Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture-capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. For our Wednesday show this week, Natasha and Alex and Danny had colleague Tage Kene-Okafor on the show to chat about the burgeoning African startup scene. Tage has become TechCrunch’s key correspondent in the area, chronicling the continent’s expanding venture capital totals, […]
‘I ran, my heart was broken’: inside Mozambique’s evolving Cabo Delgado conflict
The oil firms have fled and an Isis-affiliated insurgency has engulfed the region. As foreign troops begin to arrive, hundreds of thousands face desperate journeys to try to find safetyPhotographs by Ed Ram/The GuardianPencils scratch as students in ye…
African fintech Pngme raises $15M for its financial data infrastructure platform
Unbundling financial data through APIs and driving data-driven insights with value-add products in Africa keeps getting more exciting as major players continue to raise more money for scale. Less than a year after its $3 million seed round, San Francisco- and Africa-based fintech Pngme has snapped up another $15 million for its financial data infrastructure […]
In Ghana, they call them “obroni wawu” — dead white man’s clothes.
Dead white man’s clothes: How fast fashion is turning parts of Ghana into toxic landfill (ABC News) – For decades, the West’s unwanted fashion has made its way to used-clothing markets in Africa. Now it’s fuelling an environmental catastrophe. It’s the…
A leaked bill for Nigerian startups reveals a theme of licenses, fees, fines, and sentences
For a while, there have been talks about revamping the outdated 2007 Act of Nigeria’s information and technology body, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). The bill which established NITDA as the agency to oversee Nigeria’s technological transformation is quite outdated. This past decade, Nigeria has arguably become Africa’s most attractive destination for venture […]
Facebook adds four new branches to its 2Africa subsea cable network
Facebook today announced that it would extend the “most comprehensive” subsea cable to serve the African continent and Middle East region to four more branches. Facebook will do this in collaboration with the 2Africa consortium that includes China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and WIOCC. The new branches are Seychelles, the […]
Gordon Brown hits out at EU’s ‘neocolonial approach’ to Covid vaccine supplies
Former UK prime minister calls on western leaders to convene summit to address Africa’s vaccine deficitGordon Brown: the world is making billions of Covid vaccine doses, so why is Africa not getting them?Gordon Brown has accused the EU of adopting a “n…
The world is making billions of Covid vaccine doses, so why is Africa not getting them? | Gordon Brown
While western governments get ready to administer booster shots, millions in Africa are still completely unprotectedGordon Brown hits out at EU’s ‘neocolonial approach’ to Covid vaccine suppliesIn a shocking symbol of the west’s failure to honour its p…
Ivory Coast confirms first Ebola case since 1994
Woman, 18, is in intensive care in Abidjan as emergency plan to identify her contacts beginsIvory Coast has recorded a case of Ebola, its health minister has said, the first occurrence of the deadly disease in the country in nearly three decades.Offici…
Zambia’s opposition leader rejects president’s claims election is rigged
Hakainde Hichilema’s party is ahead in early results and Edgar Lungu looks likely to lose presidencyZambia’s official opposition, UPND, said on Saturday it was time to unite the country and urged people not to heed President Edgar Lungu’s statement tha…