Notes
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A neighbor’s premature death sparks a vision for connecting Black communities to ownership — not just employment — in the energy and mineral industries shaping the future.
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Quick dispatches on RRAM chip design, the DMV’s surging data center power demand, Hamilton’s industrial policy, and the wisdom of planting seeds rather than changing minds.
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How Dine Diaspora’s cofounders built the Black Women in Food Summit through focus, proactivity, and grace — the three qualities behind every great execution.
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I’ve been struggling to write this month, particularly this week. Figured I’d share my scripture reflection from this morning. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29:7 It’s hard to…
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Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s 60 Minutes interview on economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell gave an interview on 60 Minutes this past Sunday and the conversation was quite interesting. Early in the conversation, when the question of unemployment came up, Chair Powell talked about how heartbreaking it was and…
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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Remarks on Current Economic Issues – The Federal Reserve chair spoke at an event hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Affairs. Before I get into Jerome Powell’s remarks, it’s worth dwelling a bit on the Peterson Institute. The place is named after Pete G. Petersen, an investor who became…
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We Are All Government-Sponsored Enterprises Now – This is interesting analysis by Guggenheim’s Chief Investment Officer Scott Minerd where he basically says that we’re potentially heading to a situation where the government will be beholden to ensuring companies and markets have access to credit because of how it’s navigating this pandemic situation. A lot of companies…
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My Grandmama passed on Saturday. I thought I got all my tears out Saturday, but I’ll be grieving and celebrating her until my spirit feels it’s enough. While showering last night, I saw her smiling face and heard her say, “I’m proud of you, son. It’s going to be alright.” There were some extra water…
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What constantly comes to mind when I think about Ahmaud Arbery is Psalms 137:4. It’s how I feel right now. By the waters of Babylon,there we sat down and wept,when we remembered Zion.On the willows therewe hung up our lyres.For there our captorsrequired of us songs,and our tormentors, mirth, saying,“Sing us one of the songs…
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Let Africa into the market for COVID-19 diagnostics – John Nkegasong, the head of Africa CDC, outlined a plan of action here for African countries increase their levels of coordination and production to get the diagnostics they need to the ramp-up testing to 10 million in the next four months. Earlier in the piece, he…
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Pittsburgh-Based Niche Secures $35M For School Search Platform After 100% ARR Growth In 2019 – niche is a platform that allows parents to search for schools ranging from kindergarten all the way up to college. what concerns me about this platform is just where we’re headed more broadly in education. A tool like this is…
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When regulation presents a (rare) opportunity – Bradley Tusk, a political wizard, who secured Uber’s policy wins across the U.S. with masterful and aggressive campaigns has written a piece that’s quite disturbing. He calls for startups to take advantage of what I’ll call “pandemic capture.” Because of the current situation with COVID-19, he argues that…
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Low Covid-19 death toll raises hopes Africa may be spared worst – So far, African countries have avoided the devastation the US and Europe have experienced from Covid-19. The nervousness in my chest won’t leave for some time, and I pray that Africa countries continue to navigate this virus as best they can. It’s been…
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COVID-19 Edition: What is venture sentiment today? – First Republic Bank published interesting results from a survey they conducted of 427 venture capital firms. Over the past month or so, there have been a lot of VCs posting on Twitter that they’re open for business. The data here tell a different story. Internet Speech Will…
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Protect them from all hurt, harm, and danger. Gertrude Liverman Coming up as a young boy, my Grandmama would end her prayers over me and my younger brother with that line. Gertrude Liverman, my Grandmama is an amazing woman. She came up on the coast of North Carolina, worked picking crops before getting jobs cleaning…
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When Tailwinds Vanish – This is a very interesting piece by John Luttig. He argues that the opportunities for new internet startups to hit home runs is diminishing as the internet matures. As winning in the internet economy becomes a zero-sum game, he points to incumbents as the ones more likely to win what’s left…
