Hi, Quartz Africa readers!
Sweet gig
One of my favorite anecdotes from a few years back, shared here before, is of the Nairobi Uber driver who on learning I had just arrived from New York, asked: “Do they have Uber in the US?” Since then I’ve encountered many drivers from Lagos to Cape Town and noted how quickly ride-sharing has spread in some of the big African cities, although, not without its challenges.
It’s also been interesting to see the rapid rise of Airbnb as a much needed alternative in some of Africa’s largest cities which have a shortage of affordable international standard hotels.
Uber and Airbnb are a big part of discussions about the short-term, freelance work “gig economy“, but in real terms they’re actually a small section of it.
For many African countries, the gig economy could just be called “the economy”. For example, just 17% of Kenyan employment is formal. Many of the economies are driven by the informal nature of the gainful employment that exists. The Center for Global Development addresses this in a paper this month which notes digital platforms help African freelance workers and budding enterprises on the path to formalization. But while this isn’t unique to Africa, it points out the degree to which these services are needed in Africa is what is unique. “Most entrepreneurs have never worked in the formal sector, nor do they have mentors who have created larger businesses.”
CGD’s research found people in African cities tend to like this type of flexible work, be it ride-share drivers, e-commerce sellers or home stay hosts. CGD identifies another category of African e-worker called “digital translators”. In this context it means like when Kenya’s Safaricom employs 5,400 people formally, but has 130,000 mobile money outlets, which typically employ one or two people. Or e-commerce leader, Jumia, which employs 3,000 people across Africa, but has another 100,000 commission-based affiliates who help customers make orders.
Of course, it’s not all plain sailing with gig work in Africa—just like with operating in more advanced economies. Disruption has raised tensions in certain traditional sectors where high unemployment means the stakes are even higher. There are also the same questions of whether gig workers will get a fair share of profits.
There does seem a better opportunity for African governments to raise much needed taxes in the medium to long-term, but for now CGD suggests the best option to make gig work better might be to “recognize it for what it is, neither formal employment not self-employment, and not as one job but a portfolio of different gigs.”
— Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
Stories from this week
The homegrown brand taking Ethiopia’s artisan-roasted coffee shops to China. Ethiopia is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of coffee and is Africa’s top grower of the plant. As China embraces global coffee drinking culture, an Ethiopian company is tapping into that by opening 100 café stores there by 2022, reports Abdi Latif Dahir.
China’s search for sand is destroying Mozambique’s pristine beaches. “We watched the house being dragged by the water,” said one villager who lost his home after a Chinese firm began mining nearby. Lynsey Chutel looks at how a construction boom in China is driving unchecked mining along the Mozambican coastline.
An artist’s “remixing” of apartheid-era images is raising questions about appropriation and free speech. A reinterpretation of iconic apartheid struggle photographs by African American conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas has sparked controversy. It has forced South Africans to reckon with who has the rights to images of the country’s painful past.
The harrowing, step-by-step migrant journey to get to Europe. Tens of thousands of African migrants have risked their lives in recent years to get to Europe on illegal journeys via the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean Sea. Yomi Kazeem documents the vivid, detailed account of one young Nigerian’s long and peril-filled journey through neighboring Niger’s migrant middlemen, the slave markets of Libya and risky attempts to cross the Mediterranean to get to Italy.
I was recruited from Nigeria to be a computer technician—then forced into prostitution in Italy. More than 11,000 women arrived in Italy in 2016 and many of them were forced into some form of sexual slavery. In an excerpt from her book, Roadmap to Hell, Italian journalist Barbie Latza Nadeau recounts the story of Blessing Okoedion and how she took on Italian authorities to get out.
Africa’s richest company is putting aside $300 million to back local tech companies and startups. Cape Town-based Naspers, was transformed from a traditional newspaper company on the back of one of the best deals of the recent digital era as an early investor in China’s Tencent. It has since invested in other tech companies in India and elsewhere but never really focused that much on Africa. A new $314 million fund will change that.
Chart of the Week
Kenya is working on plans t0 build its own mobile phone. Recognizing the crucial role the mobile phone now has in its economy, the Kenyan government has set up a fund to support local startups working in the mobile software and hardware space. The big challenge for such plans is that any new phone would have to overcome widely available and affordable Chinese-made phones designed for African markets.
Other Things We Liked
How African governments pay for World Bank’s Mauritius miracle. Mauritius has long been the tax haven of choice for large African businesses. For Foreign Policy, Matt Kennard and Claire Provost find the questionable means of siphoning tax dollars from poor countries and into the pockets of the global elite is being indirectly supported by the World Bank.
We should look to Africa to really advance artificial intelligence. With the vast majority of AI experts being in North America, Europe and Asia, Africa is barely represented. Google AI Research Lab, Accra’s Moustapha Cissé warns in Nature such a lack of diversity “can entrench unintended algorithmic biases and build discrimination into AI products.”
Refugees from Anglophone Cameroon defy odds to start new lives in Nigeria. Over the past two years, peaceful protests in Cameroon’s Anglophone northwest and southwest regions for more inclusion in a French-led national government have escalated into violence and fears of a civil war. For Popula, Oluwatosin Adeshokan reports on the travails—and some joys—of Cameroonian refugees that have been forced to flee into neighboring Nigeria.
ICYMI
Nurturing the next pan-African leaders. The Mandela Institute for Development Studies offers scholarships to Africans who wish to pursue post-graduate studies within Africa but outside of their own countries.
Supporting doctoral researchers working on peace, security, and development. Citizens or residents of any sub-Saharan African country with a master’s degree can have their research costs covered to develop a doctoral dissertation proposal. (Dec. 15)
The African Graduate Fellowship in Egypt. The American University in Cairo will offer nationals of African countries, except Egypt, to study full-time in any of the graduate programs. (Feb. 1)
Keep an eye on
2018 Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance (Oct. 29). The index provides a broad analysis of the state of Africa’s political, social, health, and economic institutions.
Africa Water Week (Oct. 29-Nov. 2). The African ministers council on water, along with the African Union, will convene in Libreville, Gabon to discuss safeguarding access to adequate quantities of quality water.
Discovery Leadership Summit (Nov. 1). Bill and Hillary Clinton will be the headline speakers at the Johannesburg event, which also features former British prime minister David Cameron and Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya.
*This brief was produced while listening to Tswaka by Hip Hop Pantsula (South Africa). Rest in peace, Jabba.
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, Ethiopian artisanal coffee and Kenyan-made mobile phones to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day.
If you received this email from a friend or colleague, you can sign up here to receive the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief in your inbox every week. You can also follow Quartz Africa on Facebook.