Ghana’s Extraordinary Digital Transformation
January 11th, 2024
Via New African, a look at Ghana’s extraordinary digitalization makeover: For decades, the haphazard system of property addresses in Ghana verged on the ridiculous. Despite several attempts to have a formalised structure in place, finding directions often required using local landmarks or specific vendors. Thus, the joke went, if the woman selling waakye (a local delicacy) had […]
Read more »The Drivers and Risks of Ethiopia’s Historic Pact With Somaliland
January 10th, 2024
Courtesy of Stratfor RANE’s Worldview, analysis of the drivers and risks of Ethiopia’s historic pact with Somaliland: Ethiopia’s historical deal with Somaliland granting it commercial and military access to the port of Berbera is part of Addis Ababa’s ambition to reestablish a green-water navy, but the deal’s implementation will likely reshape the politics of the […]
Read more »Xi’s Empty Dream City Shows Limits of His Power, Even in China
January 10th, 2024
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a look at how China has spent more than double the cost of the Three Gorges Dam on building a futuristic megacity. But will people come? In 1979, Deng Xiaoping drew a circle on the map around China’s southern coast and created Shenzhen, an experiment in capitalism, according to a popular ode to the […]
Read more »Financing Power Transmission — Not Just Generation — To Meet Africa’s Climate Goals
January 10th, 2024
Via Impact Alpha, commentary on the importance of financing power transmission—not just generation—to meet Africa’s climate goals: Renewable energy generation and storage opportunities were a key focus at last week’s Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, culminating in $26 billion in new funding commitments to climate projects. A large but overlooked energy investment opportunity: power transmission. Transmission […]
Read more »‘Silicon Bali’: Asia’s Paradise for Sustainability Startups?
January 10th, 2024
Via Eco Business, a look at how Indonesia – as it recovers from a pandemic-induced slump – is trying to diversify its economy beyond tourism and attract green business: The lifting of Covid-19 restrictions in June 2023 brought a tsunami of visitors back to Bali, Indonesia’s “island of the Gods”. Many of the more than 4 million foreign visitors […]
Read more »What Lies Ahead for Chinese Lending to Africa?
January 10th, 2024
Via The Diplomat, a report that – despite much talk of a slowdown – there is reason to believe that Chinese loans to African countries will increase in 2024: Throughout both the COVID-19 pandemic and much of 2023, there was been an abundance of reporting on a slowdown in Chinese lending to Africa, and projections that this […]
Read more »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.