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State of the Cloud 2020 – Watching the rollout of Zoom at the office was fascinating. One day, I get a an email that we were testing Zoom. A month later, leadership started communicating that they prefer it to Skype. It wasn’t that long ago when someone from the IT team would have to take…
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WFP Chief warns of hunger pandemic as COVID-19 spreads – According to the head of the World Food Programme, well over 800 million people around the world are chronically hungry, dealing with starvation. He projects an additional 265 million people will face the same struggle by the end of the year. It’s hard to wrap…
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COVID-19 in Africa: Outcomes and Scenarios – Ronak Gopaldas of Signal Risk put together a nice analysis of the potential economic impact of COVID-19 on African markets. The central conclusion is that the path out of this situation is going to take years, something that is true for countries around the world. It’s frustrating to…
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Ken Ofori-Atta: ‘What does an African finance minister do now?’ – A sobering diary entry by Ghana’s finance minister. In the entry, he lists the various calls he made that particular day. I couldn’t help but notice none were to titans of industry inside Ghana. Not sure what that means, but it doesn’t feel good.…
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The Great Lockdown: Worst Economic Downturn Since the Great Depression – “For the first time since the Great Depression both advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies are in recession.” Stacey Abrams on Voting Rights, COVID-19, and Being Vice President – “I feel beautiful when young black girls come up to me. They are…
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For Black America, COVID-19 Is The Bullet. America Is The Gun – “This is how the coronavirus kills Black people. This is how half of the related deaths in Mississippi are Black. This is how 70 percent of the deaths in Louisiana are Black. Sixty-two percent in D.C. And so on. And so on. Not by Black…
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Some Policy Lessons from COVID-19 “It is about time that African progressivism focused not just on criticizing those in power, but also on developing viable political programs that can win power. This will require organization, political education and communication that resonates with mass publics, genuine openness to knowing “the realities on the ground”, and a…
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Black-Owned Businesses Could Face Hurdles in Federal Aid Program – “This roughly $68 billion will only begin to address the disparities within capitalism brought into relief by coronavirus…By prioritizing clients that already have existing lines of credit, black businesses and nonprofits find themselves yet again excluded from live-saving relief.” Earl G. Graves Sr., a Voice…
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One of the points of discussion following the passage of the $2 trillion stimulus passage has been whether the government should take an equity stake in the corporations that take bailout money. David Calhoun, the CEO of Boeing, balked at the idea of the government taking a stake in the company. A couple years ago,…
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How Rappers and Record Studios Are Coping With the Pandemic – “As devastating as this has been to recording studios, to think the coronavirus is the sole cause of Black artists leaving major recording studios is to ignore the past decade of Black music.” A Revolution of Values – “At Riverside, King assumed Malcolm’s previous…
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How Would You Decide to Restart the Economy? – “There are likely to be unknown unknowns and, with that, a high risk of collateral damage and unintended consequences — whatever decision you make.” A Reckoning for China’s Opaque Overseas Lending – “With a systemic debt crisis before us, the Chinese government’s willingness to report its data…
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Calibrating – “All great investments begin in discomfort.” Issa Rae on the Return of “Insecure” and her Growing Empire – “That craving to tell the stories she’s not seeing anywhere is what’s getting her through this moment of uncertainty.” A Game Plan to Help the Most Vulnerable – “We share the need to look out…
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Address To The Nation By President Akufo-Addo On Updates To Ghana’s Enhanced Response To The Coronavirus Pandemic – “The cynics question our capacity for the maintenance of discipline in this period, and in its aftermath; however, I am confident that we will prove them wrong.” Masayoshi Son Talks WeWork, Vision Fund And SoftBank Under Siege…
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It’s not fear that grips him. Only a heightened sense of things. Narrator from 300 In the scene embedded above, a young Leonidas is out surviving in the wilderness as part of his training to be a Spartan soldier. The scene above tells the story of him crossing paths with a wolf looking for a…
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Here are the five tracks that stood out to me from this week’s new album releases: I really enjoyed this interview with Ibrahim Mahama. His art makes you pay attention and I appreciated his perspective on the development of African countries.
