By Imali Ngusale Accepting rhetorical statements to curb the climate crisis can no longer be accepted as a norm in the climate ecosystem. The time has...
By Gregory Simpkins For two decades, the United States has held a trio of conferences that used to be considered summits: the African Growth and Opportunity...
By Gregory Simpkins I have worked on analyzing Africa issues for more than 40 years, and during that time, I have constantly heard appeals for humanitarian...
By Gregory Simpkins The global population recently reached 8 billion people. Sometime early on November 15, the eight billionth person – a baby girl in a...
By Gregory Simpkins When the Marvel Studios film Black Panther hit theaters in 2018, it created a couple of sensations. The first, of course, was that...
By Gregory Simpkins The announcement of a so-called “permanent” cease-fire agreement in Ethiopia’s Tigray war sparked optimism among those outside Ethiopia, as well as those clinging...
By Ovigwe Eguegu and Hannah Ryder The 27th Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP27) has officially opened. 44,000 people including 90 heads of state have registered...
By Gregory Simpkins Pollution has been significantly diminished in developed countries due to the use of less polluting energy sources such as unleaded gasoline and natural...
By Gregory Simpkins Since the days of African independence, the continent has been bedeviled by internal and external conflicts. There have been coups like the recent...
By Hannah Giorgis Barbados, the easternmost stretch of land in the Caribbean Sea, is a pear-shaped island surrounded by a dense network of bright coral. As...
By Boutheina Guermazi, Brigit Pickel and Lacina Koné Digital technologies offer new avenues for economic growth in Africa by accelerating job creation, supporting access to public...
By Gregory Simpkins For more than a century, members of the African Diaspora in America and the Caribbean have made efforts to create linkages with our...
By Gregory Simpkins It has become fashionable in the developed world community to criticize Africa for the lack of unity among its component members, as evidenced...
By Gregory Simpkins While eyes around the world are on Russia – because of its war on Ukraine, which is negatively affecting Africa and elsewhere, the...
By Gregory Simpkins Much has been written and said about how the world’s big powers have squeezed Africa into the middle of their global conflicts –...
By Gregory Simpkins I attended the first Global Africa Business Initiative (GABI) in New York recently. It was well produced and well attended, and I got...
By Gregory Simpkins A lot of attention has been given to China’s involvement in Africa, and of course, the ongoing participation of Europe’s former colonial powers...
By Gregory Simpkins Between 1870 and 1900, the so-called “scramble for Africa” resulted in almost all the continent coming under European colonial control. The United Kingdom...
By Gregory Simpkins Agency is defined as “the sense of control you feel in life, your capacity to influence your own thoughts and behavior, and the...
By Stephen Onyeiwu Nigeria is preparing to elect its next president in February 2023. That person will have a daunting task of fixing a near-comatose economy....
By Gregory Simpkins Elections play a significant part in the establishment and maintenance of representative democracy worldwide, but all too often, the entirety of the process...
By Chuka Onwumechili The Confederation for African Football (CAF) recently announced plans for a continent-wide Africa Super League. It will kick off with 24 clubs from...
By Gregory Simpkins There has been a lot of discussion about the African Diaspora and its importance in US-Africa trade and general relations. However, just counting...
By Gregory Simpkins The Biden Administration is about to release its Africa policy within days of this writing. Most U.S. Administrations do this at some point,...
By Gregory Simpkins The Biden Administration has released its U.S.-Africa policy document, and it looks a lot like the previous ones issued by American Executive Branch...
By Dennis Matanda Washington, DC | As the past one hundred years have illustrated, when the United States puts its collective muscle to good use, socio-economic growth...
By Gregory Simpkins I have written previously about Nigeria being the “essential nation” in Africa. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), successive U.S. Administrations have...
By Gregory Simpkins I count myself blessed to have been involved in the creation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and nearly a dozen...
By Gregory Simpkins The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) June Global Trends reported that by the end of 2021, the number of people displaced...
By Dennis Matanda The expression “tenacious contention” suggests that China and the United States are at an impasse after a dogged battle for the position of...
By Gregory Simpkins As the world rightly focuses on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, which has inflicted such misery on other countries, there is a growing conflict that...
By Gregory Simpkins On April 23, 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken proudly announced the appointment of Jeffrey Feltman as the U.S. Special Envoy for...
By Ngusale Imali The presidency in Kenya continues to be the most coveted political position in the country, and, in its earnest, the socio-political atmosphere in...
By Gregory Simpkins On May 30, 2019, the framework agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) entered into force, But this continental body still...
