Changing the narrative on Africa.
A fishy business is scaling out of Africa’s informal markets as producers race to meet rising orders for fish leather and seaweed fibres, niche materials now edging into mainstream supply chains.
Benin is using its position as West Africa’s largest cotton producer to pursue a bigger economic prize: processing more of what it grows at home. At the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ), cotton is being turned into textiles and garments, creating jobs and retaining value that previously left the country with its raw fibre. Its progress offers an emerging model for industrialisation for the continent.
Experts say Africa’s widespread use of mobile money is giving it an advantage as stablecoins and other tokenised forms of money move into mainstream payments.
Strong equity-market returns are giving African issuers a stronger case for attracting institutional capital, while investors are demanding better disclosure, liquidity and market access. Recent IPOs and planned listings across Kenya, Nigeria and the continent’s fintech sector show how companies are responding to that shift.
Somalia is preparing to return its national airline to the skies in September, 35 years after civil war grounded the carrier.
The AfCFTA offers African cotton, textile and clothing businesses the opportunity to build cross-border production networks, attract investment and retain more value on the continent. And it can do so while providing the shared rules and larger market needed to strengthen factories and trade corridors.
African manufacturers are increasingly turning locally grown cotton into high-value medical textiles, offering a domestic alternative to raw exports and expensive imports
Africa’s expanding youth population is reshaping the continent’s labour market, cities, and investment priorities. New data shows that services will overtake agriculture as the largest employer of young Africans by 2033, placing youth employment at the centre of Africa’s next phase of economic growth.
Moove’s US$2.1 billion valuation is the largest African startup funding milestone of 2026, marking the continent’s newest unicorn. Its rise suggests that investors are increasingly backing African companies that are building the infrastructure underpinning global industries.
Taking control of Safaricom is accelerating Vodacom’s shift from a traditional telecommunications operator into a digital financial services business powered by M-PESA.