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Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Report Banks Have Too Much Money Now – “But ideally what you want is for banks to have lots of capital in bad times, and then relax those requirements—let them lever up and buy stuff and take deposits and lend and trade Treasuries and generally support the financial system and the…
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Tackling COVID-19 in Africa – “If leaders across sectors translate their already proven resolve into more targeted, collaborative action in the coming weeks, we believe they can make significant progress in mitigating the economic impact of the pandemic—and safeguarding economies and livelihoods.” What If D.C.’s Black-Owned Restaurants Can’t Recover From the Effects of COVID-19? –…
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So much for April Fool’s Day. Telemedicine is essential amid the covid-19 crisis and after it – “What about the features of a visit to a doctor that seemingly can’t be done at a distance, such as the physical exam? Today’s stethoscope is gradually being replaced—like everything else—by the smartphone.” FaintFlex Vol. 19 – Why…
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How parking a wireless school bus can help all students get back to school – “South Carolina is planning to deploy 3,000 buses connected to the internet through a contract with Charter Communications so that students can receive home instruction.” Civil rights leaders oppose swift move off natural gas – “Whenever someone disagrees with what you say,…
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A few folks have requested that I send what I’m reading and listening to. Here goes: Joseph Lowery, civil rights leader and MLK aide, dies at 98 – “I’ve never felt your ministry should be totally devoted to making a heavenly home. I thought it should also be devoted to making your home here heavenly”…
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In the West and East, when you talk about how things got the way they are, you’re able to go back pretty far to start to weave that story. When it comes to Africa, those stories tend to be shorter, starting around the time Europeans got to the shores of Southern and West Africa. We…
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George Washington – Unifying figure if gigantic trust James Madison – genius of constitutional architecture Alexander Hamilton – understand the requirements of political economy John Marshall – construe the Constitution of such a republic Also Needed the social soil of the US in the fourth quarter of the 18th century in the mid Atlantic. Not…
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I’ve got a weekly column I’m writing for Moguldom now where I will be writing about all things artificial intelligence and black people. I’m real grateful for the opportunity. Here are links to the first couple pieces: Reimagining Drug Discovery And Testing To Increase Genetic Data For Black People What Does Neuralink Mean for Intellectual…
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The news rippling across the tech world last week was Elon Musk putting on his trademark events where he talks with certainty about a lot of things that aren’t certain. A few years ago, Musk invested $XX in the company, an effort to build a mesh brain computer interface that could be woven into the…
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Thanks to Kwabena Sarkodie for having me on his podcast, Insights from the Sahara, to discuss all things artificial intelligence and Africa.
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Coffee Board takes tech route to help growers boost yield (The Hindu) Twitter acquires Fabula AI to strengthen its machine learning expertise (Twitter) This strategic investment in graph deep learning research, technology and talent will be a key driver as we work to help people feel safe on Twitter and help them see relevant information.
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Outsmarting deep fakes: AI-driven imaging system protects authenticity (TechXplore)
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There’s been a lot of conversation around the importance of making sure there’s diversity among developers and researchers who are building artificial intelligence. One of the primary concerns is that this diversity imbalance will lead to bias being built into algorithms. The proposed remedy is for teams to hire more minorities on their teams. I’m…
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Physics-based AI software company joins Cottonwood Venture Partners’ leading digital oilfield portfolio (Tachyus) Sam Altman’s leap of faith (TechCrunch) Sorenson Seeds $150 Million Fund to Invest in Overlooked America (Bloomberg)
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I’m working through The Quest for Artificial Intelligence by the late Nils Nilsson, a pioneer in the development of the field. He charts out the foundation for artificial intelligence beginning with Aristotle’s syllogisms and makes his way through various European mathematicians who made various contributions to mechanizing logic. A couple of years ago, Chris Dixon,…
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The Shanghai Diamond League meet is this weekend, and the 100m dash was electric. Christian Coleman is an incredible sprinter. He holds the world record in the 60m dash. Over the first 50m of this race, you see how. He’s like a loaded spring out of the blocks. He loses this race in similar fashion…
