World
39 million Africans May Fall into Extreme Poverty—Adesina
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has warned that about 39 million Africans could fall into extreme poverty in 2021.
The respected banker said this in an exclusive interview on CNN’s First Move with Julia Chatterley, recently, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the challenges facing the continent.
He, therefore, called on the world, especially the advanced economies, to come to the aid of Africa, which is finding it difficult to vaccinate its over one billion population.
“Last year, we had 30 million people went into extreme poverty. This year if that trend continues, 39 million people going into extreme poverty, hunger and all of that,” he warned.
Lockdown effect on Africa
The former Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan said the restriction of movements last year affected the continent.
“If you look at it, during the pandemic, it started with the lockdowns. The lockdowns had a lot of impact on poor people.
“Social distancing was impossible because a lot of people were living in very poor neighbourhoods, very poor ventilation.
“For many people, they have the risk of dying from hunger than actually from dying from the Covid-19 situation.
“So, when people who don’t have access to food, who don’t get access to work because a day without work is a day without food. And so, that will actually create unrest, because citizens get so nervous and so upset and young people have lost a lot of jobs. And so, a lot of work has to be done. For us, it’s how do you build back. Making sure you have economic resilience,” he told CNN.
Vaccines for economic recovery
However, he expressed optimism that the rollout of vaccines in Africa could quicken economic recovery, commending the COVAX facility, which is making provision of the jabs to African nations for free.
“The issue is that’s not all just negative, we project that Africa will grow back. We project 3.4 per cent grow back this year, but all of that is conditional on two things, one is access to vaccines, secondly the issue of debt.
“On the issue of access to vaccines, earlier on this show, I was listening to that, that is actually a big problem for us because we don’t have that luxury.
“So far, 14.6 million vaccines have been delivered in Africa. And people can’t even get shots in their hands. And that 14.6 million is only one per cent of what we need actually to get to 60 per cent of herd immunity.
“We are way off the mark on that. I think that’s important to improve access of Africa to vaccines. We need to have vaccine solidarity, COVAX is doing a great job, but the amounts are still minuscule as far as we are concerned,” he said.
The prospect of herd immunity in Africa
On the possibility of having herd immunity in Africa, Mr Adesina said, “The faster we get the vaccines, the better. I just told you that we’ve got only one per cent right now in terms of people getting the jabs in their hands.
“So, to get herd immunity, you need 60 per cent. So, you’re looking at least 840 million doses. So, it’s going to take — I don’t see that happening for another year or two because of the slow pace of producing the vaccine and getting them out.
“It just going to be very, very difficult and I’m quite concerned about that. And of course, the longer it takes for Africans to get vaccinated, of course now you see Europe saying you can’t travel if you don’t have the vaccine passports, people are going to think Africa is the last zone to get access to vaccines. I don’t want that to happen.
“So, for us at the African Development Bank, we also have to look beyond the current situation, looking medium term and also long term.”
Vaccine production in Africa
Concerning the prospect of the vaccines being produced on the continent, the AfDB chief wondered why “that 1.4 billion people have to be running from pillar to post looking for vaccines.
“We at the African Development Bank have therefore decided that we’re going to support Africa to have quality health care infrastructure and also make sure that it develops its own pharmaceutical capacity. We ought to be producing vaccines in Africa.”
Economic outlook
Mr Adesina said, “The GDP (gross domestic product) of Africa went down by $175 billion. We’ve never seen anything like this before. We projected last year -2.1 per cent that is the lowest growth rate in 50 years in Africa. You don’t see the virus, but the effects of it, it’s just so mind-boggling.
“We project that Africa will grow back. We project 3.4 per cent grow back this year.”
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.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Accessing the US Dollar in the East Africa region has now been made easier with the expansion of the stablecoin settlement infrastructure of SCRYPT.
This development enables banks, payment providers and corporate treasury teams to move value into and out of the continent in real time.
Businesses paying international suppliers frequently have to convert local currency into USD before purchasing stablecoins for settlement, incurring FX conversions and spreads before any payment is made.
But SCRYPT is eliminating this intermediate conversion by enabling direct settlement corridors for local African currencies into stablecoins.
This development allows businesses to move from local currency to stablecoin settlement in a single licensed transaction, without first sourcing rationed bank dollars, as stablecoins are increasingly becoming settlement infrastructure rather than an investment product.
The expansion adds settlement support across four African currencies: the Kenyan shilling (KES), Tanzanian shilling (TZS), Rwandan franc (RWF) and Ugandan shilling (UGX). Each corridor is delivered through the same full-stack infrastructure our clients already use for trading, custody and treasury operations.
Speaking on this, the chief executive of SCRYPT, Norman Wooding, said, “Across Africa, stablecoin adoption is driven by economic need, not speculation.
“Businesses here are not chasing yield; they are trying to pay suppliers and manage treasury without losing margin to a banking system that rations dollars. Licensed, fair-rate dollar access is the clearest proof of what this infrastructure is for.”
Also commenting, the Managing Director of Markets & Trading at SCRYPT, Mr Gabriel Titopoulos, said, “Until now, reaching stablecoins from local African currencies meant buying scarce dollars and incurring several layers of conversion costs.
“SCRYPT removes this friction. Firms and payment providers can now settle straight from local currencies through live corridors, with local partners.”
World
African Graduates Association Promoting Multifaceted Initiatives With Russian Educational Institutions
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
In preparations for the third Russia-Africa Summit, scheduled for late October 2026, Dr Francois Ngan, deputy chairman of the Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities, during an official working visit, has held a consultative meeting with Professor Vladimir Filippov, the President of the Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship (RUDN), and former Minister of Higher Education of Russia, Chairman of the National Commission for Accreditation of Higher Education.
RUDN is an educational institution established in 1960, primarily to provide higher education to Third World students. It has now become a popular multidisciplinary spot for many students, especially from developing countries. The university offers various academic programmes and has research infrastructure that comprises laboratories and interdisciplinary centres. The university is named after the former Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba.
Dr Francois Ngan and Professor Filippov discussed the importance of the Graduates Association as a continental platform dedicated to strengthening unity, cooperation, and promoting shared progress among African graduates who studied in the former Soviet Union and in the Russian Federation. They also reviewed multifaceted initiatives that could bring together alumni associations from across Africa, whose members obtained education and professional training, and cultural experiences in Soviet and Russian institutions of higher learning.
Professor Filippov expressed optimism in addressing emerging challenges as a result of shifting geopolitical changes, emphasised strategic cooperation in the educational sphere with Africa, in general, and with the Republic of Cameroon, in particular, and further about the integration of African students during their studies in the Russian Federation.
The meeting also touched on academic and scientific work, the possibility of rewriting a scientific thesis, and the official organisation of transferring versions translated into six languages for the library of RUDN. Significant questions relating to Russia’s educational opportunities, collaborations and partnerships involving African countries were thoroughly discussed.
The Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities was created under one continental umbrella to promote friendship, for professional networking, to engage in cultural exchange, and with particular emphasis on forging strategic cooperation between Africa and Russia.
