Author: Contribution

The African Cotton Foundation (ACF) reaffirms its unwavering commitment to sustainable, competitive, and inclusive growth of the African textile value chain. As global supply chains evolve and investors seek resilient sources of supply, the next strategic step is clear: Africa must strengthen its local transformation capacities and accelerate value creation on the continent. The main mission of the ACF is to improve the livelihoods of farmers and agricultural communities, while protecting the environment in which they live and work. Cotton remains one of Africa’s most strategic agricultural raw materials (more than 1.2 million tons produced annually), generating income for millions…

Dr Abderrahmane Mebtoul, University Professor, international expert, chartered accountant at the Higher Institute of Management in Lille (France) 1974. “Cryptocurrencies” are virtual digital assets based on blockchain technology through a decentralized ledger and encrypted computer protocol. A crypto asset is not a currency, its value determined solely by supply and demand, not relying on a trusted entity like a central bank. 1.- In 1976, Austrian Friedrich von Hayek, Nobel Prize in Economics, predicted in his work the denationalization of currency, an alternative economy where the State loses the monopoly of monetary issuance, an idea taken up in the 1990s by…

Too vast to be ignored, too novel to be understood By Maryam Garba-Sani* Simplicity, in the absence of complexity, prompts humans to complicate things. Let’s take the example of a mirror: used as a medium of exchange or for a specific purpose, it produces a different effect than when we simply look at ourselves. After checking our appearance, we start to question internally, wondering if we are truly real. One of the themes that runs through this writing is rooted in this observation. Innovators are more interested in product innovation than process innovation. Some argue that standardized processes work better;…

By Dr Mohamed H’MIDOUCHE The Regional Forum on the Coffee Value Chain in Africa, held in Marrakech on 5–6 May 2026 with the support of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation — OIC — and the Islamic Development Bank — IsDB —, highlighted a strategic imperative: Africa must move beyond the export of raw commodities and build stronger value chains capable of generating local transformation, jobs, brands and productive sovereignty. Beyond coffee itself, the issue is the continent’s ability to capture more value from what it produces. African coffee stands at a crossroads. It is an emblematic product for several economies…

By Douty Fadiga – Managing Partner, ReY Advisory Angola is gradually shifting the focus of its financing model: from a state dependent on external debt to an economy where domestic capital markets are becoming a true engine for capital allocation. BODIVA (Bolsa de Dívida e Valores de Angola, the Angolan stock exchange) is at the heart of this transition, with a clear ambition: to make domestic capital markets a pillar of the economy’s financing, with the goal of reaching nearly 50% of GDP in the medium term, thanks to a credible pipeline of IPOs, the increasing presence of domestic investors,…

By Yasmine Aboubacar Sedikhe SY The 21st century will not be dominated solely by states that control natural resources, energy infrastructure, or trade routes. It will be shaped by those who master knowledge architectures: data, artificial intelligence systems, computing capabilities, scientific infrastructures, and cognitive models capable of organizing the world. A silent mutation is underway. Power is no longer measured solely by the ability to produce; it is now measured by the ability to define the frameworks for interpreting reality, structuring knowledge flows, and imposing technological, cultural, and informational reference points from which societies think, decide, and innovate. In other…

By Abderrahmane Mebtoul, State Doctorate 1974-Professor of Universities International Expert New Delhi will host the 4th India-Africa Summit on May 31, 2026 under the theme “IA SPIRIT”, dedicated to partnership, innovation, resilience, and inclusive transformation. India is currently the most populous country in the world with approximately 1.477 billion inhabitants. Its nominal GDP is expected to reach $4,153 billion in 2026, with a per capita GDP estimated at $2,813 according to the IMF. Despite a slight slowdown compared to 2024, growth remains particularly strong, with forecasts ranging between 6.6% and 7.8% in 2025, making India one of the most dynamic…

