Hi, Quartz Africa readers!
Turning point
Leaders from all African nations, except for eSwatini, attended the 2018 Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing this past week. There, Chinese president Xi Jinping pledged $60 billion to the continent in loans, grants, and development financing. Xi also announced eight initiatives aimed at improving Sino-Africa relations, including investments in healthcare, education, security, cultural exchanges, and increasing non-resource imports from Africa.
The conference happened against a backdrop of growing scrutiny of Beijing’s lending practices. Critics argued China’s Belt and Road initiative, modeled on the old Silk Road, was a giant “debt trap” and akin to “neocolonialism.” Observers also noted the Asian superpower wasn’t being straightforward about whether it fulfilled all the funds it previously promised to African states. The $60 billion financial pledge was also an aberration from China’s pattern to double or triple pledges every three years: from $5 billion in 2006 to $60 billion in 2015.
FOCAC also took place as Beijing faces increasing local and international pressures including a total debt that has ballooned from $6 trillion in 2008 to $28 trillion by 2017. There’s also the ongoing trade war with the US, the growing pressures on the yuan, besides domestic criticism that the government should use these finances to improve Chinese lives. Pushing back against some of these sentiments, Xi argued at the summit that Chinese money was not being spent on “vanity projects” in Africa.
Given all this, experts say China might become “stringent” and cautious in extending loans to Africa. The onus will then be on African governments—who owe a lot of debt not just to Beijing but also to commercial and traditional lenders like the World Bank—to clearly define their development agendas. In seeking Chinese finance, there will need to be increased quality in project selection and implementation. To dispel skepticism around the commercial viability of ventures, governments could also submit regional projects together, hence driving both economic and political integration in the long run. To boost cooling trade figures, there’s need to improve regulations, promote the private sector, and diversify African brand exports to China.
In this changing climate, it will be prudent for African leaders to not just voice adulations towards China but to actually do what matters.
— Abdi Latif Dahir, Quartz Nairobi correspondent
Stories from this week
Artificial intelligence is helping bring elephant poachers to justice. The Elephant Listening Project uses machine learning algorithms similar to Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri to track elephants’ movements in Africa. Jackie Bischof looks at how conservationists are teaming up with computer scientists to keep poachers from destroying the continent’s elephant population.
International broadcasters are making a big bet on pidgin English in West Africa. As part of a $370 million expansion last year, the BBC launched a pidgin news service. DStv, the dominant pan-African satellite service from South Africa, also experimented with pidgin programming during the World Cup. Yomi Kazeem tracks why this form of broken English is having a renaissance with broadcasters across West Africa.
Benin joins a growing list of African nations taxing social media. First, it was Uganda, and then Zambia. Now Benin has moved to impose levies for using over-the-top media services like Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter. There’s been a backlash against the tax from digital activists and citizens alike.
Europe’s budget airlines Ryanair and easyJet are looking to Kenya. Europe’s low-cost carriers easyJet and Ryanair are in talks with authorities to bring holiday-makers to Mombasa. Despite the airlines’ “no frills” reputation it would be a major boost for Kenya’s tourism sector.
What happens to African designers when Beyoncé and other stars wear your clothes. When even British prime minister Theresa May wears and name-checks African designers, Lynsey Chutel and Kemi Lijadu decided to find out what a spike in publicity really means for the designer. Does Beyoncé or Michelle Obama wearing an outfit actually translate into profit?
Quartz announcement
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Chart of the Week
A business model built with cheap batteries could help accelerate electrification in Africa. Can cheap solar panels and batteries do for electricity what mobile phones did for communication? Michael J. Coren explains how one startup hopes to use cellular connections and pay-as-you-go mobile payments to deliver electricity to millions of homes.
Other Things We Liked
Podcast: How Chinese money works—and doesn’t—for African infrastructure. Quartz Africa contributor Andrew Alli discusses his recent article in more detail with the China Africa Project podcast looking at how China’s loans and investments in Africa can be put to their most effective use.
The kidnapped African boy who became a German philosopher. Anton Wilhelm Amo was a well-known German philosopher at the height of his intellectual powers in the 1700s. In an excerpt from his upcoming book The Lies that Bind, Kwame Anthony Appiah examines what’s his story tell us about racial fixations.
Dakar might be the most stylish city in the world. In Senegal’s capital, people are not intimidated by bold prints or dynamic colors. This collection of photos, shot by photographer Fanny Latour-Lambert for GQ in 72 hours, is enough to declare “this season’s most epic fashion shoot.”
Keep an eye on
Europe to announce tough border controls (Sept. 12). In his last state of the union speech, EU president Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to propose new measures aimed at deterring migration from Africa.
Nuku Photo Festival (Sept. 12-21). Ghana’s first festival for photographic exchanges and storytelling will showcase visual documentation of women and work, besides the daily dynamics of life in northern Ghana.
Kofi Annan burial. (Sept. 13). The former head of the United Nations and the doyen of global diplomacy will receive a state funeral in his home nation of Ghana.
*This brief was produced while listening to Heygana by Ali Farka Touré (Mali).
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, Ryanair/easyJet tickets and offers to wear your African fashion designs 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 Abdi Latif Dahir and edited by Yinka Adegoke.
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