The Kenyan government has confirmed that it will be maintaining its 1.5% digital service tax on multinational tech giants, despite pressure from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to join its global minimum tax initiative, as Nairobi continues its attempts to attract higher levels of tech-related investment. Kenya’s digital service tax came into effect in January 2021, with the government opting for a low-tax regime in a push to encourage more tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft to invest in the East African country. Since then, Kenya has made stride ..read more

The call to action was made during the meeting on “Leveraging Digital Technologies for Integrated Planning to Advance the SDGs and Agenda 2063 in Times of Multiple Crises”, which took place as a side event at the Tenth Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-10).  Mr Antonio Pedro, Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), stressed the importance of technology in supporting development planning systems. He said that while many countries do an excellent job of identifying their priorities through extensive stake ..read more

NBA Africa has launched a startup accelerator based on the continent focused on early-stage African startup companies. The Triple-Double: NBA Africa Startup Accelerator, run by technology incubator ALX Ventures, aims to support African tech entrepreneurs in sports and creative industries with mentorship and capital. Early-stage startups in Africa that develop solutions in event management and ticketing, youth development, AI, and digital marketing in the sports and creative industries can apply by May 31 2024.  Ten selected startups will receive mentorship from NBA Afr ..read more

The report was produced by a team of experts convened by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with African Union Commission, the United Nations Development Programme Regional Bureau for Africa (UNDP-RBA), and the African Development Bank (AfDB) ahead of the 10th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-10) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The report indicates that progress on the SDG agendas varies across subregions. West and North Africa are the best performers. While East Africa has relatively low performance. “None of the subregion ..read more

Science, innovation and technology, they said, are critical to the transformation of the continent in agriculture, industry and poverty eradication. Held ahead of the African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, the STI Forum is a pre-event organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with the African Union Commission and other partners under the theme, “Effective delivery of innovative science and technology solutions to reinforce the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 and eradicate poverty in Africa.” Belete Molla, Minister ..read more

In a strong call to stakeholders at the opening of the tenth Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-10) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General said urgent action is needed to increase capital flows into developing countries, particularly in Africa to make the SDGs stimulus a reality. She also urged the international community to support Africa in its efforts to deliver its vision for development through the SDGs 2030 agenda and Agenda 2063. Ms. Mohammed told the multi-stakeholder forum of member states representatives, youth, civil society and pr ..read more

Countries around the world are struggling to make ends meet—none more so than the poorest in the world, which have been caught in a cycle of debt, crisis, pandemic, and fragility that seems nearly impossible to escape. While on the surface, it seems like development spending is increasing around the world, recent analysis from the ONE Campaign estimates that $50bn will flow out of developing countries in 2024 as a growing number pay more on debt interest payments than what they are receiving from the outside world. Many of these countries are on the African continent, and nearly one in three o ..read more

All eyes are on Venice as the city unveils its 60th contemporary visual art exhibition. The Art Biennale, the Biennale d’Arte di Venezia, runs from April to November. It is one of the most prestigious and longest-running of its kind in the world, and features a central exhibition curated by an artistic director, national pavilions hosted by participant nations, and independent exhibitions throughout Venice. This 60th edition is curated by Adriano Pedrosa, the artistic director of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, who was recently the 2023 recipient of the Audrey Irmas Award f ..read more

Kenya’s stock market has staged a spectacular recovery in the past few months, rallying around 16% in the first quarter of the year amid improving macroeconomic fundamentals and positive market sentiment. “The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has witnessed remarkable growth in its equity market, evidenced by the surge in market capitalisation from Sh1.43 trillion at the onset of 2024 to Sh1.76 trillion [$13bn] in March 2024, marking a substantial 22.97% increase in investor wealth,” says Kiprono Kittony, chairman of the NSE. Speaking to African Business from Nairobi, Kittony notes that the pr ..read more

In January, the e-commerce marketplace Temu launched in South Africa, as the Chinese giant PDD Holdings begins its expansion into Africa. PDD Holdings was founded in Shanghai in 2015, with the Pinduoduo platform launching in the same year. Pinduoduo is a third-party marketplace that connects buyers with sellers and has become known for offering heavily discounted consumer goods. The company makes its profits by taking a percentage of each transaction and charging merchants for advertisements. Pinduoduo, which generated 130 billion yuan ($18bn) in revenue in 2022, has become particularly profit ..read more