Your curated selection of weekly Africa business and investment headlines.
Welcome to Africa Vantage, the Africa business and investment section of the Emerging Real Estate Digest—your insider's guide to investing and doing business on the African continent. Stay informed about the Lobito Corridor with our "Thoughts on the Corridor" section, and keep up with general business trends across Africa through "Africa Vantage."
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Headlines
🎦 Uganda News Reporter Becomes The Week’s Most Viral African
📸 Map of Railways Being Built in Africa by Chinese
🎦 Chinese Company to Build Africa’s Largest Desalination Plant in Nambia
🎦 Dangote’s Refinery Begins Production
📸 Musk’s Starlink Expands to 16th African Market
Africa
🎦 Uganda News Reporter Becomes The Week’s Most Viral African
Andrew Tate suggesting the reporter should be America’s next Vice President set off the wave of reactions pushing the Ugandan Simon Kaggwa Njala into international focus.
📰 China’s Interests in Africa are Being Shaped by the Race for Renewable Energy
Africa is home to a lot of the important minerals needed to create renewable technologies – like copper, cobalt and lithium, key ingredients in battery manufacture.… Read More
📰 US Sees Bipartisan Backing for Africa Critical Minerals Plan
The Lobito Corridor is the flagship initiative for DC with $553 billion already committed. The broader infrastructure plan aims to deploy $600 billion by 2027 globally in infrastructure projects… Read More
📸 Map of Railways Being Built in Africa by Chinese
Over $25 billion in Africa rail has been invested by China since 2000, dwarfing similar investments made by all other nations combined over the same period.
🎦 Chinese Company to Build Africa’s Largest Desalination Plant in Nambia
The production capacity of this plant, after its commissioning, will be up to 20 million tonnes of desalinated water per year, solving Nambia’s freshwater shortage.
[videos for subscribers only]
📰 Angola Noticeably Absent from Xi’s Africa Summit in Beijing
The same week Angola was announced as the 2025 home for the U.S.-Africa Business Summit. Coincidence? Or is the issue that China has purchased less oil in recent years from Angola causing Angola’s oil production figures to drop 22% from 2019 (1.42 million barrels per day) to 2023 (1.1 million barrels)? China has loaned Angola $45 billion since 2002, primarily to build energy infrastructure, and now is having trouble servicing that debt as China opts to purchase more oil from Russia, Asia, and the Persian Gulf, and less from Angola… Read More, (2)
📰 China to “Revitalize” Ageing Railway Linking Zambia, Tanzania
The single-track TAZARA was built between 1970 and 1975 through an interest-free loan, offering the capacity for China to export Zambia’s copper and cobalt to the sea. At that time, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa were fiercely opposed to communism, and TAZARA circumvented those routes.… Read More
📰 DBSA Approves $200m for Lobito Corridor Railway Project
The Development Bank of Southern Africa funding will support the construction and upgrading of the railway infrastructure, including the procurement of 50% of the required wagons from a South African local manufacturing company.… Read More
🎦 Dangote’s Refinery Begins Production
The magnate claimed the refinery could supply not only Nigeria but all of sub-Saharan Africa with its current gasoline needs. The fuel is clear which some claim is cleaner-burning and better for engines.
[video for subscribers only]
📰 Why Middle East is Critical for Tanzania’s Meat Exports
Qatar leads a list of Middle Eastern countries that have imported meat from Tanzania by 30.8 percent. It is followed by hashtag#Oman, which imported 27.63 percent, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 20.64 percent, and Saudi Arabia, which imported 7.54 percent of the produce… Read More
📰 Eos Capital in Namibia Blueberries Deal
Eos Capital, through Euphrates Agri Fund, has acquired a 15% stake in Nambia Berries, a hydroponic blueberry producer in northern Nambia.… Read More
📰 Nigeria Becomes Third-Largest Debtor to the World Bank, Up From Fourth in 2023
Nigeria’s debt exposure to the World Bank rose by 14.4% from $14.3 billion in the fiscal year (FY) of 2023 to $16.5 billion in FY2024..… Read More
📰 Zambia Dedollarization Drive Will Bring Order, Central Bank Says
“We are bringing order to our currency,” Central Bank Governor Denny Kalyalya said. “When you have other currencies intervening as mediums of exchange, it blunts your monetary policy.”.… Read More
📸 Musk’s Starlink Expands to 16th African Market
Zimbabwe is the 16th market in Africa, and 107th globally, for the Texas-based tech firm founded and led by South Africa-born Elon Musk.
