Archive for June, 2023

Bolivia’s Natural Gas Dreams Are Fading

Via IPS News, a report on Bolivia’s fading natural gas dreams: One of the largest natural gas reservoirs in South America is showing signs of decline and the hopeful expectations that emerged in 2006, to turn Bolivia into a regional energy leader, are waning. When the fossil fuel bonanza was already showing signs of fatigue, […]

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Kenya: Poised to Become the ‘Singapore of Africa’

Courtesy of Bloomberg, commentary on how Africa’s growth is an opportunity for multinational corporations, and Kenya – its seventh-most-populous nation – is well-positioned to take advantage: Of all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa to be optimistic about, the most promising is Kenya. Economic and political forces are converging to put the continent’s seventh-largest nation in […]

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Cash-Strapped Taliban Selling Tickets To Ruins of Buddhas It Blew Up

Courtesy of The Washington Post, an interesting look at how the Taliban are now selling tickets to ruins of Buddhas it blew up to generate income: The three Taliban soldiers gazed down at the gaping hole in the 125-foot cliff where one of Afghanistan’s two great Buddha figures once stood and wondered aloud who was […]

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Apple Got Rich in China. Other Asian Markets Offer The Next ‘Golden Opportunity’

Via CNN, a look at how other Asian markets offer the next ‘golden opportunity’ for Apple: Apple launched an online store in Vietnam this week, in another nod to the growing importance of emerging markets for the iPhone maker. The opening on Thursday, which followed the high-profile launch of its first physical shops in India, […]

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Tensions Flare in Ancient Thai City Over New Chinese-Backed High-Speed Railway Development

Courtesy of The China-Global South Project, a fascinating article about a bitter dispute underway in the ancient Thai city of Ayutthaya over the risks posed by a new Chinese-backed high-speed railway that will pass through the city. As noted, there’s no simple answer here. On the hand, the new railway will make it easier for […]

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Zola, Sun King, and M-KOPA: Three Paths To Africa’s Off-Grid Energy Future

Courtesy of Impact Alpha, a look at three (3) different business models powering Africa’s off-grid energy sector: For a decade, access to affordable, reliable and modern energy increased by roughly 100 million people a year – until the global Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, the number of people who live without any access to electricity has […]

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ABOUT
WILDCATS AND BLACK SHEEP
Wildcats & Black Sheep is a personal interest blog dedicated to the identification and evaluation of maverick investment opportunities arising in frontier - and, what some may consider to be, “rogue” or “black sheep” - markets around the world.

Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.