Africa

1. Data centers
2. Startup investment
3. Salone’s digital ambitions
4. People power
5. Sudan coverage

Also, why a new sorghum variety could be a “game changer” for beer drinkers. 

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa, where we’re watching people power play out in Kenya. Martin, in Nairobi, was sending updates from protests against Kenya’s proposed tax rises as we put the final touches to this edition. The pressure on lawmakers seems to have led to a partial climbdown, as he reports in the story below. The planned tax hikes are part of the reason President Ruto is less popular at home than he is abroad. The IMF recently argued that the country needs to generate higher tax revenues, but many Kenyans have made their feelings clear. As Ruto said on social media earlier, “this is how democracies function.”

Ruto has a point — even if his observation is a public relations plaster on a gaping wound. There have been doubts raised about African democracy, especially after last year’s military coups, but it’s been refreshing to see citizens again hold their leaders to account. This is one of three examples that spring to mind, with the others being Senegal’s election of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and the South African election that has spawned a landmark coalition government.

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Africa Data Centres tries to meet cloud computing demand

Or 2 billion rand — the amount raised by Africa Data Centres to increase its capacity to offer cloud storage services. South African bank RMB arranged the funding which the company plans to invest in raising its data center capacity by 20MW to meet the growing demand for cloud computing services in South Africa. Data centers in Africa present a $5 billion market opportunity. Twenty or more data centers have been built in Africa each year since 2021, with the largest concentration in South Africa.

Africa venture funding: harder, slower, cleaner

African startups in the logistics and transportation sector have accounted for the largest share of fundraising activity this year, with 29% of the $730 million raised between January and March. Fintech startups, which made up half of the $1.7 billion investment receipts within the same period last year, are in second place, according to Africa: The Big Deal, which tracks the data. A notable aspect of the ecosystem’s performance so far has been investments in climate tech solutions. They have brought in $325 million, making up 45% of the funding total. Climate tech solutions cut across different sectors from logistics to fintech, so its investment numbers are a subset of the other main sectors. Investment in climate tech has increased consistently in the last half decade, from $340 million in 2019 to $1.1 billion in 2023. However, a challenging period for global venture capital means that topping last year’s total “seems unlikely at this stage,” say the Big Deal tracker’s analysts.

Sierra Leone bets on $150 million digital hub strategy

THE SCOOP

Sierra Leone is seeking to raise up to $150 million to roll out a far reaching digital innovation strategy led by a new Tech City hub. The plan incorporates job creation, training, entrepreneurship, and efforts to attract investment.

Technology minister Salima Bah, who is overseeing the new policy, told Semafor Africa the approach aims to attract entrepreneurs from across the West African sub-region as well as within the country.

“We really want to play the role of being a home for innovative ideas in the very early stages,” Bah said in an interview.

The Tech City will sit within a 130-acre special economic zone which is being adapted to support startups, according to the minister. She said the country’s small size — with a GDP of just under $4 billion in 2023 and population of 8.7 million — could allow it to adapt quickly in a fast-changing environment.

The new digital policy push is being supported by private players including local telecoms companies Africell and Orange Sierra Leone, as well as early grant backing from development financial institutions.

A key part of the strategy involves securing commitments from companies to set up facilities within the hub including data centers and tech schools. Africell has committed to building a data center as part of the project.

There is also a focus on job creation through opening business process outsourcing centers and device assembly facilities.

A Kenyan protest movement forces a U-turn on tax hikes

Kenyan lawmakers have scrapped some unpopular tax hikes contained in a controversial finance bill after pressure from protesters who waged an online campaign and took to the streets on Tuesday, prompting more than 200 arrests.

President William Ruto chaired a parliamentary committee meeting early on Tuesday to discuss the bill. Acknowledging widespread discontent, lawmakers announced after the meeting that several plans would be dropped, including an annual motor vehicle tax, value-added tax on bread and higher taxes on mobile money transfers.

“We have adjusted the document accordingly,” Ruto said of the changes in post on X, adding that the move followed a “robust public engagement” on the bill.

The partial climbdown follows a week in which campaigners spammed lawmakers with thousands of phone calls and messages urging them to reject the bill. They also targeted senior International Monetary Fund officials, due to the body’s support for the bill.

