Benin: Positioning Itself As Culture Hub In West Africa
April 21st, 2024
Benin has been making moves to position itself as a culture hub in the West African subregion with a series of arts festivals. Next week the second edition of the Benin International Arts Festival will take place in its largest city, Cotonou, alongside events in Ouidah and Porto-Novo. The festival promotes African creativity around music, […]
Read more »Africa’s Oldest Oil-Rich Dictatorship Has a Succession Problem
April 21st, 2024
The long-term stability of Equatorial Guinea is at risk as its oil production drops and Vice President Teodorin Obiang, heir apparent to the presidency, continues to show “erratic behavior” and make “arbitrary decisions.” Bloomberg reports on the case of two South African oil workers jailed in the central African country for drug smuggling as the […]
Read more »Middle East And North Africa At An Economic Crossroads
April 21st, 2024
Via Global Finance, a look at whether Egypt and Morocco can keep driving the region’s economic growth? North Africa is the fastest-growing region in the Arab world and Africa. In 2023, the combined gross domestic product of Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya increased by 4.2%, compared with only 1.6% for the […]
Read more »Bahrain: Looking For Buy-In
April 21st, 2024
Via Global Finance, an article on Bahrain’s big plans for development, but its geographic position is both a blessing and a curse: Bahrain was once favored to be the leading financial center of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Dubai has since seized the title, and other jurisdictions in the region—including Abu Dhabi, […]
Read more »Pakistan’s Big Speed Bump On Way To Aggressive EV Goals: An Engineer Shortage
April 20th, 2024
Via Rest of World, a report on Pakistan’s plans to have 30% of all new vehicles sold to be electric by 2030. But there is a glaring lack of expertise in the country. Pakistan produces 25,000 new engineers each year, but companies say there is still an acute lack of skilled workers in the EV […]
Read more »The Rare Earths Mine Becoming a Bellwether For U.S. Minerals Policy
April 20th, 2024
Courtesy of The Financial Times, an article on U.S. attempts to challenge China’s global dominance in critical minerals: A site close to Kruger National Park in South Africa is becoming a testing ground for US attempts to fight China’s global dominance in critical minerals. Washington has committed to finance a little-known London-listed miner hoping to […]
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.