World
Russia, Guinea-Bissau Raising Strategic Partnership
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
With high anticipation for increased partnership between Russia and Guinea-Bissau that has never been stronger since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the anticipated change, to be facilitated by implementing bilateral agreements, provides a brimming hope and possibility.
Russian President Vladimir Putin definitively re-asserted and underscored a comprehensive bilateral collaboration, in a speech, at a highly-guarded Kremlin meeting held on February 26, with President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was in Russia on an official state working visit, and that was the fourth time to Moscow.
On 9th May 2024, Guinea-Bissau leader Embalo was one of the special guests to the May Day celebrations at the Red Square and later as part of the team to discuss peace initiatives with the Kremlin.
That May Day celebrations, Putin stressed that “Africa is now building up capacity and aspires to emerging as an effective powerhouse in a multipolar world with its unique identity by making confident strides in nurturing a genuine sense of political and economic sovereignty.”
During the first Quarter of 2025, Central African Republic (CAR), Faustin-Archange Touadéra, in mid-January, which analysts, however, speculated that a permanent Russian military base was planned for CAR.
An agreement on military-technical cooperation with the Russian Federation includes supply of specified military weapons and equipment, training of personnel in Russia’s military institutions as well as building a military base in the country in exchange for having complete access to natural resources.
There are estimated 2,500 Russian instructors working there, according to local Russian media reports. That Central African Republic (CAR), Faustin-Archange Touadéra was followed by Guinea-Bissau leader Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
Within a few minutes of arrival at the guest reception hall, an artfully security guards escorted, reminiscent of Soviet times, the consultations began with a restricted format meeting between the two leaders, with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin attending the meeting on the Russian side.
Putin reminded first that Russian-Guinea-Bissauan diplomatic relations have marked more than 50 years of their establishment, and further underscored significant successes and achievements during the past few years, concretely after the first Russia-Africa Summit in 2019. Putin emphasised that last year, trade between Russia and Africa continued to grow, increasing by 10 per cent. However, trade and economic ties between two countries undoubtedly require careful attention from both sides, so that these ties could gain additional momentum.
Russia and Guinea-Bissau have previously signed various agreements to bolster trade, economic cooperation and military-technical sphere, and beyond that created working groups on developing and subsequent implementation of programmes and projects, particularly in Guinea-Bissau. “There is strong potential and promising opportunities in these areas, as many Russian companies are showing increasing interest in working in the Guinea-Bissauan market,” according to Putin.
Reports indicate that over 70 per cent of Guinea-Bissau’s servicemen and civilian officials were trained in the Soviet Union. This explains the necessity for the level of close interaction and cooperation with Russia. Educational and cultural ties are expanding. Putin primarily referred to the growing interest among young people in getting an education in Russia. This applies to military education and training as much as civilian programmes. Traditionally, the military of Guinea-Bissau gets their degrees from Russian military academies. Moreover, Russia has increased the quota for Guinea-Bissauan friends for the current year, 2025/26.
President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, began negotiation talks with the Russians, and of course, that was the realpolitik logic to review relations, by expressing high gratitude for contributions to the establishment of their nationhood made back in the Soviet Union era, and since gaining political independence, during post-Soviet times when Russia has continued to make significant admirable contributions to the current economic development.
This pointed to the unerasable fact that the Guinea-Bissauan and Russian peoples are reliable partners and endearingly ready to promote the bilateral ties of friendship and to strengthen further economic cooperation.
Meanwhile, the most cogent truth about the previous official visits undertaken by Umaro Sissoco Embalo, included the first (2019) and second (2023) Russia-Africa Summits, respectively in the southern city of Sochi and the cultural capital, St. Petersburg. Umaro Sissoco Embalo showed extra-caution in imploring potential Russian investors, with tectonic interest not only in Guinea-Bissau but also generally with African countries, to ‘walk the talk’ referring to several agreements that have not been implemented over the years. From the first Russia-Africa Summit, a total of 92 agreements were signed with African countries, and that was followed by numerous agreements during the St. Petersburg’s summit in July 2023.
In the context of changing geopolitical balance, at least, it is important to understand the real situation on the ground. Russia has to focus concretely, back away from mere rhetoric, on partnership based on local African realities, take into practical account Africa’s sustainable development goals and to prioritise the African Union’s Agenda 2063. It is important that the declarations just remain on paper, but lead to real actions and projects, with visible results.