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Creative Stock: Why Intellectual Property is Africa’s Most Valuable Resource (Medium) Losing $2m in Nigeria’s music industry (Medium) The failure of Reconstruction was a ruthless act of sabotage (Washington Post) Nipsey Hussle had a plan to beat gentrification — in South L.A. and across the U.S. (LA Times) Why Ramaphosa is probably not in a…
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Ozwald Boateng put on an incredible fashion show today at the Apollo Theatre. I loved that he called the show AI for artistic intelligence. Africa flows through his designs and the combination with the title struck me as a strong statement of the confidence with which black folks must carve out our role in shaping…
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Bloomberg: Traders Snap Up Assets of Nation Where Default Is New Normal I’m not really sure what to make of this article. I wrote a several weeks ago about how I was nervous about hedge funds investing in countries like Mozambique. While the independent audit of the country’s finances seems to have given investors increased confidence…
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Moody’s downgrades South Africa’s power utility Eskom South Africa continues to face challenges as bad news continues to emerge from week to week. On Monday, Eskom’s chairman resigned. On Tuesday, Moody’s downgrades the power utility’s credit rating. The question in my mind is what is the path forward for South Africa. President Zuma, who has…
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I think this week showed us the extent to which we cannot take democratic institutions for granted. The Comey testimony. Prime Minister May’s snap elections. South Africa’s Barney Fife-like saga. All three situations have been concerning to watch for varying reasons. South Africa, in particular, is concerning
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Politico: SPG Signs Kenya Trump-connected Stanton Park Group signed a $1.2M contract to represent the country’s interests in the US. I look forward to seeing what they accomplish. White House: Seventeen Nominations Sent to the Senate Today President Trump has nominated Texas real estate tycoon Ray Washburne to be President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.…
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Bloomberg: Owner of $1 Billion Cobalt Project Says Rally Is Far From Over Eurasian Resources Group has a pretty massive cobalt mining project in the works in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company stands to realize a nice return on investment at the rate cobalt prices are skyrocketing. They jumped 71% last year and…
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Bloomberg: Star Rapper Akon Mulls IPO of Chinese-Funded African Solar Unit I was surprised to see this news. Akon’s Lighting Africa project has gotten a good bit of media attention over the past several years. Perhaps, as time goes by, more information about the company’s financials will come out. I think a lot of people…
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All aboard #MadarakaExpress, May 31, 2017, 11:11 a.m. #SGRLaunch pic.twitter.com/0MQCS6A5U0 — Patrick Njoroge (@njorogep) May 31, 2017 Kudos to Kenya on launching its new passenger rail connecting Nairobi to Mombasa earlier today. Would be nice to have something like this connecting Atlanta and Savannah! Tech Central: MTN Slammed Over Bosses’ Millions A significant portion of…
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Great meeting with @POTUS US President @realDonaldTrump during G7 summit. Time for new deal for Africa. Let's do it! pic.twitter.com/2MuCNM55ib — Akinwumi A. Adesina (@akin_adesina) May 27, 2017 US and Africa need each other. President @realDonaldTrump will do great things with Africa, with time @IvankaTrump pic.twitter.com/Yievy2p4ud — Akinwumi A. Adesina (@akin_adesina) May 29, 2017 Towards…
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Cote d’Ivoire’s Military Situation Continues to Concern We continue to hear more and more about the cracks widening within Cote d’Ivoire’s Military. The military is a combination of trained career soldiers and rebel fighters who helped President Alassane Outtara oust Laurent Gbagbo when he refused to relinquish the presidency back in 2010/2011. Since that time…
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Tastemakers Africa CEO Cherae Robinson Gives Us A Sneak Peak On Her 10-Year Plan and I’m Here For It Marketplaces are powerful and have a track record of disrupting industries and building. See eBay and Airbnb. Look out for what Safaricom could build on its Mpesa platform if regulators don’t make the two break up.…
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Apologies for missing yesterday’s post. My body is making it clear I need to sleep more. The big market news yesterday was Ford CEO Mark Fields retiring, making room for Jim Hackett to take over at the home of America’s best selling vehicle. The news was surprising because Fields had done a pretty good job…
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Microsoft Announces First Public Cloud in Africa Microsoft announced today that it was going to stand up two data centers in South Africa, the first public data centers on the continent. Let that sit with you for a bit. Hopefully, this is the beginning of public clouds proliferating across the continent. The benefits of this…
