Hi, Quartz Africa readers!
Trying a new way
It’s hard not to have seen the early coverage of the United States’ new “Africa Prosper” policy without quickly coming to the conclusion it’s the same or a facet of the White House’s China policy.
This is particularly true if you watched or read the combative comments by US national security advisor Ambassador John Bolton during a press conference announcing the policy shift in Washington DC. And yet, there’s a chance most of us might have jumped to the same conclusion too quickly.
The one thing we’ve learned in the media, and the general public, is the rhetoric and posturing of the Trump administration can often be a distraction and at times misleading. This is especially so when it comes to matters such as foreign affairs or immigration where there’s a strong desire to emphasize the “America First” world view.
How else to explain all the headlines with Bolton belligerently calling out China and Russia’s exploitative roles in Africa, while the White House’s actual fact sheet on the new policy is a relatively moderate document which mentions China only once and makes no mention of Russia.
“The goal of Ambassador Bolton’s rhetoric may have been to persuade the American public to the relevance of adopting an African policy while at the same time trying to persuade Africans that the US is a be better trade and investment partner,” says Brookings Fellow Landry Signé.
Despite all the talk (at times unpleasant), this White House, supported by a US Congress which is almost always bipartisan on Africa issues, has been nothing if not consistent in its push for the US to focus on trade and investment in dealing with African nations, says Signé. “This strategy is probably one of the most business-friendly US-Africa policies in recent times—at least in principle.” Typically, he says, recent US presidents only really focused on Africa in their second terms. Trump has started relatively early.
Of course, taking on China has a key role with the United States’ Africa outlook, but there seems a real push to promise support for US corporates and organizations to take on the excessively perceived risk when it comes to doing business in Africa.
However, more information is needed than the one-page fact sheet the White House provided in support of what is supposed to be a major Africa policy shift, if this is meant to be Trump’s Power Africa, AGOA or even an aid program like Pepfar there are few details as of yet to really help understand how this could work.
— Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
P.S: Thanks for the recognition, New African magazine.
Stories from this week
Ethiopian photographers are documenting their nation’s quick pace of change. The fifth edition of the Addis Foto Festival featured the most Ethiopian photographers since the event started almost a decade ago. Abdi Latif Dahir reports from Addis Ababa on how their work has dramatically changed amid increasing openness in the country.
As tighter regulation looms a Nigerian fintech startup secures credit rating. Nigeria’s central bank has had an increasingly bearish attitude towards fintech companies so One Finance is shoring up its credibility by becoming the first local startup to secure a credit rating. It’ll help One Finance access latent sources of local capital from institutional investors.
Kenya will start tracking down its stolen cultural artifacts worldwide. Across Africa, there’s a conversation about former colonial powers returning treasures seized through outright theft, military conquest, or illegal means. That discussion has now come to Kenya, where a German-funded program is set to trace and identify all the Kenyan cultural objects held in public institutions abroad.
Cameroon’s Anglophone separatists have created their own crypto-currency. The self-declared state Ambazonia in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions has an anthem, flag, and an interim government but isn’t recognized internationally. In efforts to be independent, the separatists have now created their own Ethereum-based currency, reports Amindeh Blaise Atabong from Yaoundé.
Côte d’Ivoire’s newest mall has opened its doors to an ignored, but lucrative market. Dismissed as garish symbols of mass-consumerism elsewhere in the world, in Africa shopping malls have become emblematic of economic growth and political stability, particulalry in wealthy suburbs. A new mall in a working class Abidjan neighborhood shows just how far the country has come, writes Lynsey Chutel.
Remembering Calestous Juma. It’s been a year since the Kenyan-born Harvard professor Calestous Juma passed on. Juma, who was an early supporter of Quartz Africa, was a champion of innovation and science playing a vital role in African development. Read some of his important insights on intra-continental trade, refreshing African education and his last book on innovation. Rest in peace.
Chart of the Week
More than half the world is using the internet—driven by a record number of Africans. For the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population, or 3.9 billion people will have access to the internet by end of 2018. Much of that progress is thanks to Africa, where internet penetration grew from a mere 2.1% in 2005 to over 24% in 2018.
Other Things We Liked
Bags of cash and dodgy deals with a man who could’ve inspired the film ‘Blood Diamond. This week New York hedge-fund firm Och-Ziff Capital Management agreed to pay a hefty fine to defer prosecution in the US. But as the Wall Street Journal reports ($), the criminal investigation brought to light the kind of bribery and corruption in Libya and the DR Congo that read like a film script.
Academia is silent about capitalism in Africa. Many African countries are by now capitalist societies and analytically need to be treated as such, argues Jörg Wiegratz in Africa is a Country. While many parts of the continent lag behind the Global North, there are phenomena that put Kampala, Johannesburg and Nairobi on par with Berlin, London and Paris and it’s time African Studies caught up with this.
ICYMI
The UN Economic Commission for Africa fellowship. The program gives practical, on-the-job experience for African professionals with advanced degrees. (Jan. 10)
The 2019 Ghanaian women’s social leadership program. The one-year program at New York University is designed for women in mid-level positions in Ghanaian civil society to develop leadership and management skills. (Feb. 3)
Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth scholarships. The fully-funded awards give students the chance to pursue a master’s degree and join an international alumni network of 35,000 individuals. (Feb. 6)
Keep an eye on
Madagascar run-off polls. (Dec. 19). Two former presidents Marc Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina will face off in a hotly-contested run-off vote in the island nation.
Elections in DR Congo (Dec. 23). For the first time since 2001, citizens will elect a new president from a field of 21 candidates in a tense election that many doubt will bring real change to the vast central African state.
*This brief was produced while listening to Chayeb by Fnaïre (Morocco).
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, photos of progressive revolution and long-lost Kenyan artifacts 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.