Africa’s Supermarket Revolution
November 28th, 2023
Via The Economist, a report on Africa’s retail revolution as it plays out in the supermarket sector: To walk along the main road in Ruaka, a town on the outskirts of Nairobi, is to glimpse the extremes of African shopping. Market stalls selling vegetables and charcoal spill onto the street. In the distance is a […]
Read more »Exxaro, Impala, Sibanye… South Africa Goes on a Copper Hunt
October 31st, 2023
Via The Africa Report, an article on South Africa’s copper ambitions: Major players in South Africa are vying for copper mines across the continent, while local producers explore substantial unmined holdings at home. South Africa’s bid to be the continent’s copper giant within the next 10 years is playing out as a two-pronged approach: outbidding […]
Read more »Walmart Goes All In on Africa
September 17th, 2023
Via Wall Street Journal, a report on Walmart boosting its online efforts at Massmart as part of renewed bet on fast-growing consumer markets in Africa: Walmart’s investment in Africa tanked. It is responding by doubling down. More than a decade ago, Walmart spent $2.4 billion to buy a controlling stake in South African retailer Massmart, which also […]
Read more »Economic Powerhouses Are Foundering in Sub-Saharan Africa
August 16th, 2023
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a report on how traditional economic leaders in sub-Saharan Africa are now falling behind: Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic powerhouses are faltering. While South Africa has pulled back from the brink of an electricity crisis in recent weeks as the government scrambled to keep the state utility’s creaking plants running, energy shortages continue to […]
Read more »This Club Isn’t Big Enough for Both India and China
August 4th, 2023
Via Bloomberg, commentary that tensions between the Asian rivals will likely prevent the BRICS bloc from ever posing a coherent challenge to the West: For an acronym coined by an investment bank in a decades-old report notable mainly for being wrong, “BRICS” has had a good run. It was once an idea, then a summit, and […]
Read more »BRICS: At Risk Becoming Satellites of China
July 27th, 2023
Courtesy of The Financial Times, commentary on the BRICS’ lopsided turn towards China: There can’t be many international summits where a head of government stays away for fear of being arrested for war crimes, but the BRICS grouping has managed it. Vladimir Putin will skip next month’s meeting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South […]
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.