree said in her TED talk last year on growing concerns about global food security: “The most critical tools for success in the industry—data and knowledge—are becoming cheaper by the day. We have the solution. We just need to act on it.”
— Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
Stories from this week
African fashion boutiques are going global on Instagram and WhatsApp. From Cape Town to Lagos even to diaspora in London, small fashion boutiques are using social media to reach a global audience. Fans are stumbling across beautiful items on Instagram and reaching out on WhatsApp for a more intimate customer relationship than they’d have via an e-commerce website or catalog, finds Lynsey Chutel.
The homes of 30,000 Kenyans were demolished to make way for a dual carriageway. On Monday (Jul. 23), government cranes and bulldozers got rid of homes, schools and businesses in sections of Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum to make way for a $20 million dual carriageway. With a Reuters photo of an undisturbed golf course right next to the bulldozers of Kibera, Abdi Latif Dahir explains how Nairobi’s urban development often disregards the city’s majority population: slum dwellers.
Eritrean exiles want progressive change at home too, like in Ethiopia. While Ethiopia’s president Abiy Ahmed has managed to radically reshape his country in just over 100 days, Eritreans in the diaspora remain skeptical over whether their president, Isaias Afwerki, is committed to as much reform and suggest a change at the top might be needed.
Google’s free public wifi service in Nigeria goes live. The search giant launched its public wifi service, Google Station, in Nigeria this week. As Yomi Kazeem reminds us, Google and Facebook, who have both launched a variety of internet boosting services across Africa, are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
Separating the myths and realities of China’s role in tackling Africa’s infrastructure deficit. The Chinese are the fourth largest and the fastest-growing foreign investor in Africa. The former chief executive of African Finance Corporation, and Quartz Africa’s new regular contributor, Andrew Alli, provides a clearer understanding of the wide variety of actors and motivations with Chinese investment in African infrastructure.
Artisanal mining is a way for Africans to directly benefit from natural resources. The term artisanal mining reflects changing attitudes to what is commonly known as “illegal mining” in many countries. Australian photographer Hugh Brown spent 12 years documenting the practice, uncovering the complexity of these mines and their surrounding communities.
Chart of the Week
Chinese leaders visit Africa more often than you think. China’s Xi Jinping’s latest visit to Africa is one of many and this chart shows where top Chinese officials have prioritized visiting in the last 10 years. As Kemi Lijadu notes, the visits are not just to resource-rich and large economic African powerhouses.
Other Things We Liked
Ethiopia is aiming to be the fast-fashion capital of the world but is paying poverty wages. The Hawassa Park Industrial Park in Ethiopia is the new face of the garment industry in Ethiopia. For The Intercept, Laura Dean explains how features such as the clean and safe working environment and focus on the sustainability of the park obscure the fact that workers are paid only $27 a month.
Nigerians and South Africans have a complicated relationship. After a trip to Johannesburg and Durban, award-winning author Chibundu Onuzo discovers Nigerians are not always popular with South Africans. Where some black South Africans see a history of oppression, Nigerians see opportunity and with that comes an uncomfortable tension.
Keep an eye on
Mali’s presidential elections (Jul. 29). Mali’s presidential election is being held on Sunday, Jul. 29. Chief among the incumbent Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s two dozen challengers is opposition leader and third-time presidential candidate Soumalia Cissé.
Zimbabwe’s close election (Jul.30) is under threat from fake news. On Monday (Jul. 30) Zimbabwe will hold its first election since the ousting of Robert Mugabe in November. Recent polls predict a very close presidential race. However, both major parties have been overwhelmed by disinformation in the run-up.
The African Philanthropy Forum Annual Conference (Aug.1-2). The two-day conference is being held in Johannesburg. At this year’s conference, delegates will discuss the role of philanthropists and social investors in bridging the gap between Africa’s potential and its reality.
*This brief was produced while listening to Drum by The Dalom Kids (South Africa).
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, free wifi and artisanal diamonds to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day. This newsletter was compiled by Kemi Lijadu and edited by Yinka Adegoke.
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