Hi, Quartz Africa readers!
Stories from this week
The dawn of an African e-commerce goldrush may be a false one. The excitement around Africa’s first billion-dollar ‘unicorn’ prompts Tom Jackson to caution that African e-commerce might be the wrong investment to make given common challenges including difficult logistics and an economically-limited middle class. The best bets may be in more niche sectors.
A ticking time bomb—$35 billion worth of Eurobond debt. Several African nations have chosen to issue sovereign bonds as a cheaper way to borrow explains Trevor Hambayi. The problem is many now have debt (including coupon payments) of up to $35 billion due in a few years even as their economies are taking a hit from a likely long-term downturn in commodity prices.
Kenya may soon produce its own high-performance running shoes. Two local entrepreneurs want to take advantage of the myth around the nation’s runners with the first made-in-Kenya running shoe. They’re starting a specialty shoe company called Enda, the Kiswahili word for “Go.”
Africa has the second lowest number of cancer cases, but the highest cancer death rate in the world. After 36 surgeries and radiation burns, Carol Atuhirwe’s already harrowing battle with cancer was made worse when the old radiotherapy machine, the only one in Uganda, broke down. Lydia Namubiru explains that as incidence of non-communicable diseases, like cancer, increase in Africa, many countries are ill-equipped to heal.
The story behind the racist Chinese ad where a black man gets his skin color scrubbed off. Quartz’s Lily Kuo in Nairobi and Zheping Huang in Hong Kong, take a closer look behind the scenes at the setting which produced an ad which has sparked outrage across the world. It turns out the Chinese middle classes, for whom the washing machine ad was intended, were also offended.
Flying a drone in Nigeria will cost a lot more than the drone itself. The Nigeria’s ban on drones without government-approved permits has caused a stir in the country. New required permits and security clearances could easily top $4,000 explains Yomi Kazeem. In comparison, the process costs only $5 in the United States.
Nigerians hate Caitlyn Jenner’s transgender reality show so much they got it banned throughout Africa.
Nigeria’s conservative broadcast regulator successfully pressured South Africa-based satellite TV company MutliChoice to pull ‘I am Cait’ from its Africa-wide TV line-up,
from Johannesburg.
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Chart of the week
African start-ups are securing more investment but there’s still room for growth
. A new report shows that even though investment secured by startups in the past year has more than doubled, venture capital funding and angel investment still accounts for just 12% of funding available to start-ups in Africa,
.
Other Things We Liked
The unstoppable rise of African fintech is rapidly changing the way Africans transact. Fintech is becoming a a facilitator of economic growth in Africa, writes Dominique Collett in Ventureburn Collett argues it is “lowering barriers to entry for consumers by playing a development role and helping to reduce financial exclusion.”
The Deceivers: A former England cricketer, his business partner and an empire built with bribery and scams across Africa. A in-depth investigative package of reporting by Global Witness on ex-England spin bowler Phil Edmonds and his partner Andrew Grove, detailing their string of fraudulent hits taking in Liberia, Guinea, Mozambique and South Africa among others.
Keep an eye on
Africa’s TV and online content industry is gathering in Abidjan (May 31 to June 2). Discop Africa will bring together international and domestic content producers and distributors on the continent to discuss buying and selling opportunities.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) is meeting this weekend. The ruling party holds its regular National Executive Committee meeting where president Jacob Zuma’s future in the party is likely to come up for discussion. But few long-time watchers expect any surprise announcements.
Our best wishes for a productive week ahead. Please send any news, comments, Kenyan running shoes and Nigerian drone permits to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day.