Back in October 2022, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, as President of Guinea-Bissau and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), during that Kremlin meeting, Putin emphasized Russia’s contribution in promoting security not only in Guinea-Bissau but also throughout West Africa. With a population of approximately 1.8 million people, Guinea-Bissau faces challenges of ensuring security and more than two-thirds of its population lives below the poverty line.
Guinea-Bissau, like many African states, has had political problems. Embalo has held the presidential post in Guinea-Bissau since January 2020, and will soon hold the next elections. Putin unreservedly promised Russia’s assistance and strongly urged the Guinea-Bissauans, during the forthcoming elections, to support Umaru Sissoco Embalo and to continue the admirable work started as President. Acknowledged the good relations that have developed between Russia and Guinea-Bissau, in these recent years, largely associated with the name of Umaru Sissoco Embalo.
Some local Russian media pulled discussions and analysis, tied up with the attempts to support Guinea-Bissau leader Umaro Sissoco Embalo to win the elections, (i) first to sustain large-scale partnership in security issues in West Africa, and second for continuity of Russia-Guinea Bissauan relationship, and (ii) second to capital on political stability in exploring of natural resources, construction of infrastructure facilities, as well as development of agriculture and fisheries.
Notwithstanding Russia’s several promises and pledges, African countries are bound to wake up to a common understanding of the true meaning of their colonial past for the present, and determine their own future existence. And in fact, the leaders and the elites have to engage in development decision-making processes, and at the same time have to play their roles as autonomous actors instead of being pawns in the context of global geopolitics.
Sharing borders with Guinea (to the southeast), Gambia and Senegal (to the north), Guinea-Bissau attained its independence in September 1973. Guinea-Bissau follows a non-aligned foreign policy and seeks friendly and cooperative relations with a wide variety of states and organizations. Besides, Eсonomic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Guinea-Bissau is a member of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
One year after launching a continental initiative designed to make excellence in public governance the foundation of a new drive to transform Africa, LEAD, the Africa CEO Forum’s pan-African leadership programme, takes stock of its first cohort and announces the launch of its second class. Built around a community of senior public decision-makers committed to modernising the state and to the continent’s digital transformation, this new cohort gathers for three days, from 28 to 30 August 2026, on the campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco.
A second cohort that confirms the programme’s durability
For its second class, LEAD brings together 50 fellows, senior public decision-makers engaged in the design and implementation of the continent’s economic and social policies. Over three days, participants take part in collective and collaborative working sessions, peer exchanges and meetings with figures from the public, business and academic spheres, in order to compare their practices and build shared responses to the major challenges of governance.
Speakers include Mehdi Jomaa, former Head of Government of Tunisia, Donald Kaberuka, Managing Partner & Founder, SouthBridge Group, and former President of the African Development Bank, Serge Ekue, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Sanjay Jain, co-creator of India Stack and Director of Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation, and Mauricio Cardenas, Professor of Professional Practice in Global Leadership, Columbia SIPA, and former Finance Minister of Colombia (2012-2018).
They share their reform experience, their public policy trade-offs and their view of continental priorities. Throughout the programme, the cohort benefits from the dedicated support of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Asafo & Co, BOAD, BCG and the African Development Bank, LEAD partners that have chosen to invest in the transformation of African public action.
LEAD, a pan-African community serving public action
Created by the AFRICA CEO FORUM, LEAD is a leadership programme whose ambition is to reposition Africa’s administrative elite as a driver of reform, of performance and of dialogue with all the continent’s stakeholders.
Designed for senior African public decision-makers, LEAD sets out to build a lasting community of public officials able to share their experience, compare their practices and build common solutions to the major economic, technological and institutional transformations under way in Africa. That community is structured around three pillars: modernizing the state, improving public services, and strengthening cooperation between governments, development institutions and private-sector players.
From fellows to alumni: a long-term initiative
Made up of 36 fellows drawn from a range of administrations and institutions and representing 24 countries across the continent, LEAD’s first cohort demonstrated the quality and the potential of this community from its very first year. In less than twelve months, six of its members have taken a significant step forward: two have been appointed ministers, two have moved into strategic positions at the highest level of the state and two have been promoted to chief executive roles. These moves, which account for 16.7% of the first class, show the role LEAD plays as an accelerator of impact within African administrations.
By bringing together a new cohort of fellows every year, each of them joining the LEAD alumni community, the initiative follows a long-term trajectory: in time, to unite several hundred African public decision-makers around a shared culture of transparency, performance and regional cooperation.
