The Unexpected New Winners in the Global Energy War
September 19th, 2023
Courtesy of The Wall Street Journal, a report on the unusual alliances that Western nations are forging with countries such as Algeria, Azerbaijan, and Congo to replace natural gas from Russia: Once-obscure corners of the energy world, from offshore Congo to Azerbaijan, are booming as Europe finds new sources of natural gas to replace the […]
Read more »Paul Kagame, Crystal Ventures, and Rwanda’s New Economic Diplomacy
May 11th, 2023
Courtesy of The Africa Report, a look at how – over the past two years – Rwanda has been aggressively expanding its businesses, including the commercial wing of President Paul Kagame’s party, Crystal Ventures, and its foreign-focused subsidiary, Macefield Ventures. These expansions have reached countries such as the Central African Republic, Mozambique (where the Rwandan […]
Read more »Bicycles: Crucial to Congo’s Cross-Border Trade
February 18th, 2023
Courtesy of The Economist, a look at the key role played by bicycles in Zambia/Congo trade: In Kasumbalesa, on the Zambian side of the frontier, lorries wait days to be let into Congo. Long delays at crossings are common across Africa. But in this border town in the north of the country some wheels are still turning. […]
Read more »Gorillas, Militias, and Bitcoin: Why Congo’s Most Famous National Park Is Betting On Crypto
January 14th, 2023
Via MIT Technology Review, an interesting report on how – in an attempt to protect its forests and famous wildlife – Virunga has become the first national park to run a Bitcoin mine: The AK-47 is heavy with extra clips strapped together, jungle style, but the man holding it doesn’t flinch as he patrols the […]
Read more »Africa’s Sleeping Giant: Central Africa
July 26th, 2022
Via Africa: The Big Deal, a look at how Central Africa has claimed less than 1% of all the funding raised by start-ups on the continent since 2019: After covering Eastern, Northern, Western and Southern Africa, our last stop on our tour of the continent’s regional ecosystems naturally takes us to Central Africa. With only $82m+ raised by start-ups since 2019, the region […]
Read more »How Chinese Companies Have Changed Africa
May 27th, 2022
Via The Economist, a report on how Chinese companies have made their mark on the African continent: Outside a bar in Fungurume, a mining town in Congo, men caked in dust spit peanut shells onto the floor. Inside, where Chinese New Year lanterns hang from the walls, Emmanuel (not his real name) explains how things changed […]
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.