Open Letter to Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund By Aboubakr Kaira Barry, CFA, Managing Director, Results Associates, Bethesda, Maryland • May 8, 2026 “When I attempt to examine my own conduct… I divide, as it were, into two persons… The first is the spectator… The second is the agent, the person I properly call myself.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759 Dear Managing Director, In 1759, Adam Smith articulated the idea of the impartial spectator – the disciplined act of stepping outside oneself to judge one’s own conduct honestly and without bias. More than two and…

By Lansana Gagny SAKHO, Adm.A., C.M.C. While the word “sovereignty” invades the African economic debate, three Asian models – South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia – impose an obvious fact: sovereignty is not proclaimed, it is built. A comparative analysis of a continent at a crossroads. There are words that end up betraying what they claim to defend. In the contemporary African debate, the word “sovereignty” is one of those. It is repeated to reassure, to affirm a will for control. But by being invoked without being defined, declaimed without being measured, brandished without being built, it has become a refuge word…

Loic Mpanjo Essembe, Managing partner, MEL INVESTMENT BANKING Africa is not only suffering from a lack of capital; it is mainly facing a deficit in financial architecture. The continent needs to finance infrastructure needs estimated between $130 and $170 billion annually, while actual investments remain around $80 billion, leaving a significant gap to be filled. At the same time, the African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates that improving the efficiency of domestic mobilization could unlock up to an additional $1.43 trillion of internal resources, proving that the problem is not just the absence of funds, but their poor structuring. This reality…

By Elvis Ngbondo-Sakpo Sub-Saharan Africa is not lacking in capital. It mainly lacks a system capable of effectively transforming these resources into productive and sustainable investments. Behind this paradox lies one of the great economic challenges of the continent: that of financial architecture. Recent regulatory developments in the CEMAC and UEMOA regions illustrate a clear willingness on the part of monetary authorities and states to better capture locally produced wealth. In CEMAC in particular, the gradual increase in the repatriation rate of foreign exchange from extractive industries reflects an increased search for monetary sovereignty and macro-financial stability. But a question…

By Moubarak Moukaila, Director of Sustainable Development Financing Producing locally, distributing intelligently, prioritizing the essential West Africa is burning. Not only due to climate change – although the desertification projections by 2070 are alarming – but under the weight of an unsustainable energy dependence. In the UEMOA area, less than half of the population has access to electricity, with stark disparities: around 20% in Niger compared to nearly 75% in Senegal. While electricity demand is increasing at a rate close to 11% per year, supply is only increasing around 4%. This gap is no longer a temporary tension. It is…

By Habibou Dia, Director of Communication · Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy, Republic of Senegal. Food security is a fundamental issue related to the right to survival and the right to development of developing countries, and it is particularly urgent for Senegal. As an important agricultural country in West Africa, Senegal has fertile valleys and a long agricultural tradition, but it still depends on imports of large quantities of broken rice to meet its national needs. How to feed a growing population on limited land? How to move from food dependence to food autonomy? These are the…

Dr. Ing. Beaugrain Doumongue* Between information inflation, sophistication of analytical tools, and the illusion of omniscience of digital devices, many organizations continue to miss the essential point: the exact point where strategic information is actually formed. Prisoners of a disembodied approach to intelligence, they accumulate data without ever capturing the deep dynamics that structure their environment. A methodological blindness that, if not corrected, condemns to a late, incomplete, and often erroneous reading of contemporary power dynamics. From the deficit of strategic contact to the boundary layer Most economic intelligence devices still rely on a double illusion. The first is to…

By Dr. Mohamed H’MIDOUCHEAfrica is not lacking in ambitions, needs, or project ideas. It often lacks projects that are sufficiently prepared, structured, bankable, and de-risked to attract public, concessional, private, and institutional financing. The real challenge is to transform the continent’s priorities — ports, airports, toll roads, power plants, desalination plants, logistics corridors, industrial platforms, or digital infrastructure — into truly financeable projects. This is why Project Preparation Facilities (PPFs) must become a pillar of the new African financial architecture. One of the paradoxes of African development lies in this contradiction: the continent has massive infrastructure needs, attracts the interest…