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Africa Finance Corporation CEO Makes Case for Infrastructure Investment Andrew Alli is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter. He is witty and always provides forthright analysis. During the celebration of the Africa Finance Corporation’s 10 years in business, Alli shared some observations on the importance of infrastructure in Africa. His admonishment to…
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CcHub Pushes to Keep Yaba’s Startups Clustered Together I struggled to parse out whether there’s really cause for concern for Yaba’s future as Lagos’ tech hub, or whether this piece was a veiled branding for CcHub. Perhaps, it was some of both. All the same, it’s cool to see CcHub making plans for the long-term…
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Investor Highlights African Financial Services Opportunity Despite Headwinds Kurt Davis surveys the financial services industry across Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cote d’Ivoire as ones where investors will find an upside though the current state of the industry isn’t the prettiest to look at. His projection of Cote d’Ivoire becoming the centerpiece…
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Nigeria’s Bank of Industry Provides Interest-Free Loans to National Youth Service Members Nigeria’s Bank of Industry has developed a Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund in partnership with the country’s National Youth Service Corps. The program provides NYSC members with loans they can use to further establish their businesses, and it seems like a nice program. Nigeria requires…
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Author Calls For African Entrepreneurs to Talk About Failure Idril Abshir penned this interesting piece arguing that African entrepreneurs should talk about failure more, indicating that they will find resilience in discussing failure. She cites the culture among Western entrepreneurs of acknowledging failure. While the stories in the piece were compelling, I don’t know that…
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Black Market Naira Trading Cheaper Than Official Naira Nigeria’s currency situation has been a mess of late, and I’m blaming it on Billions (read my thoughts in Issue No. 24). Sure enough, hedge funds are sniffing around for a deal. This week has felt like something of a perfect storm for Nigeria with telecoms having…
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No. 148: Three AM Reads: MTN Keeps Eye on Iran | Senegal’s Got Gas| Taxing Entertainers and Athletes
MTN Signs Non-Binding Agreement to Invest in Iranian Net South Africa-based MTN Group continues to set its sights on participating in Iran’s fast growing telecoms industry, with this preliminary move to place nearl $40M in Iranian Net for a 49.5% stake in the company. MTN has growing stakes in Iran, with its minority ownership of…
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The Case for Private Equity to Play a Bigger Role in Supporting Africa’s Entrepreneurs Yemi Laludi, TPG Growth Africa’s Managing Director argues that private equity can tailor its approach to various markets in Africa in efforts to fill the financing vacuum that has stymied Africa’s entrepreneurs in their efforts to take their ideas to the…
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Short and sweet this morning! Africa’s Women Innovators Honored at World Economic Forum These 6 are just a sample of the millions out there. Also, shout out to Cherae Robinson for winning 20,000 CHF at the World Tourism Forum for what she’s building at Tastemakers Africa. 2U Acquires South Africa’s GetSmarter for $103M Maryland-based 2U…
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Report Touts Investment Opportunity for Private Education Across Africa DC-based Caerus Capital put together a report on the investment opportunity in private education across Africa. The authors project that 25% of school age children – 66 million children – across Africa will be in private education by 2021, up from the 21% who are currently…
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Coffee Prices Are Going to Drop 6% This Year, But My Americano Will Still Be $4 The World Bank put out its forecasts for global commodity prices last week, and it expects coffee, cocoa, and tea prices to fall 6%. Ivory Coast’s President Ouattara recently called on the country’s cocoa farmers to increase their output…
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No. 142: Three AM Reads: Cars45 gets $5m | Ethos Makes a Sugar Play | Ghana’s Illegal Mining Problem
Cars45 Gets $5M to Streamline Nigerian Used Auto Sales Jake Bright reports that Cars45 raised a nice Series A round from Frontier Car Group that has backing from some serious names in the venture capital space – Balderton Capital, EchoVC, TPG Growth, and Maryland-based NEA. Seeing that Cars45 raised its round from this one group…
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Kenya Pushes Forward on Geothermal Plans It’s fantastic seeing Kenya continue to make progress on its Vision 2030 plan to be generating 5000MW of geothermal energy by 2030. I was rooting for these projects back in 2011, so I’m glad they’re not making me look bad. The groundbreaking for the 158MW Olkaria V geothermal site…
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No Pain. No Gain: Egypt Edition Yesterday, I bristled at the scenario of a group of hedge fund managers pushing for the devaluation of the Naira. A country going through a devaluation situation experiences lots of pain, but good can come from it. Egypt seems to be seeing early fruit from the devaluation it initiated…
