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Stories from this week
A bet on the “Netflix of Africa” five years ago would have earned a 3000% return
. Nigeria’s tech space has been attracting the attention and money of investors looking to make big returns over the last decade. Finally, some investors have, according to Jason Njoku founder of iROKOtv. Early day investors in iROKOtv, the Nollywood streaming service,
exited earlier this year with $2.4 million
on a 2011 investment of just $80,000.
Corruption is making Kenya’s rainy season much more dangerous. A six-story building, that should have been demolished earlier, collapsed during heavy rains in Nairobi this week, killing at least 35 people. Nairobi’s governor admitted that government corruption is the problem, but he also blamed the general population for littering and clogging up the drainage system, writes Lily Kuo from Nairobi.
Why Jamaicans worship an Ethiopian king. Rebekah Kebede, an Ethiopian who lives in Jamaica, was always puzzled by why Jamaican Rastafarians thought Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie was divine. So when Selassie’s grandson came to Jamaica last month, she used his visit to understand how black Jamaicans used Ethiopian history to help overcome their own background of slavery and oppression.
The US spent $1.4 billion promoting abstinence in Africa—it didn’t work.
Since 2004, a US initiative called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief better known as PEPFAR has preached abstinence before marriage as a way to stem the spread of HIV. An evaluation by researchers at Stanford’s School of Medicine of the program concluded that PEPFAR
on how many sexual partners people had or how early they became sexually active.
Even in the place where Zika virus was first discovered, its true origin is a mystery. In the Zika Forest, a short distance from the Ugandan capital Kampala, Clara Wright finds researchers are still trying to figure out where the mosquito-borne disease came from and how it traveled to South America, where the outbreak was declared a public health emergency. But local experts are confident that Zika will not easily spread in Africa.
Lagos is Africa’s 7th largest economy and is about to get bigger with its first oil production.
Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, has long been heralded for its immense revenue generation potential. Now, Africa’s 7th biggest economy just got a big boost with news of its debut oil production
from Lagos. However, its increased earning potential from oil, while relatively small, also comes with the risks of environmental dangers of oil pollution for densely populated megacity.
Chart of the week
For many Africans, remittances—cash sent home by relatives abroad—dare hugely important. But these remittances come at a steep price for senders and receivers. New data from World Bank shows it still costs more to send money to, and within, sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else.
Other things we liked
Who owns Mandela? The Economist argued this week that as a series of present-day scandals blight the image of South Africa’s revolutionary government, the African National Congress is looking to the past to restore its reputation. But, opposition parties also want their share of South Africa’s liberation icons.
“When the old man goes.” Zimbabwe’s economy has been declining so badly it is now no surprise it is printing its own version of the US dollar. Its economy has suffered as uncertainty with the country’s future leadership mounts. New York Times’ Norimitsu Onishi and Hopewell Chin’ono,explore whether the country has a plan for when its 92-year old president, Robert Mugabe passes on.
Keep an eye on
The 26th World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda (May 11-13).
The
annual event will bring together
some 1,200 attendees from more than 70 countries. The theme this year is
Connecting Africa’s Resources through Digital Transformation
. President Paul Kagame will be welcoming current and future counterparts including president Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa’s deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa. Business leaders will also have a strong presence including Aliko Dangote, Bob Diamond and Trevor Ncube among others.
Frontier 100 Forum in Nairobi, Kenya (May 13-14). The Initiative for Global Development Leaders event gathers business leaders to discuss the theme, Engines of Growth: Powering African Companies to Create Employment and Accelerate Development. Its focus will be on how African companies and multinational corporations can drive job creation and growth.
Our best wishes for a productive week ahead. Please send any news, comments, early stage iROKO shares and abstinence funds to africa@qz.com.You can follow us on twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day.