When powerful nations wage trade wars, the cost is always borne by those who had no voice in starting them.
Why Africa must stop confusing potential with strategy
The US$91 billion that moves quietly across continents each year dwarfs the headlines given to IMF programs and World Bank loans - and it comes with...
The continent's trade volumes are climbing. Its production structures are not. That distinction will define Africa's economic future.
The continent's energy deficit is not merely an infrastructure failure. It is a crisis of sovereignty - and the clock is running out.
By Danilo Desiderio Africa’s trade lifelines run through a handful of critical maritime chokepoints. That geographic reality is both a testament to the continent’s integration into...
By John Kourkoutas Look at a map of urban agglomerations below – cities with populations exceeding one million – and a stark pattern emerges. The United...
Africa's Eurobond surge is more than a balance-sheet problem. It is a structural challenge to sovereign economic decision-making - and the continent's thinkers are demanding a...
The old assumption - that industrialization is engineered within national borders - has expired. Africa's economic future will be shaped not by the walls that divide...
By Daki Nkanyane Africa’s growing relevance is structural, not sentimental. The world has run out of ways to plan the future without it. For a long...
By Dishant Shah The continent’s youth bulge is not a development story. It is a structural macro-investment thesis – and the window to act is narrowing....
By Charles F.V. Chitekwe The African diaspora, and Black Americans in particular, represent one of the most powerful and untapped pools of capital, talent, and market...
By Dishant Shah Most conversations about Africa begin the same way. Someone leans across a boardroom table and asks: “Is it safe?” Another follows with: “Can...
By Ziad Hamoui Three months of uncertainty revealed what reliance on non-reciprocal arrangements truly costs the continent. The US House of Representatives approved the African Growth...
By Des H Rikhotso Despite geopolitical headwinds and persistent challenges, African economies are demonstrating remarkable adaptability and growth potential. The narrative surrounding Africa’s economic prospects has...
By Gregory September Regional cooperation just got real. Landlocked Mali can now reach the Atlantic. For landlocked nations, geography is often destiny. Mali, nestled deep in...
By Wavinya Makai The African Union’s support for the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) is one of the most consequential developments in Africa’s financial history, even...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Strategic equity demands and infrastructure investments signal a new era of African economic sovereignty. The landscape of African resource control is undergoing...
By Des H Rikhotso As major economies decelerate, the continent’s structural transformation is rewriting the global growth narrative. The latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections reveal...
By Lance Chisue Africa’s manufacturing sector is experiencing an unprecedented surge as nations across the continent compete to industrialize and expand production capacity. The transformation signals...
By Dishant Shah The dominance of finished goods in African markets isn’t about capability – it’s about cold economic calculation. Local manufacturing across Africa isn’t failing...
By Michele Moscaritoli West Africa is recalibrating its economic compass – not outward toward traditional global markets, but inward, across its own borders. The shift is...
By Gregory September In the complex landscape of African sovereign debt, Nigeria has achieved something noteworthy – yet the silence surrounding this accomplishment speaks volumes about...
By Dishant Shah The unit economics of manufacturing reveal that low wages mean little without productivity to match. The conventional wisdom about African manufacturing rests on...
By Danilo Desiderio The proposition that Africa’s single market will collapse without a supranational court is simultaneously persuasive and fundamentally flawed. Persuasive, because it accurately diagnoses...
By Davida Ademuyiwa Africa’s investment challenge has never been about the absence of opportunity. Nor, contrary to popular perception, has it primarily been about the availability...
By Lailla Mutajogera Africa’s investment landscape presents a compelling paradox. While Ethiopia surges ahead with breakneck growth rates, South Africa offers the continent’s most sophisticated economy....
By Kelly Mua Kingsly Global recession anxieties persist. European growth stagnates. Western markets have reached saturation. Yet amid this economic malaise, Africa is demonstrating what resilient...
