Author: Elan

NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, March 30, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Former Sierra Leone Ambassador Sidique Wai to Lead Strategic Initiative Connecting African Governments, Diaspora Leaders, and U.S. Institutions at Critical Inflection Point for U.S.-Africa Relations Gotham Government Relations, a leading New York-based government affairs and strategic advocacy firm, today announced the launch of the Gotham Africa Practice, a comprehensive platform designed to serve African governments, diaspora communities, and institutional stakeholders seeking effective engagement with Washington, New York, and U.S. policy institutions. The Gotham Africa Practice is the first Africa focused initiative by any major lobbying and government relations firm…

How rice can build prosperity for West Africa – African Business How rice can build prosperity for West Africa – African Business

In brief Republican fintech entrepreneur Michael Carbonara liquidated 10 Bitcoin for $800,000 to help bankroll his congressional campaign. The candidate’s shift to the 22nd District positions him in a newly wide-open race, triggered after the recent map redraw. Carbonara is leveraging his tech background to advocate for accountability on-chain, from campaign finance to the government’s budget. A Republican candidate jockeying to represent Florida’s 22nd Congressional District has liquidated a portion of his personal Bitcoin stash to bankroll his political bid, while striking a pro-crypto stance in a newly shaped battleground race.Michael Carbonara, who established a digital banking and payments company…

One afternoon in February 2026, I went to Ikeja GRA, a highbrow neighbourhood in Lagos, to talk to a new crop of executives at Cowrywise, the wealth management fintech that manages money for over two million Nigerians.  Four weeks earlier, at a January retreat held at a business club in Victoria Island, a highbrow area on the southern side of Lagos, Cowrywise had promoted 11 people to the title of associate vice president (AVP), the type of move that earns the rare tag of ‘unprecedented’ in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. For a company of fewer than 80 people, it meant one…

Andy Walker / Android AuthorityTL;DR Microsoft will soon begin sunsetting third-party logins for SwiftKey backup. If you want the keyboard to store your personal dictionary files and sync them across devices, you must now use a Microsoft account. If you already use a different login, such as Google or Apple, your data will be deleted unless you back it up by tomorrow. For months, Microsoft has been advising SwiftKey users to switch to OneDrive-based backup. The final deadline set by the software giant is May 31, i.e., which is tomorrow. And although the deadline for this transition has been sliding,…

Paystack, one of Africa’s leading financial technology companies, has launched a completely rebuilt merchant Dashboard designed for the AI era, introducing an AI-powered Command Centre that gives businesses instant answers about transactions, revenue trends, settlements, and operational performance. The new Paystack Dashboard marks the company’s first full redesign in nearly 10 years and reflects the growing role of artificial intelligence in African fintech, payments infrastructure, and business operations. More than 300,000 organisations — including startups, enterprises, SMEs, and government agencies — use Paystack’s technology to process online and offline payments securely across Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire.…

By PwCPwC’s Deals team focuses on helping organisations execute successful deals and create value through mergers, acquisitions, disposals and restructuring. Below is a selection of transactions the team has been involved in over the past year.1. PwC Deals supports Norfund on its investment into Nafasi Water TechnologiesNorfund has completed a minority equity investment in Nafasi Water Technologies, alongside E Squared Investments, to strengthen water security across South Africa and accelerate growth in critical water infrastructure and reuse solutions – reinforcing the role of innovative solutions in addressing regional water scarcity. PwC provided financial and tax due diligence on this important…

Editor’s note: This article is the first in a three-part series on the state of venture investment to Black-founded startups in 2026. Driving these reports is data from Crunchbase’s Diversity Spotlight feature, which offers insight into diversity in startups’ and investment firms’ leadership teams. Parts 2 and 3 in this series will be published in June. The share of U.S. venture funding going to companies with Black founders in 2025 remained low, even as overall startup investment ticked slightly higher, Crunchbase data shows. Only around $942 million — or just 0.32% of total U.S. venture funding — went to startups…

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The CFTC has moved true Bitcoin perpetual futures from an offshore-liquidity debate into a US-regulated test case, with KalshiEX LLC now approved to list BTCPERP and Coinbase Financial Markets receiving separate staff-level relief for access to certain Deribit products.The Commission approved KalshiEX LLC’s BTCPERP contract as a futures contract, allowing the CFTC-registered designated contract market to list a no-expiry bitcoin perpetual tied to the spot price of BTC.In a separate move the same day, CFTC staff confirmed that certain Deribit digital commodity derivatives described by Coinbase Financial Markets may be treated as foreign futures when routed through Coinbase’s registered futures commission merchant structure.Chairman Mike Selig cast the…