Africa’s continental free trade area offers long-term promise, but expecting it to quickly compensate for US trade losses may be unrealistic. There’s a lot of hype right now about how intra-African trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could replace the considerable loss of African exports to the United States (US) precipitated by…
Nigeria is hosting one of Africa’s biggest tech gatherings on Tuesday, with debates ranging from Wolof-speaking chatbots to medical algorithms. The ambition is to harness artificial intelligence to transform economies – but patchy internet, unreliable electricity and low investment remain major obstacles. In Lagos, the African Digital Economy and Inclusion Conference is bringing together policymakers,…
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in the financial services industry. As artificial intelligence (AI) takes on a growing role in financial services, from granting loans, to automating small-business bookkeeping, banks grapple with how to use it responsibly and authorities seek to put rules in place. Ciko Thomas, group managing executive of personal and private…
Monrovia — As global financial aid continues to decline, experts warn of the increasing risks posed to low-income countries and urge regional stakeholders to look inward to fund much-needed development. Speaking at the African Transformation online briefing on Tuesday, the Manager of Resources and Partnerships at the African Development Fund (ADF), Valerie Dabady, said the…
The Africa Think Tank for Infrastructure Development (ATTID) has projected that the continent requires between $130 billion and $170 billion annually to meet its infrastructure needs and drive sustainable development across sectors such as energy, transport, water, sanitation, and urban systems. This was disclosed during a press conference in Lagos ahead of a major infrastructure-focused…
The upcoming African Union-AIP Water Investment Summit 2025 will serve as a critical platform to translate political commitment into concrete investment in Africa’s water and sanitation sector. Held under the banner of South Africa’s G20 Presidency, the summit, which is set to take place in Cape Town from 13 – 15 August, aligns with the…
Insights from the World Bank GROW Expo Despite women contributing nearly 40% of Africa’s GDP, they receive less than 7% of private equity and venture capital funding–and only a fraction of that reaches women-led SMEs. At the recent World Bank’s GROW Expo in Uganda, the Graça Machel Trust’s Afrishela Fund challenged this disparity with a…
Devastating funding cuts from international donors are hitting countries hardest affected by HIV — but many are showing remarkable resilience and determination to keep progress alive. The 2025 Global AIDS Update released on Thursday by UNAIDS – the global body’s agency fighting AIDS and HIV infection – warns that a historic funding crisis now threatens…
If you have ever been woken up by a 3am database outage (or worse, a security breach tied to an overlooked SQL patch), you are not alone. SQL Server is the backbone of many business-critical applications. However, as deployments span on-premises, cloud and edge environments, maintaining everything securely, optimally and compliantly is a growing challenge….
United Nations — United Nations member states this week reiterated their commitment to the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity–at a time when world powers are failing to meet these obligations. On the 20th anniversary of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, the UN held a Plenary Meeting to discuss…
