West African Super App Expands in the Region
West African startup Gozem, which started out in the ride-hailing business but has been adding product lines as it transitions into a “super app”, has acquired Delivroum, Togo’s leading food delivery app. Launched in Togo in November of 2018 on the back of raising US$900,000 in funding, ride-hailing app Gozem swiftly expanded to Benin and […]
A Case for African States To Invest in Accurate Data for Ratings Agencies
A number of African countries have recently been contesting decisions by credit rating agencies. Some have raised objections that the rating agencies lack understanding of their economic environment. Others have challenged the correctness of their ratings on the basis that the agencies had not discussed them with the country’s representatives. There is indeed a problem […]
Coming Home With Nothing
Nearly 10,000 Malawians have made the long journey home from SA since May, according to Malawi’s department of Disaster Management Affairs, with more due in coming months as the coronavirus eats deeper into the world economy. The coronavirus pandemic has decimated livelihoods across the globe, and with 85% of jobs in Africa classed as “informal […]
Sudan to Shake Off Bad U.S. Reputation
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his intentions to lift Sudan’s state sponsor of terrorism designation — news that comes as the transitional government in Khartoum could deliver him a diplomatic victory ahead of the US presidential election. Trump said on Twitter that once the $335 million that Sudan has agreed to pay as part […]
Politicians Already Claiming Victory in Guinea Poll
Guinea’s opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo declared himself winner of Sunday’s vote, defeating Alpha Conde, the incumbent president. Speaking at a press conference in the capital Conakry a day after the hotly contested election, Diallo said he had emerged “victorious” despite “anomalies which marred the ballot”. Outside the building, supporters erupted in joy and chanted […]
Righting Burundi’s Wrongs
The Supreme Court in Burundi has sentenced former head of state Pierre Buyoya and 18 high-ranking officers and state personnel to life in prison over the 1993 assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye and the massacres that followed. Buyoya and his colleagues were found guilty of the murder that triggered a civil war in which more […]
Turning One of Africa’s Deadliest Diseases into Profit
A Ugandan entrepreneur who is now in the running for a “business hero” award has told the BBC her struggle with malaria as a child sparked her business idea. Joan Nalubega, who grew up in an orphanage, has developed an organic soap that repels mosquitoes. “In 2016 I realised that the interventions that people use […]
Notorious DRC Militant Group in Epic Prison Break
Armed fighters freed more than 1,300 prisoners from a jail in Beni in east Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a coordinated attack that took place in the early hours of Tuesday. Only about 100 remained following the simultaneous assault on the Kangbayi central prison and on the military camp that provides security to […]
Negative Covid-19 Results For Sale at the Uganda-Kenya Border
The Uganda Long Distance and Heavy Truck Drivers Association, said drivers and their associates pay bribes of between $14 and $40 to get a certificate indicating negative status, or to cross the border without being tested. Drivers are required to be designated as COVID-19-free before they can cross the border into any east African country. […]
The Workforce in Africa’s Largest Cocoa Industries is Still Children
Nearly 20 years after the world’s major chocolate manufacturers pledged to abolish employment abuses, hazardous child labour remains rife in their supply chains, a new study finds. Research from the University of Chicago finds that more than two-fifths (43%) of all children aged between five and 17 in cocoa-growing regions of Ghana and Ivory Coast […]
