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Trade and Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

The Quarry or the Factory: Why Africa is Banning the Export of its Raw Prosperity

Sep 9, 2026

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4 min read

The Quarry or the Factory: Why Africa is Banning the Export of its Raw Prosperity

Kenya's ban on raw mineral exports joins Zambia and Nigeria in a continent-wide push to industrialise Africa's supply chains. Here's what's driving it.

Research Analyst
Research Analyst

Trade and Value Chains

The Democratisation of Crude: Inside Dangote’s $49 Billion Refinery IPO

Sep 8, 2026

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4 min read

The Democratisation of Crude: Inside Dangote’s $49 Billion Refinery IPO

Dangote's $49bn refinery IPO opens to 10 million retail investors at $0.40 a share, marking Africa's largest listing yet. Here's what's driving it.

Africa INSIGHTS Editorial Team
Africa INSIGHTS Editorial Team

Trade and Value Chains

Seven Industries Building Africa's Next Billion-Dollar Companies

Aug 31, 2026

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4 min read

Seven Industries Building Africa's Next Billion-Dollar Companies

Africa's $331B SME financing gap outstrips its VC pool. Seven overlooked sectors—cold chains, customs tech, power—are quietly closing it. Here's the data.

Stephene Chikozho
Stephene Chikozho

Trade and Value Chains

The next African giants will be built on value chains, not resources

Aug 27, 2026

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4 min read

The next African giants will be built on value chains, not resources

Nigeria's non-oil exports hit a 50-year high in 2025, but cocoa, urea and cashews leave port unprocessed. Why Africa's next wealth wave depends on value chains.

Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains
Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

Africa's Industrial Future Is Being Decided on a Railway

Aug 11, 2026

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4 min read

Africa's Industrial Future Is Being Decided on a Railway

What the Lobito Corridor tells us about turning continental industrial strategy into bankable, moving capital

Stephene Chikozho
Stephene Chikozho

Trade and Value Chains

Diamond giant De Beers halts work at flagship South African mine as demand plummets. Zimbabwe’s Troubled Murowa Diamonds enters corporate rescue

Jul 16, 2026

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3 min read

Diamond giant De Beers halts work at flagship South African mine as demand plummets. Zimbabwe’s Troubled Murowa Diamonds enters corporate rescue

De Beers halts Venetia. Murowa enters corporate rescue. What southern Africa's diamond crisis reveals about a market under immense pressure.

Africa INSIGHTS Staff Writer
Africa INSIGHTS Staff Writer

Trade and Value Chains

Which African Countries are Winning in Manufacturing

Jun 30, 2026

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4 min read

Which African Countries are Winning in Manufacturing

Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa had every advantage Vietnam had, except predictability. Here's what's blocking Africa's industrial breakthrough.

Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains
Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

The Big Question: Which African Economies Could Double by 2035?

Jun 23, 2026

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5 min read

The Big Question: Which African Economies Could Double by 2035?

The AfDB puts a $1 trillion dividend on Africa's AI and industrialisation choices. We map which economies are positioned to double by 2035 — and which are not.

Research Fellow | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade and Value Chains
Research Fellow | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade and Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

+1

From Technology Transfer to Technology Co-Creation: How the India–Africa Economic Corridor Is Being Rewired

Jun 13, 2026

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4 min read

From Technology Transfer to Technology Co-Creation: How the India–Africa Economic Corridor Is Being Rewired

A generation of Indian-origin entrepreneurs has quietly built some of Africa's most consequential businesses. Now governments, capital markets, and the continent's digital economy are catching up.

Partner
Partner

Trade and Value Chains

Still Standing Alone: What Dangote's Eighth Consecutive Brand Africa Title Reveals About Africa's Brand Gap

Jun 2, 2026

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4 min read

Still Standing Alone: What Dangote's Eighth Consecutive Brand Africa Title Reveals About Africa's Brand Gap

Dangote Industries has been named Africa's Most Admired Brand for the eighth consecutive year. Yet only 15% of Africa's Top 100 brands are African. We unpack what the 2026 Brand Africa 100 rankings reveal about the continent's brand gap — and the opportunity ahead.

Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains
Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

Creative Industries as Core Infrastructure for Planet Smart Adaptive Cities

May 30, 2026

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3 min read

Creative Industries as Core Infrastructure for Planet Smart Adaptive Cities

African cities are embedding film, animation, and storytelling into their economic core. Here's why creative industries are the new infrastructure play.

Mokena Makeka | Africa INSIGHTS Special Feature | Trade and Value Chains
Mokena Makeka | Africa INSIGHTS Special Feature | Trade and Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

+1

Zimbabwe Draws the Line: Critical Minerals Policy Rewrites the Rules of Ownership

May 29, 2026

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11 min read

Zimbabwe Draws the Line: Critical Minerals Policy Rewrites the Rules of Ownership

On 22 May 2026, Harare formally reclassified 13 minerals as either Critical or Strategic, introduced mandatory state co-ownership through Special Purpose Vehicles, and banned raw mineral exports without approved beneficiation plans. The consequences extend from Chinese battery factories to Western capital markets.

Thamsanqa
Thamsanqa

Trade and Value Chains

Aliko Dangote: King Of African Entrepreneurship

May 25, 2026

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2 min read

Aliko Dangote: King Of African Entrepreneurship

From a ₦500,000 trading loan to a $19B oil refinery, Dangote's business model holds hard lessons for entrepreneurs building in Africa. Here's what the data shows.

