Author: Elan

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said he is fit and healthy, dismissing age concerns ahead of the 2027 presidential election. “Do I look to you like someone who has reached 80 years of age?” he asked the BBC Hausa interviewer. He had been asked if his age would not affect his ability to provide effective leadership if elected. The interviewer noted that Atiku would be “almost or nearly 80 years old” by the time Nigerians vote in 2027, and asked what he would say to those who considered him too old. He responded: “You went…

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invested $8 million in the Ventures Platform Pan-African Fund II, targeting early-stage technology companies in Nigeria and four other African countries. The investment is expected to support technology startups with strong growth potential in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Morocco and Senegal, as part of efforts to deepen access to growth capital, promote innovation and create jobs across the continent. The EBRD said the investment was made under its Early-Stage Innovation Facility II, a €200 million programme through which the development finance institution invests in commercially oriented venture capital funds. The facility…

Local cotton manufacturing moves into surgical textiles as Africa seeks import alternatives and channels more fibre into homegrown factories. African manufacturers are increasingly turning locally grown cotton into high-value medical textiles, offering a domestic alternative to raw exports and expensive imports. The shift is still small compared with the size of the continent’s cotton industry. But it comes as countries across the region are under pressure to produce more of the health products they consume. As demand picks up, it has drawn entrepreneurs along the continent’s cotton value chain who want an early foothold in a market poised for strong…

Polygon has disclosed several previously private security vulnerabilities that could have disrupted its proof-of-stake network, after deploying fixes through two recent hard forks.The vulnerabilities affected Polygon’s Bor and Heimdall clients and included denial-of-service risks, validator resource exhaustion and flaws affecting checkpoint and milestone processing, according to a Thursday disclosure from Polygon Labs’ Validators Support Team. Polygon said the flaws were fixed through the Austin and Kyoto hard forks, which were deployed privately and tested before being activated on mainnet and publicly disclosed. The most severe issue involved Heimdall, where a specially crafted transaction could force validators to perform excessive processing work,…

In March 2023, Adewale Adekomaiya lay trapped in a mangled car in Lagos while passersby filmed and a bystander tried to rob him. That near-death experience shattered his assumption that travel could wait for “later.” Within months, the Senior QA Architect and his wife packed their lives into a €900 ($1,048) digital nomad visa to Malta, spending two years working remotely across seven European countries. Now back in Nigeria with a newborn son, Adekomaiya tells JOHN ADOYI about the true costs of constant mobility, navigating racism abroad, and why his family’s next journey is taking them across Africa. Passers-by stood…

Data visualisation sits at the intersection of two disciplines that rarely talk to each other: data and design. Many dashboards are technically correct and communicatively inert. They show the right numbers but still fail to produce a decision, a direction, or a change in thinking. Meriem Benhabiles explores what changes when you bring structured UX thinking to dashboards and data presentations, from the questions you ask before opening any tool to the decisions that determine whether an insight actually lands.In organisations today, data has never been more available. Dashboards and performance decks exist for almost every function — sales, product,…

coup attempt? Gunfire and explosions were heard overnight from Friday 28 to Saturday 29 August in several parts of Niger’s capital, Niamey, including around the military base next to the international airport. By The Africa Report A general view of the Niamey 101 military base in Niamey, on 15 July 2022. © BERTRAND GUAY / AFP Published on August 29, 2026 at 08:57 am (GMT +1) “There is heavy gunfire and there are explosions around Niamey’s Base 101,” one local resident told AFP, an account confirmed by several other witnesses. At around 5am local time (4am GMT), a resident of…

Listen to this article Tokyo is redefining its engagement with Africa, transitioning from traditional aid-based approaches to strategic venture capital (VC) investments focused on long-term partnerships, innovation and capacity building. Several Japanese private companies are making Japan’s presence felt in Africa’s VC landscape, particularly in high-growth sectors such as fintech, climate tech and mobility. Growing demand for innovative, technology-driven solutions in Africa has drawn increasing interest from international investors. VC funding in Africa rose from over US$2 billion in 2019 to a peak of US$5.2 billion in 2022. Though investment declined to around US$3.6 billion in 2023, the continent’s start-up…

Our new book, How we made it in Africa II: Real stories of entrepreneurs turning opportunity into profit, is available here. The book was recently shortlisted for the Business Council for Africa (BCA) African Business Book of the Year Awards 2026.Alexis Caude is the managing partner of Africa-focused investment firm Adenia Partners. In a recent interview with How we made it in Africa, he revealed how he invests his personal money.Caude takes a somewhat conservative approach to his personal investments. He invests in the hospitality sector in Europe and the US, an industry he knows well.He also holds gold and…

Africa brought deals to Washington – the test is whether the money moves. – African Business Africa brought deals to Washington – the test is whether the money moves. – African Business