By Gregory Simpkins The Corporate Council on Africa recently hosted a briefing in Washington by United Nations High Representative for Infrastructure. Raila Odinga, a Kenyan politician...
By Gregory Simpkins Many people who are not familiar with international affairs see situations as strictly black and white; villain and victim. While there is some...
Bloomberg | For Black Americans, job prospects have improved since 2020. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the gains eked out over the...
By Leah Lynch Yesterday the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) released their eagerly awaited International Development Strategy. It has been an agonizing wait; the...
By Wanjohi Kabukuru | The Associated Press AP | From wind farms across the African coastline to geothermal projects in the east African rift valley, a...
By Charles Ray For too long in the West, primarily the United States and Western Europe, the continent of Africa has been viewed as peripheral to...
By John M. Mugane Once just an obscure island dialect of an African Bantu tongue, Swahili has evolved into Africa’s most internationally recognized language. It is...
By Weiwei Chen Common perceptions about Chinese engagement in Africa are that it is one-dimensional and sometimes biased. One common problem with this perception is the...
By Edson Mpyisi Last month, there was a hue and cry in Kenya when the multinational food corporation, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), ran out of fries...
The recent wave of coups in West Africa reflects both a generational divide and a history of military involvement in African politics.
By Omphemetse Sibanda Mandisa Maya, Judge President of South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal, was recently recommended by the country’s Judicial Services Commission to become the...
How real are these debt crisis claims? Is Ghana really in a debt crisis?
Excitement and anticipation loom large regarding President Biden’s choice. Who will it be?
The AU is often at the heart of agenda-setting, decision-making, rule creation, policy development and strategic leadership for the African continent.
The Nigerian capital managed to outperform its direct competitors Nairobi, Cape Town and Johannesburg in 2021, a trend that is likely to continue.
The February African Union summit should tackle vaccines and travel bans, climate change misperceptions and AU financing.
The trains will ease traffic in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital
For Barbados, becoming a republic is a significant transition that marks the capstone of a much longer process of symbolic decolonization.
Robert F. Smith should be applauded for helping make a difference and providing hope to millions of people in underserved communities
By Charlene Crowell On Monday, January 17, the United States will pause to honor the life of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The...
African governments should avoid the zero-sum trap - especially when dealing with US-Chinese rivalry and adopt strategies that strategically play rivals against each other and implement...
By Hippolyte Fofack More than 20,000 Africans were killed in violent conflicts in 2020, an almost tenfold increase from a decade ago. Concurrently, and perhaps not...
Africa is emerging as the next big retail hotspot
It is a moral disaster that some people are making billions of dollars by sitting on vaccine technology as billions are left unprotected and millions die...
Enabling Africa’s digital transformation requires homegrown enterprise solutions that address the continent’s unique realities.
By Simon Ngalomba Soon after independence from Britain in 1961, Tanzania declared war on 3 main obstacles to its development goals – ignorance, disease and poverty....
By Max Walter Industrial policy is seeing a revival in Africa and beyond. In fact, governments across the continent are now explicitly using a variety of...
The Chinese as colonizer trope has been repeated too often and information about Africa is too scant for most people to analyze these news stories correctly.
Remittance inflows to sub-Saharan Africa grew by 6.2 percent to US$45 billion this year
By J. Geng Akech and Magnus Killander South Sudan became an independent country following a long armed struggle to break away from Sudan. At a referendum...
HBCUs make up just 3% of U.S. higher education institutions, but they educate 14% of all Black college students and produce 24% of all Black degree...
China in many ways needs Africa to become the world’s largest manufacturing hub. With a growing youth population, providing concessional loans to African governments for the...
As negotiators at the Glasgow climate talks try to agree on greenhouse gas cuts, African leaders say poorer countries can’t be expected to remake their systems...
Dangote might be an example of a successful and dynamically expanding manufacturing firm in Nigeria. But structural transformation across the Nigerian economy remains very limited.
By David Walwyn The lack of vaccine production capacity in African countries has been the subject of much concern and hand-wringing in the wake of the...
By Hisham Eldardiry Since Ethiopia announced the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in 2011, there have been disagreements between Egypt and Ethiopia on...
In many cases, the ICC’s pattern of inconsistently pursuing cases has also made it seem like a partisan institution among post-conflict communities, a perception that politicizes...
With less than a year to go to the end of his term, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta is worrying about the legacy he will leave behind...
It appears that business leaders from communities of color in the United States are being held to a different standard of business practice, ethics, and regulation.
Forum looks to build on the increasingly close economic relations that have been forged between China and Africa over the last 20 years.
If the Western campaign to ban funding for projects based on fossil fuels in developing countries while continuing to use them itself is any indication, there...
