World
CNN Explores Africa’s Transport Infrastructure
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Africa is a continent with a huge infrastructure deficit, making the cost of commodities to go high by 60 per cent because of transportation and logistics expenses.
But some African leaders are taking steps to address this issue so as to make life better for their citizens. One of the countries looking for ways to tackle the problem is Kenya.
In 2017, the country launched the Standard Gauge Railway (S-G-R) to help with the movement of tons of cargo along a vital transportation corridor connecting Naivasha and Nairobi with the Port of Mombasa.
In the latest episode of Connecting Africa, CNN International’s Eleni Giokos was in the East African nation to see how this initiative is benefitting the import and export industry.
In a chat, the Senior Director of Transport at TradeMark East Africa, Abhishek Sharma, informed CNN that, “Our whole transport system has been realigned.
“For the longest time, very little cargo was moving by rail, up to 95 per cent of the cargo was moving by road.
“Suddenly, there has been a massive shift where for containerised cargo from Mombasa to Nairobi 60 per cent of the imports are moving by rail. So, it’s a whole different way in which things are being done.”
Continuing, Sharma said, “Any intervention which reduces the cost of logistics in our region, makes a big difference to what the people in our region can achieve in terms of their health outcomes and educational outcomes, as well as, you know, to be able to save a bit more.”
In the future, the S-G-R project is planned to connect Mombasa to Malaba on the border with Uganda and continue onward to Kampala. It will also run to Kigali in Rwanda, with a branch line to Juba in South Sudan.
According to Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Mr James Macharia, this project will enable neighbouring countries to “be able to move the cargo from Mombasa all the way to the border, a distance of about 1300 kilometres in a span of about 18 hours. And this is what will bring efficiency and bring competitive advantage to the entire region.”
Next, Giokos had a chat with the co-founder of UgaBus, an online ticketing app enabling travellers within East Africa buy bus tickets. Ronald Hakiza talks about why he launched UgaBus in 2015, “I’ve been to 207 towns in East Africa. I looked at how we struggled to buy tickets in those different towns, and I said to myself, ‘Really? In this era, something should change.’”
The app allows customers to search, compare and book a bus ticket in under three minutes. Christine Kabazira, a UgaBus subscriber, tells the programme why she uses the service, “The hassle that comes with booking buses, going to the bus and the crowds, especially now in the COVID times, the fact that you don’t have to touch money. It confirms that you have paid via SMS and it confirms that you have booked a certain seat. So, all you need to do is just go to the bus station and show them the SMS.”
Currently, passengers can book over 200 routes on the UgaBus app across five countries in East Africa: Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, with Zambia being targeted next. Hakiza speaks about the company’s future, “We’re building a bus ecosystem, something that brings together the entire bus online digitally that when you look at the bus, right from luggage, to passenger travel, to ticketing, to experiences, to everything should come online.”
The episode also profiled WhereIsMyTransport, a start-up mapping African cities to provide mobility data and solutions for emerging-market cities, and features GoMetro, a mobile transit information app offering updates to improve the urban commuting experience in South Africa.
Finally, Giokos goes behind the scenes of Sierra Leone’s ferry service Sea Coach Express to find out how they are expanding their routes to neighbouring Guinea.
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.
