Africa Startup Festival 2025 Founder Success Factors Highlighted in Lagos
At the Africa Startup Festival 2025, held in Lagos—the beating heart of Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem—industry experts delivered a powerful message: long-term startup success isn’t about viral growth or headline-making funding rounds. It’s built on product credibility, strong governance, and founder experience. With over 6,000 attendees from 30 countries, the festival underscored a maturing mindset across the continent’s tech landscape,...
Nigerian Naira Dollar Exchange Rate Pressure Mounts Amid Year-End Forex Demand
The Nigerian Naira is under renewed strain at the start of the week as parallel market exchange rates show a slight uptick against major currencies, signaling growing pressure despite stability in the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM). The Nigerian Naira dollar exchange rate pressure has intensified, with the U.S. Dollar trading at around ₦1,560 to ₦1,580 in the...
Africa Sports Future Public-Private Investment Push Challenges Aid Dependency
Africa must stop waiting for foreign aid and start building its own sports future from within, according to a recent analysis that calls for a bold shift from reliance on shrinking Official Development Assistance (ODA) to homegrown, sustainable models powered by local ownership, regional integration, and blended finance. The report argues that sport—long treated as a social program rather...
YouTube African Filmmaker Distribution Platform Rises as Key Route to Global Audiences
For African filmmakers navigating a global entertainment landscape long dominated by Western gatekeepers, YouTube has emerged as a powerful equalizer—offering a low-barrier, high-reach alternative for content distribution, audience building, and revenue generation. With traditional film funding, festival access, and international distribution still out of reach for many creators across the continent, platforms like YouTube are becoming essential infrastructure for...
Afreximbank Africa CDC $2 Billion Health Manufacturing Push to Boost Vaccine Self-Reliance
In a landmark move for continental health security, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have launched a $2 billion financing facility under the Africa Health Security Investment Plan—the largest coordinated investment to date in Africa’s local pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing capacity. This Afreximbank Africa CDC $2 billion health manufacturing...
South Africa S&P Credit Rating Upgrade Signals Renewed Investor Confidence
S&P Global Ratings has delivered a major boost to South Africa’s economic credibility, upgrading both its foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings amid signs of stabilizing reforms and improved growth momentum. On November 14, 2025, the agency raised South Africa’s foreign currency long-term sovereign rating to ‘BB’ from ‘BB–’, and its local currency rating to ‘BB+’ from ‘BB’,...
African Telecom Operators AI Network Optimization Push Amid Rising Users, Flat Revenue
At AfricaCom 2025, industry leaders sounded the alarm: African telecom operators like MTN, Airtel, and Orange are facing a critical inflection point. While subscriber numbers continue to climb—driven by mobile-first internet adoption and expanding digital services—revenue per user (ARPU) remains flat or is declining, squeezing profitability and threatening long-term investment capacity. In response, operators are turning to artificial intelligence...
Africa Cybersecurity Spending Fails to Match Rising Threats, Report Warns
Africa’s digital economy is growing at breakneck speed—but its defenses are not keeping pace. According to the latest Africa Cybersecurity Report, while the continent invested $15.3 billion in cybersecurity during 2024/25, cybercriminals still managed to extract an estimated $5 billion in losses. This stark imbalance reveals a dangerous gap: innovation in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, fintech, and API-driven services...
AI Moves from Fintech to Fiscal Policy as FIRS Deploys Machine Learning to Tax Nigeria’s Informal Economy
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is preparing to launch an ambitious, technology-driven tax initiative that will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify, assess, and collect taxes from millions of previously untaxed businesses in Nigeria’s vast digital and informal economy. The move marks a historic shift in African public finance: for the first time, AI is being...
Africa Gold-Backed Loans AI Tax Strategy Signals New Era of Economic Resilience
African nations are taking bold, innovative steps to stabilize their economies amid persistent global volatility—and two major developments in West Africa are setting a new precedent. Ghana has launched a groundbreaking initiative to use its gold reserves as direct collateral for domestic loans from commercial banks, while Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is preparing an aggressive digital tax...
