Category archives for: Business

How Wade turned a traditional Senegalese drink into a hit U.S. product and made a turnover of $3.2m

ABU MUBARIK Magatte Wade recently recalled returning from the United States to Senegal and finding out that many Senegalese preferred foreign drinks to the country’s traditional hibiscus drink, known as bissap. “When I went to Senegal, I was sorry to see that many young people were turning away from the bissap. They wanted to drink […]

Nigeria-Born Tope Awotona Poured His Life Savings into Calendly. Now He’s One of America’s Wealthiest Immigrants

AMY FELDMAN Calendly was built out of frustration. Now the scheduling app is worth $3 billion—and the subject of a heated Twitter spat among Silicon Valley elite. Tope Awotona, the 40-year-old founder and chief executive of Calendly, leans back in his chair and lets loose a loud guffaw. “You call it on message, I call it […]

Why Mastercard just made a $100 million bet on Africa’s mobile money market

JACKIE BISCHOF & CARLOS MUREITHI The $100 million investment from global payments giant Mastercard in the mobile money business arm of Airtel Africa announced this week is a sign of the rapid growth and optimism in Africa’s digital payment sector. The transaction values the subsidiary, Airtel Mobile Commerce, at $2.65 billion. It follows a $200 […]

Tax evasion and theft ‘rob Africa’ of $89bn a year: UN study

Nearly half of the total annual figure of $88.6bn is accounted for by the export of commodities such as gold, diamonds and platinum, the report found. Africa is losing nearly $89bn a year in illicit financial flows such as tax evasion and theft, amounting to more than it receives in development aid, a new UN […]

Johnson & Johnson to End Talc-Based Baby Powder Sales in North America

The company has faced thousands of lawsuits from cancer patients who claim that its talc was contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen, and that the company knew of the risks. TIFFANY HSU & RONI CARYN RABIN Johnson & Johnson is discontinuing North American sales of its talc-based baby powder, a product that once defined the […]

Ghana is the best investment destination – Prof. Amoako

KOFI AYIM Ghana’s Consul General in New York, Prof. (emeritus) Samuel Amoako has urged Africans in the diaspora to invest in Ghana for optimal returns. He said the relative peace and stability in Ghana anchored upon democratic governance and its leading role in Pan-Africanism make the country the trail blazer in African political and economic […]

South Africa has three months to defend investment grade rating

PRINESHA NAIDOO South Africa is fighting to preserve its last remaining investment-grade credit rating and avert a forced selloff of billions of rand of its debt after Moody’s Investors Service gave it just over three months to get its finances in order. The ratings company cut the outlook of the nation’s Baa3 foreignand local-currency assessments, […]

How Will China React to Uganda’s Looming Debt Crisis?

Uganda is heading toward a debt crisis. According to a senior official at the Bank of Uganda, unless the country is able to sustain a growth rate of at least 7 percent—which economic projections show Uganda will not do—the country will default on its payments. As is the case for many African countries, China is […]

Africa Must Take Leading Role in Data Economy

by VERE SONGWE Technology has broken down barriers and ensured freedoms for millions in a way no other invention has before. At last month’s meeting of the UN General Assembly, 91 world leaders listened to US President Donald Trump rebuke China from inside the room, but hundreds of millions of people viewed the speech on […]

Rwanda Releases First Smartphone Made Entirely in Africa

Rwanda’s Mara Group has grand ambitions. The company hopes to help turn Rwanda into a regional tech hub, and it just got one step closer to completing that mission. This week, the company released two smartphones, earning Mara Group the title of the first smartphone manufacturer in Africa. Rwanda President Paul Kagame has announced Africa’s […]

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