The survivors were carted off in cattle trucks to concentration camps in Swakopmund, Lüderitz, and Windhoek, where many were beaten and raped, and thousands died from...
The opportunities to partner with Africa and a market of an estimated 1.4 billion people are immense. As we seek to advance an agenda for a...
Citizens cannot be forced to wait in order to have reliable energy and live modern, dignified lives
There is a need to inspire, empower and motivate young people to innovate in different segments of agricultural activity.
It is time to re-think the integration project, based on practical realities.
Africa is increasingly and gradually becoming more competitive investment destination for decades to come because of its improving relative risk profiles, demography, and continental integration.
Ignorance about Africa-China is a convenient way to keep the focus on China, while not acknowledging the toxicity of the actual Africa-West relationship, or to reckon...
Those of us interested in advancing sustainable development in Africa need to find ways to broaden and deepen engagement and conversation around critical issues and create...
Countries are not slaves to the past. With the right institutional framework and policies, like Botswana, they can overcome the history of colonialism and the curse...
Rebellious young people aren't a threat - they're the key to democratic reform
Africa is the second least affected region of the world
The dependent on pharmaceutical imports leaves Africans vulnerable to shortages of medication. More local manufacturing of medications could strengthen health systems throughout the continent.
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana together account for 65 percent of global cocoa production; Farmers in these two countries earn less than 6 percent of the chocolate...
Hassan has been very clear on the need for good, friendly, conducive and supporting business environment and investment climate
Intra-African trade provides a compelling opportunity to move away from reliance on exports of raw materials and develop the continent’s economies
Africa is a continent that holds immense opportunity for private investors. It has a young and growing population and abundant natural resources.
By David Jessop The appointment of Carla Barnett, Ph.D., as the next Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) should be an inflection point, a moment...
By Hartmut Winkler Southern Africa is popularly associated with sunshine. Does that make the region exceptionally suited to solar energy generation? With electricity shortages plaguing all...
The narrative about doing business in Africa needs to be revised. Given the myriad products and services that remain unattainable, opportunities for market-creating innovation abound. Africa’s...
The Igbos in Nigeria, have been practicing for centuries what is today known as stakeholder capitalism. The Igbo apprenticeship system (IAS) is a communal enterprising framework...
Africa is not getting all it can from its relationship with China. It is time to ask not what Africa can do for China, but what...
AP | In a century-old family story about a teenage aunt who liked to drive her luxury car down the trolley tracks of Tulsa, Kristi Williams...
Despite setbacks in 2020, VC investment is expected to climb sharply and exceed US$10 billion by 2025
The city's "Black Wall Street" was among the most prosperous neighborhoods in America, and a Black utopia - and then it was burned to the ground
By Delisle Worrell Over several years the Barbados Energy Ministry has benefited from world-leading expertise in the development of a strategy for the switch to renewable...
Trade agreement has the potential to create the world’s largest free trade area since the creation of the World Trade Organization
By Ben Jealous I am eager to see a brilliant Black woman serving as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. I hope to celebrate her swearing-in later...
"Black people were the ones that were sort of the most mobilized to learn more, to pay more attention and to take action in their own...
It is the first main blockchain project focused on serving the African market with goals that align with developmental agendas
The pandemic continues to exact a large toll on sub-Saharan Africa
In recent years, African sovereign wealth funds have demonstrated their capacity to implement innovative mechanisms such as public-private partnerships in the utilities, roads, ports, airports, telecoms-infrastructure,...
Vaccination rates in CARICOM countries are too low
African entrepreneurs need to adopt the organizational mindset which is linked to higher business success
Increase in staple grain imports in various African countries, combined with slightly better domestic grain production conditions in some, has slightly shielded the region
If Africa is to overcome barriers to structural transformation and industrialization, a broader strategy, based on developmental regionalism, will be needed
Chauvin guilty verdict, should have consequences for policing in the United States
The racialized trauma from police killings adds to the growing sense of alienation and frustration felt by African Americans
China’s FDI into Africa is more seeking to complement its own development than replicate it elsewhere.
The Global Pandemic has had significant economic, monetary and fiscal ramifications for Africa
Research shows Chinese companies hire large numbers of local employees
Sub-Saharan Africa is the second fastest-growing, and the second most profitable banking market in the world, partly because of the rapid adoption of new technology
Dear President Biden, As you know, the economic relationship between the U.S. and Africa has always attracted bipartisan support from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and in the...
By Representative Karen Bass Chair, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights & International Organizations The United States House of Representatives Over the past decade, several synergies...