Dr Ola Brown | | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade and Value Chains
Dr Ola Brown | | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade and Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

Africa has the commodities. Can it build the exchange to price them?

May 22, 2026

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4 min read

Africa has the commodities. Can it build the exchange to price them?

Tinubu's Kigali proposal for a pan-African commodity exchange is strategically sound — but applause has never built clearing infrastructure. Here's what needs to happen.

Research Fellow | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade and Value Chains
Research Fellow | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade and Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

The Waiting Economies: Mozambique, Tanzania, and Angola Are Running Out of Time to Choose

May 13, 2026

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8 min read

The Waiting Economies: Mozambique, Tanzania, and Angola Are Running Out of Time to Choose

Three countries sitting on some of Africa's most consequential resource reserves are each approaching the same inflexion point and running out of time to act deliberately.

Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains
Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

The Manufacturing Vacuum: Why Africa’s Big Moment Keeps Getting Postponed

May 12, 2026

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4 min read

The Manufacturing Vacuum: Why Africa’s Big Moment Keeps Getting Postponed

Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Kenya had every strategic advantage to attract global manufacturing investment. Here's why they didn't — and why the window is narrowing.

Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains
Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

+2

Middle East Peace Deal Puts Africa's Port and Commodity Gains at Risk

May 7, 2026

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3 min read

Middle East Peace Deal Puts Africa's Port and Commodity Gains at Risk

US-Iran ceasefire talks threaten to close Africa's Cape Route window before its ports can capitalise. Here's what the data shows.

Research Analyst
Research Analyst

Trade and Value Chains

 How $11 Billion U.S. Health Deals Are Forcing Hard Choices Across Africa

May 5, 2026

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4 min read

How $11 Billion U.S. Health Deals Are Forcing Hard Choices Across Africa

Seventeen African governments have signed bilateral health agreements with Washington worth over $11 billion. Now, Zambia has broken the silence, revealing that health funding and critical minerals access are being negotiated as a package. The implications reach well beyond one deal.

Research Fellow | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade and Value Chains
Research Fellow | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade and Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

Who is cashing in from the Middle East crisis?

Apr 23, 2026

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4 min read

Who is cashing in from the Middle East crisis?

The Middle East crisis continues with no tangible end in sight, and some African economies are booking windfalls while the IMF warns the same crisis is eroding growth for 29+ nations.

Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains
Research Analyst | Africa INSIGHTS | Trade & Value Chains

Trade and Value Chains

Africa’s Sports Economy: The Next Billion-Dollar Frontier

Apr 9, 2026

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11 min read

Africa’s Sports Economy: The Next Billion-Dollar Frontier

Africa has long been the world's most reliable supplier of sporting talent — and one of its least rewarded participants. That is changing. From the Basketball Africa League to Morocco's stadium buildout, a new commercial logic is emerging: one where African institutions own the rights, control the infrastructure, and capture the value.

Stephene Chikozho
Stephene Chikozho

Trade and Value Chains

+2

Bikita’s $400 Million Answer: Zimbabwe’s Lithium Strategy Moves From Policy to Plant

Apr 2, 2026

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7 min read

Bikita’s $400 Million Answer: Zimbabwe’s Lithium Strategy Moves From Policy to Plant

One major Chinese-backed miner has put a concrete timeline against Harare's beneficiation ambitions. But the harder question remains unanswered.

Africa INSIGHTS Staff Writer
Africa INSIGHTS Staff Writer

Trade and Value Chains

Zimbabwe's Lithium Export Ban Is Crushing the Miners It Was Built to Protect

Mar 26, 2026

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8 min read

Zimbabwe's Lithium Export Ban Is Crushing the Miners It Was Built to Protect

Weeks after Zimbabwe's decision to ban all raw mineral exports, small-scale lithium miners are going dark, Chinese investors are recalculating their risk appetite, and Harare faces a narrowing window to prove its resource strategy is a plan, not a precedent.

Africa INSIGHTS Staff Writer
Africa INSIGHTS Staff Writer

Trade and Value Chains

+1

INSIDE AFRICA’S FINTECH MOMENT: Insights from the 6th Africa Fintech Forum 2026

Mar 25, 2026

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17 min read

INSIDE AFRICA’S FINTECH MOMENT: Insights from the 6th Africa Fintech Forum 2026

The 6th Africa Fintech Forum—attended by heavyweights at SARB, Absa, Capitec, Sanlam and fintech operators—was a gathering where some of the hardest questions in African digital finance got asked out loud. We were in the room. Here is what emerged.

Stephene Chikozho
Lebohang Noruwana Mkhize
Stephene Chikozho, +1

Trade and Value Chains

How the Iran Strait of Hormuz Shutdown is leaving African Nations weeks from running dry

Mar 20, 2026

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7 min read

How the Iran Strait of Hormuz Shutdown is leaving African Nations weeks from running dry

For years, the warnings about Africa's dependence on Gulf fuel supply were filed and forgotten. The US-Israel strikes on Iran have made that negligence impossible to ignore — and for some nations, the window to act is already closing.

Africa INSIGHTS Staff Writer
Africa INSIGHTS Staff Writer

Trade and Value Chains

Congo's First Gold Refinery: 500–600kg Monthly Output as it Boosts Local Processing

Mar 17, 2026

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8 min read

Congo's First Gold Refinery: 500–600kg Monthly Output as it Boosts Local Processing

The DRC just inaugurated its first gold refinery in Kalemie. Here's what it means for smuggling, artisanal miners, and Africa's push to keep more mineral value at home.

Stephene Chikozho
Stephene Chikozho
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