World
Adesina Suggests Strategic Engagements in Addressing Trump’s Tariffs
By Adedapo Adesanya
The President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has warned that Africa cannot afford a trade confrontation with the United States, amid recent tariff announcements.
Recall that in April, President Donald Trump announced some base tariffs and some reciprocal tariffs on trade partners. Although the tariffs were suspended for 90-days, many are looking ahead to the deadline.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Mr Adesina revealed that 47 of Africa’s 54 countries would be impacted directly by the new US trade policies, with potential declines in export revenues and foreign exchange reserves, noting that the continent accounts for only 1.2 per cent (approximately $34 billion) of America’s global trade—with a trade surplus of just $7.2 billion.
He warned that the measure could trigger significant economic disruptions across Africa, affecting numerous nations and accelerating a strategic shift in global partnerships.
“When those currencies weaken, two things will happen: first, you will find that most of these countries are import-dependent. So, you’re going to find that high inflation becomes a problem,” said Mr Adesina.
“Secondly, you find that the cost of actually servicing a lot of their debt, which is foreign currency debt, but in local currencies, is going to get worse.”
Business Post reports that almost all African countries have been hit by higher tariffs announced by the Trump administration, with at least 22 nations facing up to a whopping 50 per cent for almost all their products.
Among the hardest hit countries are Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Botswana, Angola, Algeria, and South Africa. Nigeria was hit with a 14 per cent rate.
The impacts of these higher tariffs are further exacerbated by significant cuts to USAID programs, which have already begun affecting access to essential medical supplies and humanitarian services in many countries, raising serious concerns about the future trajectory of US-Africa relations.
Providing some solutions, Mr Adesina proposed a pragmatic three-point strategy for the continent: Engage the US through flexible and constructive trade negotiations, diversify export markets to reduce dependency on any single partner, and accelerate the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation to unlock the potential $3.4 trillion market.
He stressed the need to expand Africa’s domestic market and boost domestic savings to develop consumption as a bigger share of its GDP, leveraging its massive population growth.
The Nigerian added that more importantly, the continent must take advantage of the increasing external interest in its natural resources, such as cobalt and lithium, to negotiate a better trade and investment deal.
Addressing speculation that Africa may shift more decisively toward China in response to the higher US tariffs, Mr Adesina dismissed any notion of binary alignment.
“US is a key ally of Africa—and so is China,” he stated. “Africa is building bridges, not isolating itself.”
“I think at the end of the day, we want to make sure that whatever deals that are being done with Africa are transparent, fair, equitable, and led by Africa and in Africa’s interests,” Mr Adesina reiterated.
Mr Adesina, who concludes his second and final term as president of the bank in September, firmly rejected the long-standing paradigm of foreign aid dependency.
“The era of aid as we’ve known it is completely gone,” he declared, calling instead for bold investments in domestic resource mobilization, infrastructure, and value-added industrialization.
He said aid must be turned into concessional financing to allow multilateral financial institutions to do more for the continent by mobilizing more private capital to develop and derisk projects.
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.
