Africa

1. Learning from China
2. Betting on Nigeria
3. Buoyant regional growth
4. Ghana fire devastation
5. The week ahead

Piecing together the life of the last-known survivor of the transatlantic slave trade.

Analysis: The risk of outsourcing ambition

Africa must not “outsource its ambition” to external powers — whether those be the United States, China, or others — the former Liberian minister for works W. Gyude Moore argues in a new Semafor column.

Projects such as China’s recently approved mammoth dam project in Tibet — three times the size of the world’s biggest hydroelectric plant, itself in China — as well as the country’s impressive and ambitious transport infrastructure would be dismissed by development banks “as unviable if the average African country dared to even imagine them,” Moore, now a scholar with ties to both US and Chinese institutions, writes. Yet, he adds, “external actors have no incentive, inclination, or obligation to imagine an expansive future for you.”

Read on for what Moore learned as a government minister negotiating with multilateral institutions. →

British firm Reckitt bets on Nigeria

British consumer goods firm Reckitt intends to deepen its presence in Nigeria, a senior company executive told Semafor, confident that a turbulent economic climate that shook up the retail sector is beginning to turn the corner.

Nigeria’s economy since the end of the pandemic has been marked by high inflation, a weakened currency, and widespread consumer anxiety, pushing other consumer goods firms to scale down, sell, or shutter their operations.

But Reckitt says it has navigated the turbulence and will make Nigeria even more central to its Africa strategy. Akbar Ali Shah, Reckitt’s general manager for sub-Saharan Africa, told Semafor the company has a “plan for the next five years” to expand its factory on the outskirts of Lagos, adding new facilities to increase product volumes and upping exports to other African markets.

Read on to find out how the company survived Nigeria’s currency crisis. →

Sub-Saharan Africa’s buoyant prospects

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is expected to grow 4.2% this year, ratings agency Moody’s said, up from an estimated 3.8% in 2024. The upbeat assessment is based on investments in energy and infrastructure as well as policies being implemented in Nigeria and South Africa — the continent’s two biggest economies — to improve their creditworthiness and growth prospects. Moody’s also lifted the region’s credit outlook from negative to stable, a welcome boost after years of high food and commodity prices as a result of the pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In North Africa, Egypt stood out for its mounting economic problems including rapid inflation and slowing traffic through the Suez Canal as a result of fighting in the Middle East.

Ghana fire devastates garment traders

The number of traders affected by a fire that destroyed nearly two-thirds of Ghana’s Kantamanto Market, one of the world’s largest secondhand clothing markets. The traders receive around 15 million used clothes from the Global North every week, recirculating garments through resale, reuse, and repair. The blaze this month has compounded the insecurity of retailers and tailors, said Liz Ricketts, of The Or Foundation, an Accra-based organization that campaigns against textile waste. “It is time for the global fashion industry to support the vital work markets like Kantamanto perform both within the global secondhand supply chain and fashion’s circular ambitions,” she told Semafor.

— Preeti Jha

The Week Ahead

Jan 12 - 18: Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu is in the UAE to attend Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Jan 15: Daniel Chapo is set to be inaugurated as Mozambique’s new president amid ongoing protests over October’s disputed election.

Jan 16: The UN Economic Commission for Africa holds a workshop on pan-African migration in Abidjan.

Jan 17: Results for Sunday’s parliamentary elections held in Comoros are expected.

Jan 18: South African streaming service Showmax livestreams its first concert, an event in Pretoria featuring Grammy Award-winner Tyla.

Moving beyond identifying barriers to achieving practical, scalable interventions — The Next 3 Billion at Davos will discuss emphasizing collaboration between public and private sectors to mobilize resources and technology for global good.

Semafor’s Yinka Adegoke will moderate a conversation with Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO of Naspers South Africa, to discuss digital upskilling and inclusion.

Jan. 23, 2025 | Davos, Switzerland | Request Invitation

The last known survivor of the transatlantic slave trade died exactly 85 years ago. Matilda McCrear was taken aged two in 1859 from what is now Benin and transported on one of the last ships carrying enslaved people to the US. Al Jazeera traces the life of the woman, originally named Abake, through the emancipation of enslaved people and her legal fight for compensation. In her 70s, she walked 15 miles to make an unsuccessful claim at a court in Alabama. The details, reported by a local newspaper, were discovered by a historian in 2020. “You can read about slavery and be detached from it,” her grandson told an interviewer. “But when it’s your family that is involved, it becomes up close and very real.”

Legendary hacker Chris Wade reveals his collaboration with the US government, and the unlikely story of his presidential pardon. A visit to a fish doctor started a strange sequence of events that would put Wade on a path to clemency, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti wrote.

For more on how Donald Trump will impact Silicon Valley, subscribe to Semafor’s Technology newsletter. →

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— Alexis Akwagyiram, Preeti Jha, Alexander Onukwue, and Yinka Adegoke.