Many protesters, however, told Semafor Africa it was not enough to drop some tax rises and called for lawmakers to reject the bill in its entirety.

Police in Nairobi on Tuesday used tear gas and water cannons on protesters who were moving towards parliament. Rights group Amnesty Kenya called for the release of 210 people it said were arrested despite acting peacefully.

Semafor Africa saw at least a dozen arrests, including those of key organizers. The Kenyan Police Service could not immediately be reached for comment.

— Martin K.N Siele in Nairobi

US ambassador to the UN criticizes media coverage of Sudan

Sudan’s war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group has left the country on the brink of famine.

But US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told Semafor Media’s Mixed Signals podcast that the media is ignoring the war, which broke out in April last year. Here’s a partial transcript from her conversation with hosts Ben Smith and Nayeema Raza:

Nayeema: When we saw you just a couple of days ago, you launched into a kind of media criticism. Explain your criticism here.

Amb. Thomas-Greenfield: When you look at the numbers in Sudan, 25 million people in need of international humanitarian assistance. And that’s more than the population of the United States’ 10 largest cities. I mean, this is a huge, huge crisis. There’s a war raging now in which there are predictions and reports, that genocide is happening. And yet this does not get the front-page attention of the international press.

Ben: But I think a cynical editor would push back and say, “They’re interested in Gaza, they’re not interested in Sudan.” What do you say to that?

Amb. Thomas-Greenfield: What I say is, that the press has influence on what the audience reads. You can report on these other issues. You can help them determine what they should be reading.

Ben: Do you think people die in Sudan, because the media doesn’t cover it?

Amb. Thomas-Greenfield: I think people are forgotten. And when they are forgotten, more people die because we’re not paying attention to what is happening to them.

Check out a fuller transcript.

— Ben Smith and Nayeema Raza

Governance

🇿🇦 South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected for a second term after his African National Congress party and its main rival, the Democratic Alliance, agreed to form a coalition government. Former President Jacob Zuma later said his uMkhonto weSizwe party will join an opposition alliance in parliament.

🇳🇪 Niger’s top court on Friday ruled to lift the immunity of ousted president Mohamed Bazoum, paving the way for a possible trial. Niger’s military junta has accused him of treason offenses.

🇸🇸 South Sudan’s opposition and civil society groups said they want talks over joining a government of national unity to yield a new constitution.

International Finance

🇳🇬 The World Bank approved a $2.25 billion loan for Nigeria to support economic reforms and protect millions who have been hit by the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.

Deals

🇷🇼 Qatar Airways is set to purchase a major stake in RwandAir as early as next month, the Financial Times reported.

🇰🇪 Polish drone manufacturer Farada Group said it would establish a manufacturing plant in Kenya’s Konza Technopolis city to serve the African market after receiving regulatory approvals from country’s aviation authority.

🇹🇿 British International Investment will invest $15 million in renewable energy platform Rift Valley Energy, a renewable energy infrastructure development company, for the latter’s future renewable energy projects in Tanzania.

Energy

🇳🇬 US oil giant ExxonMobil is set to sell its oil and gas assets to Nigerian company Seplat Energy after the country’s state oil company dropped its case challenging the deal.

Geopolitics

🇸🇩 The United States will offer Sudan more than $315 million in humanitarian assistance, the USAID administrator Samantha Power said on Friday. The UN has said nearly 25 million people, half of Sudan’s population, need aid.

🇬🇷 🌍 Greek authorities caused the deaths of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean, including some who were thrown into the sea, a BBC investigation has found. Migrants from Cameroon and Somalia were among witnesses who made the claims of wrongdoing from 2020-23 which have been denied by the Greek coastguard.

Kenyan researchers have developed a new variety of sorghum that could be used to produce more affordable beer from a drought-tolerant crop. The variety of white sorghum, known as Jasiri, is cheaper than alternatives like hops, the researchers said. They said the variety was a potential “game-changer” because it cannot be attacked by birds, which is typically a production challenge with other crops. The researchers at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation said the crop variety is now at the commercialization stage, having been tested and approved by Kenyan authorities.

• NATO venture capital fund makes first investments to boost defense tech.
• The interest rate cut summer that wasn’t.
• Why Trump is ready to go harder on China.

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— Yinka, Alexis, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, Muchira Gachenge, and Jenna Moon