Features

LAGOS (Capital Martkets in Africa) – When Apple Inc. introduced its App Store in 2008, the company’s founder and chief executive Steve Jobshad a message for iPhone app developers. “We are not trying to be business partners,” he told the New York Times. Jobs meant that developers didn’t have to feel threatened because Apple’s main business was selling phones, not taking 30% commissions on app sales. But the comment could be interpreted very differently today,…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A week after Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized power in Guinea, France is still unsure how to respond to the crisis unfolding in its former West African colony. For now, it seems content to let multilateral bodies such as the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States try and find a resolution.  They are unlikely to get very far. The AU has suspended Guinea’s membership, and Ecowas…

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – For anyone hoping to see light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel over the next three to six months, scientists have some bad news: Brace for more of what we’ve already been through.  Outbreaks will close schools and cancel classes. Vaccinated nursing home residents will face renewed fears of infection. Workers will weigh the danger of returning to the office as hospitals are overwhelmed, once again. Almost everyone…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Hershel “Woody” Williams, a massive warship the U.S. Navy calls an “expeditionary sea base,” is now off the west coast of Africa as part of a multinational exercise in countering piracy. Nearly 800 feet long and topped with a flight deck for helicopters, the Williams can provide tremendous logistical support — fuel, stores, spare parts — while remaining at sea almost indefinitely, because it has two separate crews…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa)- Dozens of companies appealed to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ease restrictions on travel from southern Africa that are hampering trade. The limits on movement are jeopardising the competitive advantage the U.K. has, which stem from its historical, cultural and economic links with Africa, the businesses said in a letter sent Monday by lobby group Business Leadership South Africa. The South African units of companies including BMW AG, JPMorgan…

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in AfricA) -Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan appointed key allies to her cabinet in a reshuffle that may help her push through long-awaited energy industry reforms. In the second change to the administration since she came to power in March, Hassan appointed January Makamba to the influential post of energy minister. Makamba, a 47-year-old former cabinet minister who has had presidential ambitions, will oversee the development of Tanzania’s huge natural-gas discoveries by companies…