SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | Africa’s city ecosystem is attracting billions of dollars in new projects, making them home to some of the world’s glitziest and tallest buildings. 1. The Iconic Tower, Egypt With its towering height of 385m (1266ft), the Iconic Tower is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture. …
Read More »Banks respond to rising mass affluence in Africa
Demand for goods and services expected to surge as continent’s middle class spend hits US$2.5 trillion by 2030 COMMENT | MARGARET SOI | The purchasing power of Africa’s middle class is expected to grow significantly in the coming years: the continent’s middle class is expected to spend US$2.1 trillion by …
Read More »Africa is steadily marching toward gender parity
Africa is making significant strides towards closing gender gaps across key areas: economic participation, education, health, and political empowerment, according to the World Economic Forum. SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | Namibia is among a select group of nine nations globally that have successfully closed over 80% of their gender …
Read More »Africa’s new online foreign exchange system will enable cross-border payments in local currencies
What you need to know INTERVIEW | CHRISTOPHER ADAM | The high cost of making cross border payments on the African continent has driven governments on the continent to seek options of settling trade and other transactions in local currencies. This has given birth to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement …
Read More »Rwanda ranked best on Africa Visa Openness Index 2023
The East African country is fourth African country to offer visa-free access for all African visitors Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Rwanda has become the latest African country to offer visa-free access to all African citizens according to the latest edition of the Africa Visa Openness Index jointly published on …
Read More »‘If we don’t invest now, somebody from Europe, America or China will come to own what is ours’
MARRAKESH, Morocco | THE INDEPENDENT | -Herbert Mensah, the newly elected President Rugby Africa, has said the continent’s nations can continously be world beaters in the game, if the right investement is made. The President of the continental governing body made the remarks in an interview with African news channel Africa24 …
Read More »Ethiopia, Tanzania and Morocco ranked Africa’s top tourism performers 2023
The three countries have by far exceeded their pre-pandemic arrival numbers on robust tourism infrastructure expansion and aggressive destination promotion. SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | The end of a civil war in Ethiopia, Tanzania’s president featuring in a historical tourism documentary and rising infrastructure and marketing investments in Morocco …
Read More »Catalysing precision medicine by Africa, for Africa
Tapping into its vast genomic research potential will require steady investment, capacity-building, and collaboration COMMENT | COLLEN MASIMIREMBWA | Africa is the continent with the most genetic diversity, but is gravely underrepresented in genomic research, with only 2% of global genomic data coming from people of African ancestry as of 2021. …
Read More »Antibiotic resistance is a silent epidemic
What Africa is doing to fight condition that causes more deaths than malaria and HIV/Aids combined INTERVIEW| NADINE DREYER & TOM NYIRENDA |Each year antimicrobial resistance – the ability of microbes to survive agents designed to kill them – claims more lives than malaria and HIV/Aids combined. Africa bears the …
Read More »Visa-free travel for Africans
Why Kenya and Rwanda have taken a step in the right direction ANALYSIS | MICHAEL MUTAVA | President William Ruto of Kenya recently announced that Kenya’s borders would be open to visitors from the entirety of Africa, with no visas required, by the end of 2023. He said: “When people cannot travel, …
Read More »
The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price