Author: Elan
Geordin Hill-Lewis has thrown his hat into the ring for the top job at the Democratic Alliance, launching his campaign in Elsies River to cheers from supporters and endorsements from senior party figures. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced his bid for DA federal leader on Friday, 27 February, saying the DA’s upcoming Elective Congress is a chance for the party to “renew” itself. This comes after outgoing DA leader John Steenhuisen announced that he would not seek re-election at the party’s upcoming congress, prompting questions about who will succeed him and the future of the party, as it heads…
Sygnia‘s Magda Wierzycka has announced a venture capital fund aimed at stopping South African AI startups from relocating overseas, promising seed capital and hands-on support for homegrown teams, reports Cape {town} Etc. Magda Wierzycka is the co-founder and chief executive of Sygnia Ltd, one of South Africa’s largest asset management firms. She is widely recognised as one of the country’s most influential business leaders and is often cited as South Africa’s richest woman, known for her outspoken views on governance and investment reform. According to Business Insider Africa, The fund will invest directly and run a national competition to find…
Ivory Coast may end March with close to 200,000 tons of unsold cocoa, as tensions between regulators and international buyers slow exports. The country, the world’s largest cocoa producer, relies on the crop for export earnings and rural incomes. The buildup of stocks reflects a gap between the guaranteed farmgate price set by the Coffee and Cocoa Council and lower international market prices. Authorities maintained producer prices after global cocoa surged in 2023 and 2024. Since then, futures in London and New York have fallen from record highs as demand slowed and supply expectations improved. Traders say current export conditions…
What if the next global voices shaping culture didn’t come from Hollywood or London but from Lagos, Nairobi and Cape Town? In 2026, African content creators are no longer just participating in global digital culture; they are actively shaping it. On Thursday, TikTok recognised five creators from Sub-Saharan Africa on its annual global Discover List 2026 — a curated spotlight of 50 creators shaping culture across industries and borders. Their inclusion marks a defining moment for the continent’s growing footprint in the global creator economy. According to the list, the African honourees include Olawale Ogunlana, a Nigerian medical doctor and…
There are few investments more treacherous than buying land in Nigeria. In 2017, Ndifreke Ikpoku paid ₦23 million ($13,000) for what appeared to be a legitimate plot on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, a growing urban city in the country. The documents checked out—until they didn’t. On closer inspection, the “asset” he believed would cement his place in Nigeria’s aspirational middle-class was little more than paperwork for land that had already been sold multiple times over. He lost the money—and the pride that comes with being a landowner in Nigeria—but not his resolve. That loss would become the foundation of…
It’s finally happened: ChatGPT has adverts. OpenAI is displaying adverts on ChatGPT’s free and Go tiers, and at the time of writing, they’re only being forced upon US subscribers. That’s the case for now, but it won’t be long until adverts are rolled out to more countries and more users—not forgetting that ChatGPT Go subscribers are still forking out a subscription fee. Thankfully, there are still numerous excellent ChatGPT alternatives out there that don’t splash adverts in your chat, and better still, deliver arguably better AI experiences than ChatGPT anyway. Confer Super-secret AI chatbot experience Confer is one of the…
Crypto, and especially stablecoins, will rapidly move from early experimentation towards mainstream for African merchants over the next two to three years. As the regulatory fog lifts, customer familiarity with stablecoins is set to accelerate as banks and major platforms roll them out, normalising crypto payments. Africa experiences a jump in crypto growth Between July 2024 and June 2025, Sub-Saharan Africa saw a 52% year-on-year growth, recording over $205 billion in on-chain value, making it the world’s third fastest growing crypto market. South Africa contributed an estimated $35 to 40 billion of that total, driven by strong stablecoin usage and a…
Ethiopia looks to multi-billion dollar airport to revolutionise aviation – African Business Ethiopia looks to multi-billion dollar airport to revolutionise aviation – African Business
Quidax, a Nigerian cryptocurrency startup, has partnered with the Swiss blockchain platform, Lisk, to enable its users to buy USDT, USDC, Ether (ETH), and Lisk coin (LSK) on its platform. Quidax, which secured a provisional crypto licence from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2024, will now provide an infrastructure for users to move between crypto and local fiat currency. This means retailers can now buy, sell, and swap cryptocurrencies on Lisk’s layer-2 network with low fees, to drive the blockchain’s expansion in Africa. The partnership allows builders on the Lisk network to plug into Quidax’s liquidity and…
Smartphone shipments into Africa hit 84.4 million for the entire 2025, representing 13% year-on-year growth and outperforming global market trends. The performance represents Africa’s strongest recovery since 2021. According to the report by OMDIA, smartphones accounted for approximately 55% of total mobile handset shipments in 2025, highlighting the region’s transition from feature phones to entry-level and mid-tier smartphones. The significant increase is also attributed to the continued rise of 4G networks on the continent, coupled with the increasing penetration of 5G. However, infrastructure upgrades are still delaying the rise of 5G networks. “The year (2025) marked the strongest recovery phase…