By Daki Nkanyane There is a moment in the life of every society when progress accelerates faster than understanding. It is a moment filled with movement,...
By Dishant Shah Viral videos of bare retail shelves across African cities tell a deceptively simple story. But these fleeting social media moments capture something far...
By Michele Moscaritoli Intra-African commerce has quietly transformed from aspiration to reality – and the implications are profound. For decades, the refrain echoed through development conferences...
By Gregory Simpkins As we have entered 2026, the world community is experiencing heightened tensions and could lead to global conflict. As has been the case...
By Dishant Shah Every few years, Africa receives a new catchphrase. “Africa Rising.” “The Next China.” “The World’s Future Growth Engine.” These slogans circulate through investment...
By Daki Nkanyane There is a quiet truth we rarely confront honestly: no continent can rise higher than the inner world of its people. Empires, economies,...
By Daki Nkanyane There are moments in history when a continent doesn’t “rise” – it remembers. Africa stands at precisely such a threshold today. For years,...
By Des H Rikhotso The narrative surrounding Africa has shifted dramatically in recent years, and for good reason. While other regions grapple with aging populations and...
By Lailla Mutajogera More than 80 percent of African migration occurs within national borders – a statistic that deserves far more attention than it receives. From...
By Wavinya Makai For decades, Africa’s development narrative has been drafted in foreign ministries and multilateral boardrooms. The plot hinges on foreign direct investment, concessional loans,...
By Dishant Shah Every conversation about Africa’s economic future eventually circles back to the same question: How do we industrialize at scale, and who leads the...
By Mark-Anthony Johnson Despite home to nearly 18 percent of the world’s population and some of its fastest-growing economies, Africa is projected to contribute less than...
By John Dale In an era obsessed with sleek co-working spaces, Instagram-friendly packaging, and investor pitch decks, the enduring engine of commerce across much of Africa...
By Dishant Shah Africa’s greatest obstacle was never its colonial-era borders. It was the enduring belief in their permanence – the idea that African economies must...
By Dr. Princess C. Mutisya Africa stands at a pivotal crossroads. The dream of a truly integrated continent – bound by one passport, one customs regime,...
By Kelly Mua Kingsly When it comes to global commodities, few markets rival the sheer economic heft of crude oil. In 2022 alone, the global oil...
By Farouk Mark Mukiibi Africa accounts for less than 3 percent of global trade – a figure so persistently low it defies mere coincidence. Conventional wisdom...
By Des H Rikhotso In the heart of Africa lies a nation of staggering contradictions: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). At once a...
By Godfred Zina Every year, Africa hemorrhages approximately US$5 billion – not to corruption or illicit financial flows, but to a quieter, systemic flaw: the continent’s...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When Angola finally gained independence from Portugal in 1975 – following decades of anti-colonial struggle and a transformative military coup in Lisbon...
By Dishant Shah In diplomatic corridors and boardrooms across the continent, a familiar question echoes: “Should Africa align with India or China?” The premise is flawed...
By Davida Ademuyiwa History offers a clear and unambiguous lesson: no nation has ever achieved sustained prosperity without first undergoing an industrial transformation. From 18th-century Britain...
By Davida Ademuyiwa For more than a century, the physical architecture of the African economy was not designed for African prosperity. It was engineered for export...
By Godfred Zina For decades, Africa has been the world’s largest recipient of foreign aid. Yet despite pouring over US$50 billion annually into the continent, the...
By Des H Rikhotso After seven years of strategic preparation, Ethiopia is officially set to begin trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) marking...
By David Coleman Every year, members of the African diaspora send nearly US$100 billion in remittances back home – more than all foreign direct investment combined....
By Des H Rikhotso For too long, many African entrepreneurs have viewed their domestic markets as the ceiling – not the launchpad – for growth. While...
By David Coleman Africa is being asked to sprint before it’s learned to crawl. While the continent grapples with foundational challenges – access to clean water,...
