Nigeria: Attacks On Nigeria's Energy Systems Weaken the Country

Energy systems are coming under attack globally because disrupting power or fuel supplies offers strategic, economic or political leverage. This can be in local conflicts or… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's New Immigration Policy Takes a Digital Direction - Will It Succeed?

South Africa has a new draft white paper on immigration, citizenship and refugees. This, the fourth in three decades, represents a step change from the previous efforts. It is a… Read more »

Uganda: Uganda's Boda-Boda Drivers - the Digital Economy Hasn't Been the Route to Formal Work and Better Protection - Research

Digital labour platforms - like fast food delivery and cab hailing services - are having a dramatic impact on people's labour rights and working conditions around the world. Read more »

Tanzania: Edwin Mtei, Tanzania's First Central Bank Governor, Left Lessons On Leadership

Edwin Mtei, who passed away on 20 January 2026, was the first governor of Tanzania's Central Bank after independence from Britain. Read more »

Africa: Africa's Critical Minerals Are a Huge Economic Opportunity - G20 Framework Sets Out Ways to Seize It

As the world shifts to clean energy, minerals such as lithium, cobalt and manganese have become as important as oil once was. Africa holds large reserves of these critical… Read more »

Africa: Global Demand for Shea Butter Is Growing - but It's Not All Good News for the Women Who Collect the Nuts

Shea butter has become a highly sought-after ingredient in cosmetics and food manufacturing worldwide. Since the early 2000s its use as a substitute for cocoa butter has driven a… Read more »

Nigeria: Nigerian Farmers Talk About How Climate Change Is Affecting Staple Food Crops - and What Can Help

In Nigeria, agriculture contributes about 40% to national gross domestic product and supports the livelihoods of about 60% of the population. Finding ways to farm through climate… Read more »

South Africa: Colonial Tax Records Hold 3 Lessons for South Africa Today - Economic Historian

In 1825, a tax collector compiling a census in South Africa's Cape Colony paused to write a poem in the margin of his work. In it, he complained about the idle chatter of townsmen… Read more »

Ethiopia: Ethiopian Women and Safety - Why Some Switch Their Ethnic Identity When They Start Working

For many women in Ethiopia, getting their first formal job doesn't just change their income; it can change how they describe who they are in everyday public interactions. Read more »

Africa: Ransomware - What It Is and Why It's Your Problem

Ransomware is a type of malicious software that makes a victim's data, system or device inaccessible. It locks the target or encrypts it (converting text into an unreadable form)… Read more »

Kenya: Two Kenyan Women Rebuild Libraries in a Quietly Powerful New Documentary

Two Kenyan women - Wanjiru Koinange and Angela Wachuka - set out in 2017 to do something both ordinary and radical: rebuild neglected libraries in Nairobi. Read more »

Africa: Stablecoins Are Gaining Ground As Digital Currency in Africa - How to Avoid Risks

A notification popped up on my LinkedIn the other day. Africans were doing a traditional celebratory dance at the Africa Stablecoin summit in Johannesburg. Read more »

Africa: The G20 Was Built to Stabilise the World's Economy - but It's Failed On Climate, Debt and Inequality

The Group of Twenty (G20) emerged from the financial turmoil that followed the collapse of the Thai currency in 1997, which rapidly spread financial instability from Thailand to… Read more »

Africa: Nigeria and South Africa Risk Breaking Climate Change Pledges

Just 20 countries produce 80% of the world's oil, gas and coal. Since 2019, researchers have released regular reports analysing how these governments plan to continue drilling and… Read more »

West Africa: Nigeria Has a High Poverty Rate - What This Has to Do With Ethnic Conflicts

Nigeria has endured decades of violent insurgencies and ranks 6th on the 2025 Global Terrorism Index. Numerous people have been killed and millions displaced. The number of… Read more »

South Africa: Johannesburg Has Failed Its Informal Traders - Policies Are in Place, but Action Is Needed

Johannesburg's inner city is a bustling hub of economic life - a dense, dynamic web of informal traders, adjacent businesses and other users. Informal trading remains an essential… Read more »

Africa: Choosing a Career? in a Fast-Changing Job Market, Listen to Your Inner Self - Counsellor

The world of work today, in the 21st century, is far more unpredictable than it was in the 20th century. Jobs come and go, roles change constantly, and automation and digital… Read more »

Africa: When Kids Move Overseas - Why Visits Are So Rare for South Africa's Emigrant Families

More than one million South Africans, about 1.6% of the country's population of 63 million, currently live overseas. Emigration is never a solitary event or a purely economic… Read more »

Africa: Internet Shutdowns Are Increasing Dramatically in Africa - a New Book Explains Why

Between 2016 and 2024 there were 193 internet shutdowns imposed in 41 African countries. This form of social control is a growing trend in the continent, according to a new open… Read more »

Africa: The History of the Zambezi River Is a Tale of Culture, Conquest and Commerce

The Zambezi is Africa's fourth longest river, flowing through six countries: Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, where it becomes the largest river to flow… Read more »

Nigeria: Nigeria's Economy Has Improved but Ordinary People Still Feel the Pinch - Economist Offers Some Solutions

Nigerians have been waiting anxiously for the economy to "turn a corner", following economic reform initiatives undertaken by President Bola Tinubu in 2023. These included removing… Read more »

Africa: Early Shoppers - How African Consumers Set Global Trade Trends in the 1800s

A dynamic new "consumer class" emerging from Africa is attracting international attention. With the prospect of rising incomes and a young population, international consulting… Read more »

Lesotho: Fossil Science Owes a Debt to Indigenous Knowledge - Lesotho Missionary's Notes Tell the Story

For over a century, the scientific literature has credited western missionaries with "discovering" fossils in Lesotho, the small, mountainous country surrounded by South Africa. Read more »

Africa: South Africa and Pakistan - Countries Brought to Their Knees By Elite Capture and Economic Paralysis

In the ongoing quest to understand South Africa's political and economic stagnation, it may be helpful to look at other postcolonial states that have travelled further along the… Read more »

Africa: South Africa's Water, Energy and Food Crisis - Why Fixing One Means Fixing Them All

South Africa faces serious water, energy and food problems. Drought, overuse and ageing infrastructure strain water supplies. Coal-fired electricity is not sustainable in the long… Read more »