Growing an economy takes power, especially electricity. One major piece of infrastructure missing in most Sub-Saharan countries is a ubiquitous electric grid. Only South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Gabon have 85% or better access to electricity, and while I don’t know first hand what the electric grid is like in all four of those countries I do know that while the Kenyan electric grid is...
I’m publicly bullish on Africa (1, 2, and 3). I foresee the continent being the next big economic growth story after the Asian Tigers, China, and India. On the path are some major continental-scale efforts, including the potential creation of the East African Federation, a political union of the existing East Africa Community trading group: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and...
Before spinning Africa Eats out of Fledge last year, I spent a lot of time digging into the public stock markets of Africa, understanding what it means to be public on an exchange in an emerging market country. I’ve been buying and selling shares on public stock markets since the 1980s but only companies listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ. This week I can across this infographic, showing the...
There are so many incredible stories to share at Africa Eats, the investment holding company spun out of Fledge in 2020. Here is a sampling of the type of solutions we’ve invested in. Homegrown, for-profit solutions with measurable impacts lessening hunger and poverty across Africa. For more stories, listen to The Opportunity is Africa, a podcast brought to you by Africa Eats And a note to...
Some entrepreneurs stand out, clearly destined to turn their vision in reality. Some entrepreneurs succeed despite the myriad of unjust hurdles of world puts in front of them. Hurdles like being born a women. A black woman. In Africa. In one of the many countries no one outside that country cares about. Start off any entrepreneur in those circumstances and 99 out of 100 will end up no better off...
Zebra’s may fix what Unicorns break, but that hasn’t stopped the investing world from their focus on hunting unicorns. Maybe a little in the impact investing space, but there the world of young companies is split into “startups” and “SMEs” with the latter still looked upon as potential unicorns and the latter often derided as unworthy of investment. Rather than...
Luni’s backstory starts the episode, Why Africa at 29:00, Africa Eats at 38:30
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“How in the world [is Africa] going to deal with this? We didn’t plan for disease. They are putting dead bodies in the streets” – Melinda Gates When Melinda Gates, co-creator of the world’s largest foundation, largest non-government philanthropist for healthcare and hunger doesn’t know of a solution, there is no solution coming. I’ve been writing about...
Two months after predicting a hunger crisis in Africa, and there is a hunger crisis in Africa. The news on this has been sparse, but its starting to trickle out. Today the story was posted on Foreign Affairs. The novel coronavirus has overwhelmed public health systems and jolted economies around the world. Now it is poised to spark a global hunger crisis as well. After decades of progress in the...
Both McKinsey and the International Monetary Fund published papers in the last week talking about the current and coming food security issues in Africa. McKinsey McKinsey’s paper is Safeguarding Africa’s food systems through and beyond the crisis. TL;DR: Africa is a net importer of food and requires $6 billion worth of imported inputs to grow the food it grows. So far, the breakdowns in the...