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A Case for More Hedge Funds Investing in Africa Kurt Davis makes an interesting case for why it makes sense for hedge funds to be more active in core sectors across African markets – financial services, metals and mining, oil and gas, and agriculture and land. I admit that I bristled a bit at the…
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Last year, I wrote about my frustration with the difficult time I was having finding a movie about a black princess that my daughter could watch. As you can imagine, when I saw that Disney was coming out with a movie called Queen of Katwe, I was thrilled. When I finally watched the trailer, I…
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Originally posted on Kwame Som-Pimpong: Yesterday was the 54th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, independent Congo’s first prime minister. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, one of the first blacks to attend my alma mater, wrote a nice piece on the importance of Lumumba and his death. He recently published a biography of Prime Minister Lumumba that…
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I got this email earlier today from WordPress recapping the year, so I figured I would share the top posts from the year. 1. What Does a Black Princess Look Like? My daughter calls herself queen now, and me king. I’m not quite sure where she got that, but I smile wide every time I…
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The retail industry is so different from just a few years ago. I remember buying a shirt from Everlane when all the startup made were t-shirts. The kicker that got me to spend my money was that I could get better quality for cheaper because there were no retailers like Macy’s selling the product and…
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Jacqueline Musiitwa shares personal anecdotes on the struggle of working in Lusaka when the power is out. Lights off is a situation Africans across the continent experience, and it impacts education, bottom lines, and general quality of life – for women, especially. Jacqueline points to initiatives like the Power Africa initiative as important in alleviating…
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Kudos to fellow Woodberry Forest Tigers Johannes, Tao Tao and the rest of the Get Your Guide team on the $50m they raised from KKR. More vim to them as they continue helping folks have enjoyable trips around the world. I would be remiss to give a shoutout to Cherae and the Tastemakers Africa team…
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Within five minutes of meeting NJ Ayuk a few years ago, his gravitas came through clearly. After hanging out with him a bit longer, I figured his law firm, Centurion Law Group, was going to be a force across Africa. Here’s a cool video the firm just released. Be sure to check out the rest…
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Apologies for missing Tuesday’s post. I’m a bit jumbled on helpful content to post, but here’s some of what’s on my mind. Alassane Ouattara’s Second Term Alassane Ouattara stepped into his second and final term as President of Ivory Coast earlier this week. Five years ago, President Ouattara was barricaded in a hotel after Laurent…
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Francophone Africa and Europe can expect access to more African and African-American content through Afrostream. The two-year old startup led by Tonjé Bakang has been on a tear this year, finishing up at Y Combinator and landing funding from Troy Carter’s Cross Culture Ventures (have they finished raising their $50M fund?), Orange Digital Ventures, Ace…
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I was embarrassed when Kweku Adoboli’s name went across the screen for losing $2.3B while trading ETFs at UBS. A Ghanaian brother had done something really bad. What impact would this have on the perception of Ghanaians? Here’s a fascinating piece on him now that he’s out of jail, but still not in the clear.…
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I nearly clicked my heels when I saw the news of Amrote Abdella being named Regional Director of Microsoft’s 4Afrika Initiative, an effort for Microsoft to support economic development on the continent while finding new business opportunities. I’m a big fan of Amrote’s. Seeing Davidson alumnae killing it will never get old. What is getting…
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Niall Ferguson’s biography of Henry Kissinger continues to provoke thought. The following two quotes were delivered at Harvard’s Commencement in 1950. To see Asia through Asian eyes — that is the prime requisite for Western policy towards Asia…You cannot prepare a policy mold for Europe and … assume that it will do for Asia as…
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Niall Ferguson has put together a fascinating biography of Henry Kissinger. Well, at least the 17 chapters I have worked through have been extremely thought provoking. Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist covers the first half of Kissinger’s life (For those that don’t know, Kissinger is still quite alive at 92). Ferguson just took a fellowship position…
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Folks I want to study more: Kwame Nkrumah Henry Kissinger Lee Kuan Yew Patrice Lumumba Edgar J. Hoover Zbigniew Brzezinski Bayard Rustin Send along book recommendations, if you have any. Who else should I consider? Who is on your list?
