African markets and business updates

Across boardrooms in New York, lecture halls in Nairobi and video calls with Silicon Valley founders, one question is gaining urgency: what skills will genuinely define leadership in the age of artificial intelligence? For decades, leadership development centred on strategy, emotional intelligence and operational excellence. Yet as generative AI systems such as ChatGPT and Claude permeate decision-making, recruitment and creative work, experts warn that traditional competencies are no longer enough.…

Delta state baron Tompolo plays last card

Forty kilometres south of Addis Ababa, work has begun on one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken in African aviation. Laying the foundation stone for the project on 10 January, a beaming Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the construction of Bishoftu International Airport "aligns with Ethiopia's national economic reforms, industrialisation agenda and long-term aviation strategy". The project will, he added, "strengthen Ethiopian Airlines' global competitiveness…

When Nigerian President Bola Tinubu signed an amendment to the Electoral Act into law on February 18, it was supposed to be a move toward more transparent elections. But opposition parties and civic groups remain sceptical. The amended Act requires electronic transmission of results to the Independent National Electoral Commission's (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IReV). However…

President Donald Trump has imposed a global tariff rate of 10% after the US Supreme Court struck down his previous trade policy, with an analyst saying "the complexity and volatility of the stop-start tariff regime from the United States is clearing putting pressure on African economies." In April last year, Trump announced his "Liberation Day" measures which imposed sweeping tariffs on countries around the world. The African country of Lesotho was the worst hit, with a 50% tariff imposed…

Africa has announced an ambitious $10bn artificial intelligence initiative designed to accelerate digital transformation and strengthen the continent's position in the global technology economy. The plan, unveiled by the African Development Bank in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and a coalition of public and private sector stakeholders, seeks to scale the adoption of AI across critical sectors including healthcare, agriculture, education, finance and public services.…

What happens when Africa's small businesses get the financing they deserve? Jobs are created. Economies grow. Communities transform. That simple proposition sits at the heart of the African Guarantee Fund (AGF), a pan-African institution that has spent more than a decade tackling one of the continent's most persistent development bottlenecks: access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Across Africa, MSMEs account for the vast majority of businesses and a significant share of employment…

Equity Group Holdings executed a quiet revolution in 2025. The Kenyan lender accounted for nearly 45% of the country's MSME loan disbursements, a feat underpinned by its deployment of sophisticated machine-learning credit models. Rather than relying on physical branch expansion, the bank leveraged these models to analyse real-time transaction data from its digital merchant ecosystem. This tech-led approach allowed algorithms to parse daily cash flows and allocate capital in seconds…

This piece launches a series with Development Reimagined on "China through African eyes". Too often the focus on China is either on what it has achieved or on it as a competitor. The series will explore the "how" of China, and how and when African countries can adapt this into African contexts. China's development trajectory - from $475 GDP per capita in 1994 to $13,303 today, a 2,700% increase - could not have happened without the China Development Bank (CDB). Expressways, ports, railways…

885 Capital, a UAE-based investment firm founded by the entrepreneurs Sudeep Ramnani and Jai Mahtani, resists categorisation. It has interests in sports, technology and real estate: what seems to tie them together is a set of convictions about the direction in which the world is travelling and what the opportunities are. As artificial intelligence becomes more integral to work and life itself, the firm foresees a time where consumers will have more time for leisure.…