Author: David Indeje

Most Africans still reach for the radio when they want news. That is the finding of a  survey by Afrobarometer, which interviewed 50,961 people across 38 countries in 2024 and 2025 and found that six in ten Africans, 59%, tune into radio for news at least a few times a week. The survey, published in April 2026, paints a detailed picture of a continent where the tools people use to stay informed are shifting, but the total number who regularly follow the news has barely moved in a decade. Radio Leads, But Its Grip Is Loosening Radio remains the most…

Africa’s most ambitious trade project has moved from policy to pavement. The African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat named Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria on 19 May 2026 as the first three countries to implement ADAPT, a digital infrastructure programme designed to strip out the paperwork, fragmented systems and verification gaps that make trading across African borders expensive and slow. The announcement, made from Accra, marks the operational start of a framework that has been in design since its November 2025 launch. ADAPT stands for Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade. What ADAPT Does ADAPT targets the plumbing of…

Kenya attracted $936 million in venture capital last year, the highest figure recorded on the continent. Ambassador Philip Thigo, Kenya’s Tech Envoy, stood before a room of digital policy professionals this week and asked the startup founders among them to raise their hands if they received any of it. Few did. That moment, more than any panel or policy paper, defined what the second Africa Tech Policy Summit and the nineteenth Kenya Internet Governance Forum were actually about. The two events ran together in Nairobi under the theme “Building Open-Source, Accessible and Democratic Digital Futures,” drawing governments, industry, civil society,…

Every day in 2025, KCB put KShs 1.5 billion into the hands of borrowers through a mobile phone. No branch visit; no paper form; no queue. That figure sits inside the bank’s 2025 Integrated Report and Financial Statements, and it tells a story worth unpacking. Mobile loan disbursements grew 30 percent year on year to KShs 544 billion, pushing the bank’s five-year mobile lending total past KShs 1.6 trillion. Behind that number sits a deliberate set of decisions about who qualifies for credit, how much they can borrow, and how often those limits update. Group Chief Executive Officer Paul Russo…

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Nairobi on Sunday and moved immediately to business. Before the Africa Forward Summit formally opened, he signed a package of bilateral agreements with President William Ruto covering ports, wind energy, rail, water, digital infrastructure and nuclear cooperation. When the summit opened Monday, Macron announced €23 billion in investment for Africa — €14 billion from French public and private entities and €9 billion from African investors — targeting energy transition, artificial intelligence, the maritime economy and agriculture. He said the deals would generate 250,000 direct jobs across France and Africa. Macron told the audience at…

Safaricom shareholders will receive KSh 80 billion in dividends for the financial year ending 31 March 2026, a 66.7% increase on the previous year and the largest payout in the company’s 25-year history. Net income attributable to shareholders grew 67.3% to a record KSh 100 billion. Kenya crossed KSh 400 billion in service revenue for the first time. Ethiopia halved its startup losses. “Net income attributable to shareholders of Safaricom grew 67.3% to a record 100 billion Kenya shillings,” CEO Peter Ndegwa told shareholders, investors and media at the results presentation. “When you are a CEO presenting these numbers, you…