Threads

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

The CFA franc peg — what holds it together and what would break it

Two CFA franc zones cover fourteen African countries — the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU/UEMOA) running through the BCEAO in Dakar, and the Central African Economic …

3 min read · West Africa, Central Africa · 3 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

South Sudan oil — how a state managed its independence dividend, and didn't

South Sudan became independent on 9 July 2011 with control over approximately 75% of what had been Sudan's oil production — the Greater Nile, Petrodar, and Dar Petroleum …

2 min read · East Africa, South Sudan · 38 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Common Framework restructurings — Zambia, Chad, Ghana and the costs of slow sovereign debt diplomacy

The G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments, launched in November 2020 in response to the pandemic-era debt distress wave, has now been applied — formally — to four …

2 min read · Pan-African · 29 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Fonio commercialization — what the Pierre Thiam supply chain leaves out

The premium-export fonio supply chain — Pierre Thiam and Yolele Foods, the specialty-grain channel through Whole Foods and Eataly, the Slow Food Ark of Taste recognition — is …

2 min read · Sahel, West Africa · 25 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Kolwezi cobalt — the artisanal supply chain that doesn't begin at the smelter

The Democratic Republic of Congo produces roughly 70% of the world's cobalt. About 20% of that comes from artisanal and small-scale mining — *creuseurs* working with hand tools …

2 min read · Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo · 24 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Ethiopian coffee smallholders after the 2008 commodity bill — what changed and what didn't

Ethiopia is the birthplace of *coffea arabica* — the wild progenitor still grows in Kafa and the Bonga forest. It is also Africa's largest coffee producer, exporting between …

1 min read · Horn of Africa, Ethiopia · 22 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Burkina Faso cotton — the cooperative model after the Western donors left

Burkina Faso was, by the early 2000s, the largest cotton producer in sub-Saharan Africa, and SOFITEX — the state ginning company — was the institutional spine of a …

2 min read · West Africa, Burkina Faso · 24 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Flutterwave's CBN compliance crisis and Nigerian licensing

Flutterwave's 2023 Kenyan regulatory dispute — the Asset Recovery Agency's freezing of accounts holding roughly USD 56 million on money-laundering allegations, subsequently substantially unwound by Kenyan courts — …

2 min read · West Africa, Nigeria · 24 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Why Nigerian Payment Service Banks took fifteen years — and what the delay cost

M-Pesa launched in Kenya in 2007. The Central Bank of Nigeria's Payment Service Bank (PSB) regulatory regime — the framework that finally let MTN, Airtel, and 9mobile take …

1 min read · West Africa, Nigeria · 20 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

PAPSS — cross-border payments through the AfCFTA settlement layer

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) launched operationally in January 2022 under the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) as the settlement layer for the AfCFTA. PAPSS is designed …

2 min read · Pan-African · 19 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Egypt IT outsourcing — ITIDA data and the engineering-services pivot

Egypt's IT outsourcing sector has, over the last fifteen years, grown into the largest English-and-French-language technology services export base in the Arab-speaking and African worlds. The Information Technology …

2 min read · North Africa, Egypt · 20 views

Economic Systems Contemporary (2000–present)

Bank consolidation in Nigeria after Soludo — what twenty years of mega-banks delivered

Charles Soludo, as Central Bank of Nigeria governor from 2004 to 2009, executed the most consequential structural reform of Nigerian banking since independence: the 2005 recapitalization mandate raising …

2 min read · West Africa, Nigeria · 19 views