Author: Elan
Image Credit: Pixabay To read this article, you must be a paid subscription member. (Current members login here) Reserve your digital subscription today Join now for $38 per month Join now for $435 per year for access to: Weekly newsletter with original and curated news, analysis, and perspective Africa’s private capital deals, fundraises, and the investment firms and executives involved Portfolio company news that impacts value and stakeholder participation Job moves and partnerships between leading market participants Exclusive access to Africa Capital Digest’s full content archive If you’d like more information on exceptional value group subscriptions for your colleagues…
In brief Google DeepMind researchers say disputes over AI consciousness could become a source of political and social conflict. The paper argues society may never reach consensus on whether advanced AI is conscious, even as the technology improves. Researchers propose public deliberation, compromise, and engagement as ways to manage the disagreement. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in daily life, a new paper from Google DeepMind argues that one of the technology’s most difficult challenges may be political rather than technical.In the study, “Artificial Minds, Human Disagreement: The Political Challenge of AI Consciousness,” researchers Adam Bales and Iason Gabriel examine how…
Gift cards have moved from being a retail voucher to an integral part of a burgeoning digital resale economy in Nigeria. While the $1.49 trillion industry is projected to expand at a steady 5.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to $2.2 trillion by 2034, Nigeria is moving at double that speed. According to research data, the nation’s domestic market is currently valued at $2.56 billion and is compounding at an aggressive 10.9% CAGR, on track to hit $3.88 billion by 2030. Driven by rapid digital payment adoption and thousands of weekly traders, the humble retail voucher has evolved into a…
It feels like professional video editing software has been built to keep charging you money while you use it. It is hard to avoid subscriptions, paywalls, and the like. If you want free software, you’re just going to have to deal with a product that is bad or just not up to the standard of professional tools. DaVinci Resolve is one of the few exceptions. Related I ditched VLC and finally got high-quality HDR playback without any lag HDR finally works — no thanks to VLC. DaVinci Resolve isn’t lying when it claims to be professional quality It really is…
Keith Vincent, chief executive officer at Wilderness Holdings Limited (left), and Brydone Graham, deputy head of debt financing solutions at Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking.By Standard BankStandard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, has partnered with Wilderness Holdings Limited on a landmark $175 million syndicated sustainable financing deal, as sole mandated lead arranger, underwriter and sustainability co-ordinator.The transaction comprises a five-year senior secured funding package, including a $125 million term facility and a $50 million revolving credit facility. The financing is designed to support Wilderness’s long-term growth trajectory while strengthening liquidity, extending debt maturities and providing a flexible capital…
The Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Peter Obi, has advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider resigning from office, having failed woefully to fulfill most of his campaign promises and improve the standard of living of citizens. Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR), in a statement signed by its spokesman, Ibrahim Umar, said Obi was reacting to the resignation of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which he said was connected to complaints by British citizens about their deteriorating standard of living under his administration. POMR said the NDC presidential candidate advised Tinubu to emulate the British…
Investor discusses the operating environment and some of the region’s untapped business opportunities.
What if visiting a doctor were as simple as walking into your local pharmacy? That was the vision Dr. Shekhar Ramjutun had when he co-founded Doc2Us, turning it into a platform that connects 1,700 pharmacies to virtual doctors across Malaysia. A former commercial pilot turned tech CEO, he argues that digital healthcare is not about replacing traditional medicine – but about making it work harder for patients who cannot afford to lose half a day in traffic for a routine prescription. Tell us about your academic and professional journey. My journey has never followed a single runway. I pursued medicine…
Africa has never been friendly to crypto. Despite incredible adoption numbers on the continent, African governments have met almost every crypto discussion with bans or warnings.However, some of its largest economies have abandoned that approach and are working to introduce licensing regimes, stablecoin oversight, and compliance rules designed to integrate digital assets into the financial system.The shift in sentiment and action taken by governments is the answer to a change in what crypto has become on the ground, where it’s become less of an investment and more of a payment system that millions of people already use for remittances, savings,…
Nigeria’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector has been built on informal relationships. A distributor builds a relationship with the manufacturer, and the retailer does the same with the distributor, who delivers goods to them weekly. On June 19, Omni used its seventh anniversary to argue that the status quo is changing, and that the company is building the infrastructure for that change. At the Omni Insights Forum in Lagos, Omni launched its FMCG Industry Report 2026, a study it describes as one of the most comprehensive deep dives into how goods, capital and data move through Nigeria’s consumer goods value…