August 08
Nigeria: Young Nigerians' Push for Change Must Go Beyond Street Protests - Historian
Nigerians began a 10-day #EndBadGovernance protest on 1 August 2024 and are expected to continue until 10 August. They took to the streets to demand economic and political reforms,… Read more »
August 04
Africa: Why Africa's Slums are Among the World's Most Vibrant Business Hotspots
In the classic tale of economic development, urbanisation and industrialisation have generally gone hand-in-hand. Cities coalesce around factories; factories fuel urban growth by… Read more »
July 30
Africa: Verifying Facts in the Age of AI - Librarians Offer 5 Strategies
The phenomenal growth in artificial intelligence tools has made it easy to create a story quickly, complicating a reader's ability to determine if a news source or article is… Read more »
July 31
Nigeria: Nigeria Under Cost of Living Pressure - 8 Essential Reads On Rising Tensions
In recent times, Nigeria, Africa's largest democracy, has been under intense pressure. Read more »
July 30
South Africa: Saving for Retirement in South Africa? Four Tips to Navigate the New Pension Rules
South Africa is changing its pension laws. The new system is designed to give individuals the opportunity to access only a portion of their retirement funds before they retire in… Read more »
Zimbabwe: Green Energy for All - Zimbabwe Will Need a New Social Contract to Roll Out Projects Like Solar Power
The Zimbabwean government is racing against time to meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 7: affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030.… Read more »
July 28
South Africa: South Africa Is Changing Its Retirement Rules to Help Boost Country Savings - How It Will Work
A study of 160 countries, spanning 60 years of economic history, establishes that there is no country that has been able to transition from "poor to prosperous" without a high… Read more »
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 »