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Tayo Oviosu and the Paga team are pushing their dominance in Nigeria’s mobile payment space to the next level with the $13 million Series B round of financing they announced earlier this week. A couple things I need to look into: Now that the Central Bank of Nigeria is implementing its cashless policy, how is…
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Aly-Khan Satchu, one of the most respected equity investors in Kenya, discusses briefly how US-China cooperation would be a benefit to African countries. This aligns with comments Bobby Pittman, managing director of Kupanda Capital made at a session discussing the Electrify Africa Act. More on that sometime later this week. There are rumors of Anheuser-Busch…
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You’ve probably seen the news of Martin Winterkorn’s resignation from his CEO post at the Volkswagen Group. Rough year for this guy. Earlier in the year, VW Group supervisory board chair Ferdinand Piech publicly stated that there was distance between him and Winterkorn. I wonder if anything related to this discovery of VW vehicles emitting…
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Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance landed a senior advisory role with the asset management firm, Lazard, in their sovereign advisory practice. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala faced a good bit of criticism the last few years of her tenure, with the perception that she was quiet on corruption issues,…
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Take a look at the tweet below. If you follow economic development across Africa, you have seen the referenced charts. All I will say about the paternalism in this tweet is that the reasons for optimism about Africa go back further than 60 years. Moving on. Scott Galloway, a professor at NYU, said that the…
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Alice Walker wrote a beautiful poem about Julian Bond. Nas continues to make waves with the launch of the Opportunity Fund, a General Assembly scholarship program focused on getting more women, veterans, African-Americans, and Latinos into programming and engineering. Here’s an interview with Justin Gatlin after he won silver at this year’s World Track and Field Championships.…
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1. After highlighting how problematic it is being labeled the first black woman head of South Africa’s Insurance Institute, Delphine Maidu, CEO of Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty for Africa, discussed women leadership styles, what the insurance industry could do to better serve customers, and the low insured rates in South Africa. 2. Ushahidi executive director…
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Julian Bond died last night. I can’t shake this image of a wave of folks fighting for equal rights in this country. Every year, key fighters pass on. Every year, new fighters emerge. The photo above is of W.E.B DuBois on the left holding 2-year old Julian Bond’s hand. Bree Newsome Clint Smith Phillip Agnew…
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1. Fascinating piece on Sam’s Cafe in Tehran. I look forward to reading more about life in Iran as business opens up with the rest of the world. 2. One of the benefits of the Internet is the transparency it enables. Here’s an interesting post from Zirtual CEO Maren Kate on why Zirtual failed and how…
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1. Clint Smith shares his experience teaching a creative writing course at a prison and coming to terms with his socialized view of people who are incarcerated. (via Clint Smith) 2. I wish I was in Ghana to check out this cool looking art exhibition. (via Bessie Akuba Winn-Afeku) 3. Sometimes, these assurances that we have nothing to…
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No. A little over a year ago, Jehiel was telling me about this idea he had for smart tractors. A few days ago, he talked about what Hello Tractor is doing while moderating a panel with President Obama. Amazing. It is so frustrating to read story after story on America’s failing infrastructure. Great post by Mark…
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It’s looking like a $3B effort to put broadband in rural America hasn’t gone well. Good list of African multi-nationals with sights on other parts of the continent. Worth taking another look at a report BCG put out in 2010 on African multinationals pushing to compete in the global economy. Critique of a new documentary…
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Tidjane Thiam gets off to a nice start at Credit Suisse Silicon Valley’s Political End Game Rocket Internet’s portfolio value has grown $2.5 billion in nine months Wistia founder shares how not being fake helped them close an account with a big customer Not sure I buy the analysis that Eurobond issuances among African countries with…
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When Aubrey Hruby and several Finance ministers of African countries waited for the Globe at Google headquarters to rotate to the African continent so they could see how many hits the continent was getting at the time were stunned to see just a couple dots as compared to completely outlined countries for the rest of…
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I binged on Pranav Vora’s podcast, The Protagonist, this week. Pranav is founder of Hugh & Crye, a really cool startup men’s clothier that targets lean and athletic men. The podcast contains interviews with the founders of nine DC-based startups. I finished the last episode yesterday and here are some thoughts on why you should give…
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No. 50: Three Podcasts That Will Make Your Daily Commute Amazing
andreesen horowitz, angela benton, boris johnson, cherae robinson, freakonomics, harvard business school, harvard kennedy school, information, interviews, itunes, jaime tardy, james altucher, jason calacanis, kai ryssdal, lewis howes, michael williams, pimm foxx, podcast, professional development, silicon valley, simon sinek, tim ferriss, tunein radio, wade danielson
Helpful resource podcasts to give a listen.
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Campbell Brown says @DanielLoeb is like a Marine— 'There is no better friend and no worse enemy' http://t.co/WUyoHkI067 @SuccessCharters — Julia La Roche (@JuliaLaRoche) April 29, 2014 Your reputation is powerful. I recently sat in on a workshop covering best practices for managing one’s reputation. The three prevailing themes were: 1. What do you perceive…
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I have been eager to update you on my first week in Uganda. The past week that I have spent in Uganda has been a tremendous time of soaking in observations of Uganda’s business and governance environment. My first meeting of the week was with Dr. Yasin Ziraba, Chairman of the National Steering Committee for…
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Things are not looking good in Cote d’Ivoire. “We do not need the international community.” The desire for power is crippling. http://ping.fm/bd58x
Kwame Som-Pimpong 