July 25
Kenya: Kenya's New Cabinet - Finance Minister Faces an Uphill Battle Against Corruption, Unemployment and Debt
Kenya faces difficult times ahead because of pressure to pay debts, create jobs for the youth, offer improved services to citizens and uproot entrenched corruption. Read more »
July 24
South Africa: Poor South African Households Can't Afford Nutritious Food - What Can Be Done
Food insecurity is a feature of life for millions of South Africans. Food insecurity refers to a lack of regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for average growth and… Read more »
July 21
Nigeria: Nigeria's Chronic Power Shortages - Mini Grids Were Going to Crack the Problem for Rural People, but They Haven't. Here's Why
Electricity is a scarce commodity in Nigeria. With just over 4,000 megawatts supplying nearly 220 million people, the electricity access deficit stands at about 40% nationwide. The… Read more »
July 19
Africa: One Small Update Brought Down Millions of IT Systems Around the World. It's a Timely Warning
This weekend's global IT outage caused by a software update gone wrong highlights the interconnected and often fragile nature of modern IT infrastructure. It demonstrates how a… Read more »
Africa: What Is Crowdstrike Falcon and What Does It Do? Is My Computer Safe?
A massive IT outage is currently affecting computer systems worldwide. In Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, reports indicate computers at banks, media organisations, hospitals,… Read more »
July 18
Kenya: Economist Maps Out Ruto's Limited Options
Kenya's President William Ruto fired all but one cabinet minister in his second shock decision following deadly protests triggered by tax increases. The first was the withdrawal of… Read more »
July 17
South Africa: South Africa Has a Joblessness Crisis - Fixing It Will Take Fresh Thinking to Find a Game-Changer
Everyone agrees that solving the unemployment problem in South Africa is the number one priority for economic policy for the new government, as it has been for all governments… Read more »
July 16
Kenya: Kenya Protests Show Citizens Don't Trust Government With Their Tax Money - Can Ruto Make a Meaningful New Deal?
Each year, the Kenyan government tables a finance bill outlining measures for funding the national budget. In the past, these bills have scarcely attracted public attention. This… Read more »
July 15
Kenya: Kenya's Digital Divide - Pastoralists Are Key to the Country's Economy, but They're Being Left Behind
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) hold great potential to expand African economies. They include mobile banking platforms, internet-enabled communication devices… Read more »
Nigeria: Pregnant Nigerian Women Need Faster Access to Hospitals - Technology Helped Us Calculate Travel Times
Nigeria contributes 28% of the 280,000 maternal deaths and about 10% of almost two million stillbirths that occur annually across the globe. Read more »
July 11
Kenya: 'Kinship Tax' Puts the Brakes On Business - Kenyan Study Measures the Impact of Helping Family
Imagine working hard to build your business, only to find that your success brings about a wave of requests for help that you can't turn down. This is a reality for many in African… Read more »
July 10
Africa: African Urbanisation - What Can (And Can't) Be Learned From China About Growing Cities
The economic growth paths of Asian and African countries have often been compared. China, with gross domestic product per capita of US$251 in 1987, was poorer than most African… Read more »
Zimbabwe: Double Tragedy - the Zimbabwe Farmers Affected By Illegal Mining and Climate Change
Smallholder farmers in rural Gwanda, a region in Zimbabwe that borders South Africa, have been affected by a double shock - a combination of heat, droughts and floods caused by… Read more »
West Africa: West Africa Is Changing - Five Essential Reads On Breakaways From Ecowas
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has been in the news lately - mostly for the wrong reasons. Read more »
July 09
Africa: Catching Online Scammers - Our Model Combines Data and Behavioural Science to Map the Psychological Games Cybercriminals Play
When fiction's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, needed to solve a crime, he turned to his sharp observational skills and deep understanding of human nature. He used this… Read more »
Ghana: Ghana Is Planning Its First Nuclear Energy Plant - What's Behind the Decision
Ghana is considering bids from five companies for the construction of what would be its first nuclear power plant. The companies are: France's EDF, US-based NuScale Power and… Read more »
July 08
Africa: Power-Hungry AI Is Driving a Surge in Tech Giant Carbon Emissions. Nobody Knows What to Do About It
Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the world has seen an incredible surge in investment, development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. According to… Read more »
July 05
West Africa: Ecowas Summit - 6 Steps the Leaders Can Take to Restore Stability and Growth in West Africa
This year's summit of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) takes place against a challenging environment for the regional bloc. Read more »
July 02
Kenya: The IMF Is Failing Countries Like Kenya - Why, and What Can Be Done About It
The recent Kenyan protests are a warning that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is failing. The public does not think it is helping its member countries manage their economic… Read more »
June 28
Kenya: Kenya Unrest - the Deep Economic Roots That Brought Gen-Z Onto the Streets
The generation of Kenyans born between 1997 and 2012 - the Gen-Zs - have borne the brunt of the country's slow economic growth. If a country has slow economic growth, it typically… Read more »
South Africa: Ordinary White South Africans and Apartheid - Bound to a Racist System They Helped Prop Up
In South Africa, apartheid was a divisive political system entrenched by a white minority who regarded other ethnic groups as inferior, creating townships on the outskirts of… Read more »
June 27
Kenya: Kenya's Protests Happened in Every Major Urban Centre - Why These Spaces Are Explosive
Kenya has a long history of protests. Mass protests took place during the colonial period and continued in the post-independence era. Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Political Monopoly Has Been Broken - Could It Help the Economy?
Over the last decade or so there has been something of a revolution in economics. The long held belief that unfettered markets deliver good outcomes for all is now overwhelmingly… Read more »
June 26
South Africa: Shell Didn't Consult Communities Properly About Mining the Wild Coast - but How Much Legal Protection Do South Africans Have?
South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal recently dismissed an appeal by Shell, Impact Africa and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to overturn a High Court judgment… Read more »
June 23
Africa: An Eerie 'Digital Afterlife' Is No Longer Science Fiction. So How Do We Navigate the Risks?
Imagine a future where your phone pings with a message that your dead father's "digital immortal" bot is ready. This promise of chatting with a virtual version of your loved one -… Read more »