The late president required that previous contracts be renegotiated and tightened for increased assurances and more revenues for Tanzania
Editor’s Note: State Councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi started 2021 by making his first foreign visit to Africa, a tradition dating back 31 years. 2021...
Introduction Manuel is well-known and well-regarded in the financial sector in Africa and abroad. He is easy going, ambitious and unforgettable. His former boss at the...
By Admassu Tadesse The Eastern and Southern African Trade & Development Bank (TDB) has had growing working relationships with America’s foremost public and private sector financial...
Editor’s Note & Introduction At 6.30 a.m. in Palo Alto, 2.30 p.m. in London, and 9.30 a.m. in Washington, DC, Prince Heto and David Luke sat...
Val Okaru-Bisant, ESQ & Frank Samolis, ESQ Those who subscribe to the isolationist viewpoint suggest that U.S. charity should begin (and stay) at home, caring for American...
By the Habari Journal Editorial Board It feels like we are living through the worst days of the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC). Even if that...
Caribbean people would prefer a Caribbean with one currency, one passport, free to travel between, to invest, to benefit from its abundant collective wealth
African countries have already taken a bold range of actions, from ambitious public health interventions to flatten the curve, to the expansion of social safety nets,...
Black-owned companies, which on average had fewer resources to draw upon going into last year, were hit particularly hard by the downturn and were less well-served...
The power gap between China and African countries, nonetheless, is real. To rebalance this relationship, African countries need to be more transparent in negotiating with Chinese...
What makes our democracy strong is that people spent years organizing and building the capacity to educate and motivate voters.
Pandemic has highlighted a number of areas in which Africa is weak or faces threats.
CARICOM wants to work alongside the US and other international partners within a robust multilateral framework to build back better.
Contrary to widely held beliefs, China-Africa relations are surprisingly adaptive, dynamic and resilient to the challenges and criticisms that they encounter.
AfCFTA, the largest global free trade area by countries participating, could transform the continent's economic prospects. It aims to be a model of cross-border cooperation in...
Smaller countries proved more agile than most of their larger counterparts
Given the new challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, African countries should consider reducing the sustainable development goals.
Until the 2000s, sub-Saharan Africa was actually de-industrializing. Then they turned it around.
For more than half a century, the U.S. was the center of global innovation for financial technology, inventing credit cards, ATMs, and online banking. Now, however,...
Appointment of female Commissioners is in line with the Maputo Protocol, requiring African states to ensure the participation of women at all levels of decision making.
Sustainable energy offers not just economic but critical social and environmental fortification.
We need to ask whether current agricultural practices in Barbados do in fact produce high quality food that is healthy and nutritious to eat.
Tech platforms are vital for nation to support Black-owned businesses amid pandemic
South Sudan is seeking investment in hydrocarbon exploration, infrastructure development and power generation capacity, with opportunities to be showcased at the upcoming South Sudan Oil &...
Guterres is the UN Secretary-General that has paid the greatest attention to the concerns and challenges of the countries of CARICOM
In order to boost intra-African trade, we need to improve infrastructure. Infrastructural development is the key to all aspects of social and economic transformation.
Key technologies like the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain and Big Data must be central to the monitoring and evaluation on the performance of...
The US is a neighbor, a friend and a development partner for the Caribbean. A more cooperative US is therefore a welcome change from the “America...
The landmark trade agreement has the potential to transform Africa
For years, the US-Africa relationship has fallen short of what it could be, owing to misaligned priorities and a mix of neglect and contempt on the...
Blockchain has the potential to help resolve many of the problems with the Caribbean finance sector; blockchain could also be helpful in connecting the region’s economies...
Any discussion of HBCUs and money must begin with a simple fact: HBCUs have less in the way of financial resources than do colleges in general.
African Union Passport may serve as a powerful tool to unify trade and labor mobility.
Continental Integration: Uniting a revitalized Africa
The benefits of empowering women to participate in the digital economy are obvious. The key to success will be initiatives to teach digital literacy and expand...
The "Build Back Better" plan offers many commitments including one to pursue “a dedicated agenda to close the racial wealth gap".
AfCFTA could transform Africa’s economic landscape and create productive opportunities. The potential increase in manufacturing jobs, commercial enterprises and agribusinesses could change the lives of millions...
African Continental Free Trade Area presents an opportunity to both bolster intra-regional trade and increase Africa’s negotiating position on the international stage.
If you apply a double standard, you lose the authority to tell anybody anything when they do wrong.
African nations and businesses face unique challenges. Shutting down funding for gas projects on the basis of climate action only hurts the continent’s people, and limits...
