The Soda War: How a Coca Cola, Pepsi, and M&M Ingredient is Fueling Conflict in Sudan
April 10th, 2026
Via The Africa Report, commentary on how gum arabic – the ingredient that puts the gloss in Coke, Pepsi and M&Ms – is fuelling the conflict in Sudan In Sudan, in the savannahs of Kordofan and Darfur, millions of families depend on the acacia tree for their livelihood. They score its bark and collect the […]
Read more »South Africa Startup Cracks Athleisure With NBA, Man City Deals
April 10th, 2026
Courtesy of Bloomberg, an article on South African startup shaking up the global athleisure market: A South African clothing startup is taking on the global athleisure market, going from a college dorm room to partnerships with sports giants such as the National Basketball Association and Manchester City Football Club in just seven years. It all started when brothers Daneel […]
Read more »Venezuela Approves New Law to Open Mining to Foreign Investors
April 10th, 2026
Courtesy of New York Times, a report on Venezuela’s new mining law which opens the country’s coveted mineral fortune up to foreign investors, the latest move that Venezuela’s leadership has taken to satisfy the Trump administration: The Venezuelan National Assembly on Thursday approved a new law meant to modernize the country’s decrepit mining industry and […]
Read more »Welcome to Cryptostan: Kyrgyzstan and the Emerging Crypto Corridor
April 9th, 2026
Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at how Kyrgyzstan has become a de facto “crypto corridor” linking sanctioned Russian flows with trade in Central Asia and supply chains from China: In October 2025, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, together with Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) — who was appointed as a presidential adviser on digital assets — announced […]
Read more »Built by Pyongyang: The North Korean Company Behind Africa’s Most Iconic Monuments
April 6th, 2026
Courtesy of Daily NK, a look at satellite imagery from Dakar to Windhoek which shows the scale of North Korea’s state-sponsored construction empire in Africa: North Korea has long relied on unconventional means to earn hard currency in the face of sweeping international sanctions that have effectively shut off most legitimate export channels. One of the more distinctive methods […]
Read more »How North Korean Built Its African Empire of Stone and Steel
April 6th, 2026
Courtesy of the Daily NK, a look at how – from Zimbabwe to Botswana – Pyongyang’s monument builders left their mark For decades, North Korea has generated foreign currency by designing and constructing commemorative monuments across Africa — statues, museums, and public memorials built for governments from Algiers to Harare. International sanctions targeting this network have curtailed […]
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.