Hi, Quartz Africa readers!
Digitized workers
After faster internet services started to become widely available in Sub Saharan Africa, two different studies by the Demographic and Health Surveys and Afrobarometer discovered the probability an individual found a job improved by between 7% to 13% relative to areas unconnected to submarine cables.
The studies are referenced in a World Bank report on the Future of Work in Africa and it’s a reminder of the growing importance of internet connectivity to how economic lives are expected to develop in the 21st century.
Discussions around enabling jobs and entrepreneurship are vital for the continent with the youngest population and often include how to enhance the manufacturing bases in different countries. While improving manufacturing will always be important the inevitable expansion of automation across the world likely means even if factories expand in Africa they will probably not be the mass employers they were in the last century for Asia and other industrialized regions.
But as digital technology becomes more widely available Africa stands to gain greatly due to the continent’s current low level of technology adoption, says the World Bank report. For example, one study found faster internet increases job opportunities as much for university graduates as it did Africans with just primary school education. This doesn’t happen in wealthier global regions.
In making the case for digital transformation there is a need to use these technologies to more efficiently accelerate and scale up the education and training opportunities for a continent where human capital has often been woefully underdeveloped. Again, some of the biggest returns will be seen among some of the lowest-skilled workers including those in the informal sector which accounts for up to 90% of all workers.
The World Bank report recommends policymakers support entrepreneurs and their ideas with an enabling environment; enhance the productivity of the informal sector and its workers rather than only focusing on how to formalize them; and for policymakers to extend social protection coverage which in turn helps encourage entrepreneurs to take risks.
— Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
Five stories from this week
What it took to spark a mental health reckoning for Africa’s doctors. Amid the unraveling of the Covid-19 pandemic across Africa, health workers are working under pressure in under-equipped and under-funded health systems. Yet, as Jackie Bischof explains, one bright spot has been the prioritization of the mental well-being of the doctors and nurses on the front-lines of the crisis.
Scientists are confounded by the deaths of hundreds of elephants in Botswana. After years of being known as a stronghold for Africa’s elephant population, scientists are puzzled by mysterious deaths of the pachyderms in Botswana. With speculation rife about poisoning and poaching, scientists are weighing up a range of possible theories.
Kenya and Nigeria are saving millions of dollars with local exchanges to boost internet speeds. African internet users are all too familiar with slow, choppy internet speeds. But in two of the continent’s largest economies, the launch of local internet exchange points offers evidence of how to optimize the experience of using the internet for locals.
The pandemic’s spread across Africa is being tempered by a young population, for now. Africa has seen lower numbers of Covid-19 cases and death compared with other continents, on a per million basis. As Uwagbale Edward-Ekpu reports, a new Africa-focused Covid-19 vulnerability index suggests the continent’s relatively young population may explain the low fatality rate so far despite stretched public healthcare systems.
How the FBI used Instagram and Snapchat to track down an alleged conman in Dubai. The high-profile arrest of 12 alleged Nigerian scammers living in the United Arab Emirates by the Dubai Police Force has culminated in their transfers to the United States for trial. Chidinma Irene Nwoye explains how social media became an evidence gathering tool for law enforcement in pursuit of Instagram star “Hushpuppi,” the suspected kingpin of the transnational cyber-crime network.
Dealmaker
Japanese venture capital firms are stepping up their investments in African startups. Japanese early stage and corporate VC investors have been quietly building up their investments in African startups, becoming an interesting Asian alternative to rising Chinese interest, reports Yomi Kazeem in Lagos. Kepple Africa Ventures, a seed stage VC firm is one example of firms trying to make a pathway for larger Japanese corporations to invest on the continent.
•Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings has bought leading African private equity investor Helios Holdings and is merging it with Fairfax Africa to create Helios Fairfax Partners. Helios’ co-founders, Tope Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye, will become joint chief executives while Fairfax Africa chief executive Michael Wilkerson becomes executive chairman. Helios is also raising for its Helios Investors IV fund with a $1.25 billion target and this week snagged a $100 million from CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution.
•Honoris United Universities, a pan-African education group backed by global investment firm Actis has bought Nile University in Abuja, Nigeria. Honoris also owns institutions in Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritius, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
•ProfitShare Partners, a South African fintech company, raised $5.9 million in debt and quasi-equity funding from the SA SME Fund. The funding comes after ProfitShare Partners’ $1.5 million financing from South Africa-based Vumela Fund.
Chart of the Week
African mobile users pay nearly three times the global average for voice calls and internet. Despite a drop in the global affordability gap between mobile voice package prices in developed and developing countries, research shows African users pay nearly 200% more than the global average.
Other things we liked
Everyone’s talking about the death of the CFA franc, but the eco isn’t ready yet. News that the end of the Francophone West Africa’s CFA franc is coming to its end to be replaced by a single currency across the entire sub-region of nearly 400 million people has sparked tensions among leaders there, write Cyril Bensimon and Marie de Vergès for Le Monde. The inability of the eight current CFA member states to come to an early agreement with Nigeria threatens the eco project before it is born. [French].
Used clothes ban may crimp Kenyan style but may also lift local design. Back in late March, Kenya banned the importation of used clothes as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus. This means there has been a loss of hundreds of jobs connected to the thriving local trade of secondhand clothes but it has also created an opportunity for local fashion designers and manufacturers, finds Abdi Latif Dahir for the New York Times.
ICYMI
Google Podcasts Creator Program. A 12-week training and mentorship program for underrepresented voices in podcasting. Selected participants will receive $12,000 in production funding. (Aug. 3)
Harvard University Academy Scholars. A two-year, in-residence, postdoctoral fellowship at The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies open to recent PhD recipients and doctoral candidates in the social sciences or law. (Oct. 1)
*This brief was produced while listening to Yo Pe Remix by Innoss’B feat. Diamond Platnumz (DR Congo/Tanzania).
Our best wishes for a productive and ideas-filled year ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, ideas, actual Hush Puppies and cheaper phone calls to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day.
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