Abrams, 46, a lawyer, entrepreneur, and novelist apart from being a Democratic politician, became the minority leader in Georgia’s lower chamber in 2011, and began strengthening...
Spared the worst medical effects of COVID-19 with among the world’s lowest virus infection rates and fatalities, Africa nonetheless suffered due to deep economic fallout. Declining...
The incoming administration says racial justice is a top priority. Only a top-level adviser will be equipped to fight 'crisis unparalleled in the modern era.'
A Candid Conversation with Prudence Sebahizi & Stephen Lande By Dennis Matanda Addis Ababa, Nairobi, & Washington, DC ______________________________________ While a giant pond separates them, Prudence...
The pandemic has not only negatively impacted the creative sector in Africa, but it has also exposed its shortcomings.
Oprah Winfrey joins efforts to promote such entrepreneurs, but economists cite limits in addressing economic inequality through shopping
Applying modern e-hailing technology to private mass transport could produce mobility solutions that reduce congestion and car usage.
Africa is already at the point where mobile phones and mobile phone minutes are used for transactions, it is only a few steps away from moving...
For CARICOM representatives to engage effectively with the US Administration, CARICOM needs to have a clear policy and strategy to guide its representatives in Washington DC,...
Mobile broadband is vital to support access to education, work, healthcare, social networks, goods and services. Its effects were larger for those households that were exposed...
More than 40 percent of African American engineers are HBCU graduates. These colleges and universities have played a critical role in closing the achievement gap by...
A repository of real-time information on current trade negotiations is needed to track the rules that shape development outcomes in Africa, writes David Luke — Trade...
Ghana hopes to have a highly industrialised economy. It has singled out nuclear power as a key vehicle of development.
To avoid a lost decade similar to the one Latin America experienced from its 1980s debt crisis, the international community must help African countries avoid disorderly...
Beijing is Africa's most important trading partner, with Sino-African trade currently in excess of US$200 billion a year.
By Francis Mangeni, Stephen Lande, and Dennis Matanda A Growth Engine for the Next Fifty Years Even though a particularly disruptive global pandemic has had a...
Women and girls are being particularly affected by the pandemic, in areas such as health care, education, and personal safety.
By Benjamin Kagina Scientists are working around the clock to develop and test vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. Experts agree that widespread use...
To stimulate stimulate growth, to put the economy on a new path of increasing prosperity, Barbados requires new investment, in hotels and tourist facilities, in renewable...
By Francis Mangeni In this fourth and final part, we provide a series of responses, starting with the bane of regional integration in Africa. The Bane...
By Francis Mangeni In this third of a four-part article, I focus on the typology of Africa’s regional integration. Typology of African Regional Integration The ultimate...
Universal basic income helped Kenyans weather COVID-19 - but it’s not a silver bullet.
By Patrick Gathara The 2020 election in the United States seemed both familiar and strange. Familiar because it looked very much like the last 2 Kenyan...
By Ronald Sanders Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries should by now have worked out a strategy for securing the early attention of US President-elect, Joe Biden, and...
China’s growing engagement with Africa has had a positive, albeit uneven, effect on Africa’s economic growth, economic diversification, job creation and connectivity.
When it comes into effect, the AfCFTA will remake African economies - and the world’s.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is considered one of the richest countries in the world in terms of natural resources. It boasts a thriving mining...
What now for Black Lives Matter? Whatever happens under Biden, the role of African American women will be vital
Mature democracies don’t treat political opponents as wartime enemies.
In the wake of a continent-wide recession, a recovery designed and financed largely by Africans is well within reach. While the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the...
Following over a decade of service at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Dr. Francis Mangeni is now Head of Trade Promotion and...
Africa needs digital skills across the economy - not just the tech sector.
Nigeria’s population growth is a product of persistent high fertility and consistently declining mortality.
COVID-19 has revealed “horrendous legacies” of inequity
By Erastus Mwencha, Francis Mangeni, Stephen Lande & Dennis Matanda In this brief Manchester Trade paper, we argue that unless intra-African trade under the African Continental Free...
By Francis Mangeni Introduction In this first of a four-part article, I would like to elaborate on Africa’s economic integration efforts as a corollary to universalism...
The US presidential election highlights the gap between the promise of freedom and justice and reality for African Americans fuelling the recent protests.
One of the big boons for the region from the AfCFTA will be unblocking the trade barriers between Kenya and Ethiopia - the two largest economies...
China's productivity has increased faster than the world average. As a result, Chinese made products offer better value for money.
People from all over the world who have been colonized are sending the message that they are no longer accepting this system of “civilization” and that...
If female entrepreneurs received as much support as their male counterparts, the global economy could experience a boost of US$5 trillion.