Browsing: Africa

Currently, financial inclusion is a target that all African countries must achieve. Boosting Africa’s financial inclusion will have a positive impact on economic growth and the prosperity of society. Through financial inclusion, everyone has access to a variety of quality, effective, and efficient financial services. Increasing public accessibility to financial service products will further reduce the level of economic and social inequality which in turn will improve the welfare of the community.

One of the efforts to achieve this financial inclusion target is through technology in the form of digital finance. When financial products and services use internet technology, it makes it easier for people to directly access various kinds of payments, shopping, savings, and investments, including loan and credit facilities. Among these digital financial elements, the payment facility is the service that is experiencing the fastest development and contributes greatly to the achievement of Africa’s financial inclusion targets.…

• UK’s $18.86M investment  will support healthcare workers recruitment and retention efforts in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.
• Financing is seen as a boost to achieving universal health coverage while bolstering global pandemic preparedness.
• The three countries were selected for the financing due to their evident need for workforce support.

In a significant move to address pressing healthcare workers’ challenges in Africa, the UK government has allocated $18.86 million in funding to boost healthcare staffing levels in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.

This investment is geared towards supporting healthcare staff recruitment and retention efforts. Overall, the investment seeks to fortify these nations against global health crises.

UK Health Minister Will Quince, speaking on the importance of this funding, emphasized that it aims to enhance the performance of health systems in these countries. Quince added that the initiative will have a cascading effect on improving global pandemic preparedness and reducing health disparities.

Boosting global

• Youth leaders, entrepreneurs and policymakers presented the Africa Youth Climate Assembly Declaration to Kenya’s President William Ruto, and African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina.
• The declaration advocates for the accelerated establishment of a Global Green Bank and a New Global Financial Pact, aiming to prioritise young people and their interests in climate financing. 
• During the Africa Youth Climate Assembly, a wide range of issues emerged including youth access to finance, Africa’s energy transition, the plight of millions displaced owing to the impacts of climate change and mobilisation of resources for sustainable development.

As the Africa Climate Summit draws to a close, a key highlight from the three-day summit is that Africa’s youth need to be more involved in the climate change conversation. 

This, as youth leaders, entrepreneurs and policymakers presented the Africa Youth Climate Assembly Declaration to Kenya’s President, William Ruto, and African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina.…

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is now widely touted as the African Union’s (AU) most audacious project. The framework ties together the most significant number of member countries of any trade agreement since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995.

The AfCFTA had become topical even before its formal launch. Members of the business community eagerly awaited the full implementation of the AfCFTA. But two years since its formal launch, how far has the AfCFTA ushered in the ‘new era’ of African integration it promised?…

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently published the Economic Development for Africa 2023 Report. The document, titled “The Potential of Africa to Capture Technology-Intensive Global Supply Chains,” looks at Africa’s capacity to become a prominent player in global supply chains for “high-technology” industries, which include automobiles, mobile phones, green energy, and healthcare.…

The hospitality industry is changing fast. When considering the future hotel experience, you are no longer just looking at a travel destination or a sleepover spot. Hotels of the future must offer more. An ‘augmented hospitality experience’ is what experts are calling it. Thus, stakeholders in Africa’s hospitality industry must explore ways to adapt.…

The BRICS countries bear a profound responsibility amid a shifting global economic axis. They have the extraordinary chance to reshape the world order, bestowing more significant equity and amplified voice upon the realms of the Global South.

A defining moment in the global economic axis awaits as the BRICS Summit 2023 gathers in South Africa. It signals the member countries to seize this opportunity to shape an unprecedented global economic governance system, an inclusive, all-encompassing, and efficient system.…

• One in five people in Africa suffers from hunger.
• With the rising population, action is necessary to ensure access to healthy and sufficient food.
• AfCFTA can serve as a strong incentive for farmers and other participants in agri-food value chain.

Africa’s population is expected to hit two billion by 2050 yet her food security systems remain a fleeting mirage largely due to delayed financial commitments. Granted, in the past two decades, most African governments have placed great emphasis on transforming their food systems but it progress has been rather slow.

Financing of food systems

Currently one in five people in Africa suffers from hunger. And with a population of 1.1 billion people, it is imperative to take immediate action to ensure access to healthy and sufficient food by 2050. So how will Africa achieve this momentous goal? Experts say all the moving parts are in place, all except one, the …

• The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) says food production across Africa is stubbornly low.
• Households across Sub-Saharan Africa spend roughly 23% of their total income on food.
• The Collapse of the Black Sea Initiative, the bombing of an ammonia pipeline, and a key dam in Ukraine spell doom for Africa’s food production systems.

Reducing hunger and increasing food production in a persistently low-income environment will be one of Africa’s biggest problems in the next ten years, a new report by FAO says.

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2023-2032 report attributes the challenge to increasingly volatile weather patterns due to climate change. At the moment, food production in many countries across Africa is stubbornly low.

During the period under focus, the report predicts that imports into the region will surge. And this will negatively impact the economic welfare of the continent’s 1.1 billion people.

Households across SSA spend roughly 23 per cent …

• Energy, skills gap and poor infrastructure remain huge hinderances to realizing tech-enabled economic growth in Africa.
• Investments in technology can offer an accelerated pathway to inclusive productivity growth in Africa. However, many economies are struggling to make progress.
• Modern technology offers chance to foster entrepreneurship and innovation while attracting foreign direct investments.

New technology has fostered growth in all industries for all centuries and Africa is banking on tech-enabled economic growth albeit with struggles. For economies to have an edge over their peers, technology plays a vital role

Technology can help businesses grow on one hand and especially emerging technology has the potential to create jobs.

“The first half of 2023 has seen a resurgence of enthusiasm about technology’s potential to catalyze progress in business and society,” says Micheal Chui in his report: Technology Trends Outlook 2023.

“Investment in most tech trends tightened year over year, but the potential for …