Africa

1. European opportunities
2. Flying high
3. A school for quants
4. Senegal B-girls

Also, is Africa being too deferential to China?

Welcome to Semafor Africa Weekend, where we’re not completely averse to fanboying. I had the pleasure of moderating a panel with the author, playwright and political activist, Professor Wole Soyinka, at Harvard’s Africa Alive! event this weekend. The Nobel Prize winner was in fine form discussing big ideas about the future of the continent while lamenting what he described as the wayward leadership that has betrayed Africans. As you might expect of a literary hero, who celebrated his 90th birthday this July, he was as frank and clear-eyed as his crisp writing.

But he was also excited about one of the latest projects he is supporting called the Heritage Voyage of Return, which he envisioned as a cruise ship. The vessel will also act as an educational center which tracks the transatlantic trade route that took millions of Africans from the continent over 400 years. The project was backed early on by Brazil and received a Nigerian government endorsement in August. Soyinka told me he had also garnered early interest from Unesco in recent weeks.

It’s easy to see this simply as a tourism business opportunity but Soyinka posited that the “symbolic return” is important for Africa and the African diaspora’s future.

🟡 It was a tough week for African presidents. Ethiopia lost theirs as Sahle-Work Zewde stepped down following weeks of speculation, while Cameroon hasn’t lost its president but also hasn’t seen him for a month either. Meanwhile, Tanzania has doubled down on elephant hunting despite all the critics.

🟡 🟡 Have you followed us on WhatsApp yet? What are you waiting for?

A missed opportunity in Europe

The number of Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters scholarships awarded to graduate students from sub-Saharan Africa from 2021-2023. The program is backed by the European Union as part of the wider Erasmus+ project which helped nearly 8,000 African students and academics gain international credit mobility to study at European institutions. But there are concerns that too few Africans are aware of the program and are missing out on the opportunities it provides, according to a report by University World News. It quoted an EU ambassador to Kenya stating that a “majority of 100,000 scholarships” have not been taken advantage of by African students.

Africa’s rising airline capacity

Scheduled airline seat capacity for flights departing African airports rose by 2.65% for the month of October, compared to the same month a year ago, according to monthly data from OAG, an aviation data firm. The total number of seats topped 15.5 million. The growth has been driven by a 9% jump in international seat capacity, but that was tempered by an almost equivalent drop of 8.7% in domestic travel. Ethiopian Airlines, which dominates international flights both within and out of Africa, saw an 11% rise in seats, as did Kenya Airways (10%) and Irish airline Ryanair (36%). But that was pegged by drops with South Africa’s Safair (-8%) and Egyptair (-4%). Nationally, Nigeria saw the biggest drop in seat capacity, down by 17.6% from a year ago, while Ethiopia had the biggest rise at 12.2%.

Africans are flocking to this university

When hedge fund billionaire Igor Tulchinsky came up with the idea for WorldQuant University, he had no idea more than a third of its student body would be African just nine years after opening its doors.

The distance learning college, which is recognized by the US-based Distance Education Accrediting Commission, focuses on data sciences, leveraging technology and emerging online learning tools, to disrupt education. But the catch was that he wanted to do this for free, and he seems to have achieved that so far. Some 11,000 students from more than 150 countries have been enrolled since 2015.

WQU currently offers a two-year masters program in financial engineering and a 16-week intensive Applied Data Science Lab program to develop skills and knowledge very much in demand by finance hubs like Wall Street and the City of London.

“The demand for technical and quantitative skills is growing across the globe and shows no sign of abating,” says John Endrud, CEO of WorldQuant University. He says African business leaders see digital skill as a priority for continued investment, like anywhere else.

Endrud is keen to stress it isn’t easy to get into their programs and stay enrolled. “Because WQU is a free institution, we are often met with misconceptions about the rigor of the programs,” he says. “We ensure only qualified students with demonstrated proficiency are enrolled.”

To date, WQU’s average graduation rate for its Master’s program is 61%, says Endrud. That compares with a US average of 54% for advanced higher education programs.