By Gaston Kelman, writer. Twenty years ago in 2007, I prophesied in my book entitled Les hirondelles du printemps africain that Mauritania would be one of the most promising swallows heralding the African spring. For the kindest, I was just an iconoclast, a provocateur who wanted to shock at all costs. It was a time when people held their noses when they heard the name of this country, of which the only references granted to it – condemnation without trial and without possibility of appeal – were modern slavery – biased analysis – and very real terrorism. At that time,…

By Professor Amath Ndiaye, FASEG-Cheikh Anta Diop. By refusing to adjust domestic energy prices despite a sustained oil shock, Senegal is choosing a short-term social cushion. But this choice, politically rational, is becoming increasingly costly economically. As the barrel approaches $100, the budget bill explodes and dangerously reduces the state’s room for maneuver. A social cushion… at the cost of budget drift In a context of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, maintaining administered energy prices helps contain inflation and preserve household purchasing power. This choice is all the more understandable as energy is a transversal good, the effects of…

By Basilie NZAME, Expert in financial control and regulatory compliance. Former Auditor at DeloitteFrance, Mazars Angola & DRC On September 30, 2025, the BCEAO officially launched the Interoperable Instant Payment System Platform, the PI-SPI. For the first time in the WAEMU area, an Orange Money customer in Senegal can send money in real time to a bank account in Mali, or to a Moov Money wallet in Ivory Coast, without friction, without delay, without human intermediary. The CEMAC had taken the lead as early as 2018 with GIMACPAY, operated by the Central African Interbank Electronic Banking Group under the impetus…

By Nicolas Kazadi, National Deputy, former Minister of Finance of the DRC. The interview given by Sandrine Ngalula Mubenga to Forbes Africa deserves to be read carefully. It shows a dynamic electricity sector in the DRC: more operators, more projects, more solar energy, more regulation, more data, and above all a clearer awareness of the national energy urgency. It must be acknowledged: under President Félix Tshisekedi, a real effort has been made to put electricity back at the center of the economic agenda. According to the figures mentioned in the interview, installed capacity would have increased from 2,972 MW in…

By Dr. Moussa K. Fall, Economist, Cofounder & Dean Marselya Tech The BCEAO indicates that in 2025, the countries in the zone borrowed 15,105.2 billion FCFA from the local financial market. The debt is rising and could quickly exceed sustainable levels in several UMOA member states. The BCEAO must intervene and buy back the short-term debts of the member states from regional banks; regional banks, in turn, must see their purchases of sovereign bonds restricted. They must grant more credit to the private sector to revitalize economic activity in the zone. Regional banks in the UMOA zone are heavily involved…

An open letter to Ajay Banga on thirty years of stagnant governance and the need for structural accountability By Aboubakr Barry Mr. President, “When I strive to examine my own conduct… I divide, so to speak, into two persons… The first is the spectator… The second is the agent, the person I properly call myself.” In 1759, Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, articulated this idea in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith’s “impartial spectator” is the disciplined act of stepping outside oneself to honestly judge one’s own conduct. More than two and a half centuries later, this wisdom…

Dr. Mohamed H’MIDOUCHE Between international visibility and real market transformation In New York, at Nasdaq, the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) embodies a financially ambitious Africa. But behind this new visibility, a decisive question arises: are African markets transforming or simply better valuing themselves? The BRVM Investment Days held at Nasdaq on April 21, 2026 marked an important step in the international projection of African markets. The continent is no longer satisfied with being a potential investment destination; it now structures a discourse, highlights its performances, and seeks to sustainably capture the attention of global investors. This evolution reflects a rise…

