Category : Inside Africa

There’s something almost chaotic about starting a new brand. You’re figuring out the product, the market, pricing, maybe even trying to convince a skeptical friend that your idea isn’t as wild as it sounds. In the middle of all that noise, people tell you to “build a brand story.” And

The creative economy in Africa is estimated at nearly US$59 billion, yet it represents less than 3% of the global creative industry market. At the same time, more than 70% of the continent’s creative workforce is under 35 years old, putting youth culture and innovation squarely at the heart of

Imagine you run a startup and suddenly your potential customer base isn’t just your city or country, but 50 million people in another region of the continent. Sounds ambitious, right? But that’s exactly the kind of leap that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offers, especially for African startups

Imagine waking up, grabbing your phone, and finding a flexible job, maybe you’re a driver, a freelance designer, or a delivery courier. It sounds liberating, right? That’s the allure of the gig economy in Africa. But here’s the catch, while it promises freedom, flexibility, and income when traditional jobs are

If you’ve ever backed an African startup (or are thinking of doing so) you’ll know the excitement: the tech‑enabled business, the growth potential, the massive under‑served markets. But then there’s the question that often gets whispered: How and when do we get out? In other words, what’s the exit strategy?

If you’ve ever been to Aba in southeastern Nigeria, someone has probably mentioned Ariaria. It’s impossible to talk about the city without it. The market is massive and magnificent all at once. But Ariaria is more than a market. It’s an idea, a living symbol of African ingenuity and the

Walk through any major African city, and you’ll notice something that looks chaotic at first but runs like a hidden machine. Piles of shirts folded on tarpaulins. Stalls stacked with laptops, car parts, and baby strollers. People bargaining, fixing, reselling. It’s noisy, messy, alive. This is the second-hand economy, a

Across African cities right now, you’ll find young companies tackling two of the continent’s biggest headaches: energy and waste. These may sound like isolated efforts. But together, they point to something bigger, a fast-emerging cleantech movement led by African startups tackling energy and waste with creativity and urgency. And it’s

It started with payments. Mobile money, digital wallets, and remittance apps changed how Africans moved money fast, cheap, and across borders. For nearly a decade, that was the heart of Fintech in Africa. Startups like M-Pesa, Flutterwave, and Chipper Cash built the rails that connected millions of people to the

Not long ago, artificial intelligence felt like something far away from Africa, a high-tech idea from Silicon Valley that didn’t really touch everyday life here. But that’s changing fast. Today, AI is quietly becoming part of how Africans live and work. It helps banks make quicker decisions, doctors spot illnesses