By Danilo Desiderio When the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) officially launched in 2019, it was hailed as the most ambitious economic project on the...
By Agnes Chikukwa Hove When people think of Africa’s corporate powerhouses, they often picture telecom giants, sprawling banks, or resource-rich mining conglomerates. But here is a...
By Dishant Shah As the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) moves from vision to reality, a pivotal question echoes across boardrooms, policy think tanks, and...
By John Kourkoutas As European businesses recalibrate their global strategies amid slowing domestic growth and geopolitical uncertainty, a quiet revolution is unfolding across Africa – one...
By Des H Rikhotso In a world where headlines often spotlight conflict and crisis, the story of Chad – a vast, resilient nation at the crossroads...
By Lailla Mutajogera When I speak with investors about Africa, I hear the same six questions – again and again. They reflect a deep curiosity, but...
By Ajay Wasserman In the first half of 2025, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) shattered records – signing over US$124 billion in new investments across...
By Davida Ademuyiwa Africa is no longer a frontier market whispered about in boardrooms – it is a dynamic, data-backed investment powerhouse ready for the global...
By David Coleman Africa is more than a continent of 54 nations – it is a brand. A powerful, ancient, and evolving identity that carries the...
By Mark-Anthony Johnson In a move that could redefine the global diamond trade, Botswana is asserting its right to majority ownership of De Beers, the world’s...
By Farhia Noor In 2055, I didn’t dream of Africa’s future – I stepped into it. What I saw was not the continent of yesterday’s headlines...
By Dishant Shah Africa’s billionaires are more than just symbols of wealth – they are reflections of the continent’s economic structure, its contradictions, and its untapped...
By Danilo Desiderio Africa’s economic destiny is inextricably linked to its ability to build a thriving ecosystem of large, globally competitive enterprises. Yet, despite a vibrant...
By Dishant Shah The Democratic Republic of Congo ( DR Congo) is one of the most paradoxical places on Earth. Beneath its soil lies an estimated...
By Godfred Zina In the shifting terrain of global trade, major powers like the United States and China are increasingly influencing the economic trajectory of Africa...
By Jean Claude Niyomugabo Africa’s relative underdevelopment compared to other regions of the world is a complex issue rooted in a combination of historical, geographical, political,...
By Dishant Shah It is a simple question – but one that cuts to the heart of Africa’s economic future. Right now, most African countries trade...
By Dishant Shah Africa is rich – not just in natural resources, but in talent, innovation, and ambition. Yet, year after year, the continent quietly hemorrhages...
By Danilo Desiderio It’s a common narrative in global development discourse: Africa’s vast natural resources are seen as the continent’s golden ticket to economic ascension. After...
By Danilo Desiderio A groundbreaking study from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, titled “Diversifying European Supply Chains: Can Africa Play a Role?“, argues that...
By Danilo Desiderio On December 18 2023, the Financial Times published an article that had an international resonance, which argued that Africa cannot grow without increasing...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Years ago, the discovery of vast natural gas reserves off the coast of Mozambique ignited hopes for a brighter economic future. For...
By Emmanuel Musaazi The African Diaspora is people of African descent who live outside the African continent due to historical and contemporary migration. This includes descendants...
By Mary Alorh The ongoing restructuring at USAID, one of the largest sources of U.S. government aid, has the potential to impact numerous governments worldwide that...
By Jean Claude Niyomugabo Africa needs infrastructure. Africa needs development. But at what cost? If we depend on Europe to build our roads, railways, and cities,...
By Dishant Shah Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa are often discussed as two distinct regions, but what drives this separation? While geography plays a significant role,...
The growth of the African economy is credit to innovations, however basic humanitarian values have the potential to stabilize the growth. “Business people need to balance...
(PRNewswire) – Chris Folayan (pictured), an enterprising software developer, has found a way to tap into the purchasing power of Nigeria’s rapidly growing middle class. Folayan...