On April 23, 2026, the Compagnie Maritime d’Affrètement and the Compagnie Générale Maritime (CMA-CGM) officially inaugurated its regional Africa office in Abidjan, marking the transfer of its continental activities from Marseille. A first for the French maritime transport giant, which now chooses to anchor its strategy closer to its African markets. This decision is not just a logistical adjustment. It is a strategic act that reshapes the trust map in West Africa and reveals, in its apparent sobriety, the silent battle between Dakar and Abidjan to become the true center of gravity for multinationals. In my upcoming book “Governing through…

By Christ KIBELOH, Writer, Novelist, and Essayist The world fixates on our subsoils with surgical greed, but what about the truth in our eyes? As an observer of silent structures, I refuse to see the Congo Basin reduced to a simple equation of minerals and cash flows. We are presented with global energy transition, cobalt, and rare earths as the keys to a decarbonized future. But a question remains: what is the value of this technological clarity if its price is darkness and the depletion of humanity at its source? The ontology of uprooting: the invisible cost The current extractivist…

By Echraf M. Abdoul Wahab Ouedrago. On April 17, 2026, Mauritania announced the candidacy of Mrs. Coumba Bâ for the position of Secretary General of the Francophonie. Due to the obligation of reserve, I declined several requests from former colleagues of the OIF, media, and friends seeking my opinion on this candidacy of a compatriot. As the days passed, I wished, however, to provide this small personal testimony, the result of our past collaborative opportunities, hoping not to encroach on the work of her campaign team. Although from the same country and almost the same region (Boghé and Kaédi being…

By Amath Ndiaye, Economics Professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University – Dakar. According to the latest quarterly budget execution report, in 2025, Senegal shows an improvement in public finances, with a decreasing deficit and dynamic revenues. However, behind these encouraging results, a major constraint is evident: the growing burden of debt, with debt servicing absorbing a considerable portion of public resources. Between budget adjustments, economic growth slowdown, and the need for external financing, the country is facing a delicate equation to sustainably revive its economy. Overall satisfactory budget execution in 2025 In 2025, Senegal can boast of a tangible improvement…

At the upcoming Africa Forward Summit, taking place in Nairobi on May 11th and 12th, the Nova Garage initiative asserts itself as a continental platform dedicated to African entrepreneurship and innovation, with a clear ambition: to bring forth a generation of projects capable of making an impact on regional and international markets. By hosting the first edition of Nova Garage in May 2026, Nairobi confirms its role as a hub of African innovation at the heart of Silicon Savannah, an ecosystem that has become one of the most dynamic on the continent thanks to its hundreds of startups and strong…

By Serge KOUAMELAN, Executive Director of APBEF-CI At the heart of agricultural financing in West Africa lies a paradox, an improbability, even a fallacy that no one can ignore anymore: we produce, we store, but we do not finance. In the UEMOA region, agriculture represents 16 to 40% of the GDP, depending on whether we refer to countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal on one side, or Burkina Faso and Mali on the other. At the same time, it can mobilize up to 80% of the active population in some countries in the region. However, less than 5% of bank…

By Thierno Seydou Nourou Sy Banker Founder of Nourou Financial Consulting (NFC) Dakar, Senegal www.nouroufinancial.com In the West African Monetary Union (UMOA), factoring and leasing are not new concepts or legally non-existent instruments. They are recognized by the community framework and are included in the classification of financial institutions. Several banks and specialized institutions offer them. The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and member states have laid down structuring regulatory foundations. The question is no longer about their existence. It is about their scale and macroeconomic impact. While these instruments are slowly progressing in our region, the rest…

Dr. Mohamed H’MIDOUCHE* In a context of reshaping global energy balances and tensions on supply chains, Africa is at a strategic turning point. Between historical opportunity and the risk of renewed dependence, the challenge now is to transform its resources into a real lever for sustainable economic sovereignty. Africa at the heart of the new global competition The 21st century will not only be one of energy transitions, digital revolution, or technological changes. It will also be a time of increased global competition for strategic resources, logistical corridors, value chain mastery, and supply security. In this global reshuffling, Africa is…