— Yinka

The rise and rise of Senegal female rappers

Senegal’s female rappers are upending the country’s male-dominated industry. Mamadou Dramé, an academic at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar who has conducted several studies on Senegalese hip-hop, identifies the trend in The Conversation where he explores the genre’s role in popular culture. Early Senegalese rap was marked by the use of local languages such as Wolof, Serer, Pulaar, and Joola, alongside French and English. Dramé argues that this helped to attract a wider local audience. Hip-hop’s use as a political tool that shapes opinions has spawned notable female rappers such as award-winning Mamy Victory and Defa, who have collaborated to form Def MaMa Def, as well as Mounaaya, and OMG. Female rappers are “increasingly asserting their talent and individuality,” writes Dramé.

Weekend Reads

🌍 Africa’s deference to China in framing relations undermines the continent’s ability to determine its future, writes Paul Nantulya of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Action plans from the last Forum on China-Africa Cooperation are considerate of the African Union’s objectives, but they are so anchored on China’s security priorities as to “undermine Africa’s strategic posture regarding geostrategic rivalries,” he argues.

🌍 Some Russian war weapons have been built by young African women who unwittingly accepted adventures to Europe. About 200 women aged between 18 and 22 from countries including Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Nigeria who accepted an advertised free trip now find themselves “working with caustic chemicals that left their skin pockmarked and itching,” the Associated Press reports.

🇰🇪 🇳🇬 African creatives are cashing in on TikTok’s increasing value as a news and entertainment platform. The social media app is particular about making it easy for creators on the continent to monetize content. That’s typified by its ‘Africa Creator Hub’ program whose first cohort of 28 creators are participating in “intensive eight-week training programme held in Kenya and Nigeria,” Lennox Yieke reports in African Business.

🇲🇼 Malawian nationals are anxious about an increasing crackdown on their migration to South Africa. The Guardian documents instances of Malawian migrants who say “life is miserable” in South Africa, despite being initially attracted to the country to work in mines.

🇨🇩 The Wall Street Journal reports on the value chain of coltan, a mineral whose derivative tantalum is used in phones, from DR Congo through Rwanda to China. “A network of smuggling routes is increasingly being used to move ore illegally from militia-controlled mines in eastern Congo to neighboring Rwanda,” the Journal reports.

Week Ahead

Oct. 14-15 — The Central Bank of Namibia will hold a monetary policy meeting to decide on its policy stance for the coming months.

Oct. 14-16 — The Nigerian Economic Summit will be held in Abuja. Nigeria’s finance minister Wale Edun and central bank governor Yemi Cardoso will be among the speakers.

Oct. 15 — The South African Reserve Bank will release its October monetary policy review.

Oct. 15-18 — The Africa Cyber Defense Forum, organized by the African Telecommunications Union, will take place in Kigali, Rwanda.

Oct. 16-17 — Seamless Africa 2024 summit will bring more than 6,000 decision-makers, from startups to regulators to Johannesburg.

Oct. 16-17 — Kenya’s Senate will debate whether to dismiss Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua after the National Assembly voted to impeach him. Gachagua has denied all 11 charges against him, which include enriching himself and stirring ethnic hatred.

Oct. 18 — The IMF’s executive board will meet for the first review of Ethiopia’s $3.4 billion financing program.

Oct. 19 — The Sierra Leone Diaspora Investment Conference will take place in Gaithersburg, MD. Chidi Blyden, deputy CEO for the US’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will deliver the keynote.

For Your Consideration

Oct. 14 — The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification accredited organizations are invited to nominate people aged 18 to 35 to attend COP16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from Dec. 2-13.

Oct. 17 — Africa digital content creators from five pilot countries — Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, and Mozambique — are invited to apply for the African Union-European Union Champions project.

Oct. 27 — The Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Center Southern Africa is now accepting applications for two upcoming cohorts.

• US hurricanes’ multibillion-dollar insurance bill presents a “reckoning” for lawmakers, businesses.
• Crypto media darling Blockworks launches consulting business.
• Fed’s 2% inflation target is ‘sacrosanct’ — and here.

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— Yinka, Alexis Akwagyiram, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, and Muchira Gachenge