A first year devoted to public service and digital public infrastructure
Throughout the year, the fellows devoted their work to strengthening African public action, to make excellence in public governance a central lever of transformation. An awareness campaign, run as part of Africa Public Service Day, brought to light those who, within the continent’s administrations and institutions, are concretely transforming public policy and improving the services offered to citizens.
Members of the cohort also took part in a special round table held in Kigali during the ACF 2026, in order to carry their thinking to a wider community of public and private leaders. That forum reinforced LEAD’s role as a platform for dialogue between the administrative elite and the continent’s economic players. Digital public infrastructure (DPI) formed the main thread of this first year of work.
Discussions covered issues at the heart of the digital sovereignty of African states: digital identity, payments, secure data exchange, interoperability, governance and the protection of citizens. This work examined the conditions under which African states are developing, in some cases, and can develop, in others, shared, open infrastructure robust enough to improve the quality of public services while supporting local innovation and preserving the capacity of public authorities to set the rules of the game.
A white paper to move from consuming technology to creating value
This year of work concludes with the publication, in collaboration with BCG, LEAD’s Knowledge Partner, of a white paper on Africa’s place in the digital economy and in artificial intelligence. With the digital economy still accounting for around 5% of African GDP, against close to 15% worldwide, the paper calls on the continent to shift from a logic of technology consumption to one of value creation.
The white paper identifies three structuring priorities for African public actors:
- Building shared digital infrastructure that serves as the backbone of public services and private innovation.
- Pooling investment in order to reach critical mass and avoid the fragmentation of efforts across the continent.
- Favouring open and interoperable architectures, with trust and governance built in by design, so as to protect citizens while stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The white paper is available here to all public decision-makers, technical partners and institutions concerned.
“LEAD’s first cohort confirms a simple conviction: Africa already has the women and men capable of profoundly transforming public action. Our responsibility, either with our partners, is to give them, at pan-African level, a space in which to compare experience, build common solutions and bring forward a new generation of public policy. With this second cohort, we want to accelerate the move from ambition to execution, in particular on digital public infrastructure and artificial intelligence, two decisive issues for sovereignty, for the effectiveness of the state and for value creation across the continent,” says Amir Ben Yahmed, President of the Africa CEO Forum.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa is set to make history as it hosts the World Public Summit for the first time, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, welcoming global leaders and changemakers from July 29–30, 2026, for the landmark gathering under the theme “New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
The inaugural African edition of the World Public Summit marks a significant milestone in the continent’s growing role in shaping international dialogue on governance, sustainable development, human-centred leadership and global cooperation.
Hosted by the World Peoples Assembly in partnership with African and international organisations, the summit will convene government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, journalists, youth representatives, civil society organisations and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world.
According to Andrey Belyaninov, General Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, “the Summit is not just a meeting—it is a space for unity. A space where the ‘values that unite us’ come to life: respect for people, openness to the world, responsibility for the future, and a commitment to creation.
“Today, we understand more clearly than ever: the future cannot be built alone. It is born in dialogue, in trust, in the ability to listen to one another and to act together.”
The programme begins on July 29 with a series of high-level roundtables and expert discussions covering Pan-African economic integration, civil society, education, scientific cooperation, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian partnerships.
The opening plenary, “Values, Development and Partnership as the Basis of a Sustainable and Just World,” will explore how African values—including Ubuntu—can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable global future. Discussions will also focus on youth leadership, innovation, civil society, ethical AI, public initiatives and international partnerships.
The summit will also showcase Africa’s creativity and innovation through the “Innovations for the Future” exhibition, the contemporary African art exhibition “Unity,” and the international exhibition “The World Paints Happiness.”
Another featured initiative is “The Zambezi River: Economy, Society, Soul,” an international interdisciplinary project exploring the river’s socioeconomic importance across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting the shared heritage and development potential of one of Africa’s most important waterways.
The event will conclude with the adoption of the African Communiqué, reflecting the summit’s shared vision for stronger international cooperation, sustainable development and people-centred leadership.
Tsegaye Chama, General Secretary of the Global Black Centre, promised that, “The Summit will be delivered with exceptional distinction, reflecting the magnitude and spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. It embodies a unity that is not transactional, but purposeful and conscious, a unity that shapes new contours for a world that works for all peoples of the World.”
As delegates prepare to arrive in Addis Ababa, anticipation continues to build for what promises to be one of Africa’s most significant international gatherings of 2026—one that will place the continent firmly at the centre of global conversations about the future.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
