African history, culture & futures — told by us
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Long reads on African history, governance, economics, culture, and what comes next.

All eras Ancient (before 500 CE) Medieval (500–1500 CE) Pre-colonial (1500–1884) Colonial era (1884–1960s) Independence era (1960s–2000) Contemporary (2000–present) Future systems & solutions
Science & Technology Contemporary (2000–present)

M-Pesa as indigenous fintech — the regulatory accident that worked

M-Pesa, the Kenyan mobile-money system launched by Safaricom in 2007, is routinely described as African leapfrog innovation. That framing is partly right and partly misleading. M-Pesa did indeed …

1 min read · East Africa, Kenya · 47 views
Science & Technology Contemporary (2000–present)

Mobile money saturation — Kenya is full, Ethiopia is lagging, and M-Birr explains why

The Kenyan mobile-money sector, dominated by M-Pesa, has reached structural saturation. GSMA Mobile Money State of the Industry data for 2024 show Kenya at over 85% adult registered-account …

2 min read · East Africa · 22 views
Science & Technology Contemporary (2000–present)

Hydropower in the DRC — Inga III, Grand Inga, and the unfinished decade

The Congo River drops 96 metres over a 14-kilometre stretch at Inga, west of Kinshasa. The hydropower potential at that stretch is, by World Bank reckoning, 44,000 MW …

2 min read · Central Africa · 18 views
Science & Technology Contemporary (2000–present)

Square Kilometre Array — South Africa Karoo, the science politics

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory's mid-frequency telescope (SKA-Mid) is under construction in the Karoo semi-desert of South Africa's Northern Cape, with the low-frequency component (SKA-Low) being built …

2 min read · Southern Africa, South Africa · 23 views
Science & Technology Contemporary (2000–present)

PAPSS adoption — Afreximbank's payment system and the slow rewriting of African trade settlement

The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), launched commercially by Afreximbank and the African Union in January 2022, is a real-time gross settlement platform allowing African banks to …

2 min read · Pan-African · 20 views
Science & Technology Contemporary (2000–present)

M-Pesa interoperability — CBK directives 2024–2026

M-Pesa's dominance of Kenyan retail payments — over 60 million registered users, agent network of around 200,000 outlets, transaction volume that exceeds Kenyan GDP annually in money-flow terms …

2 min read · East Africa, Kenya · 21 views