World
Multiple Prospects of Russian-African Partnership
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
In an increasingly struggle for Russia’s influence in Africa, including political, economic and humanitarian spheres, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov started 2026 with a pack of invitations for African foreign ministers, strategically as part of preliminary preparations for the next Russia-Africa summit. Armed with Russia’s policy intentions in Africa (Strategic Action Plan 2023-2026), Lavrov interacted with the same group of foreign ministers in December 2025, in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.
In pursuit of strengthening ‘political dialogue’ which features prominently, Lavrov’s high-ranking guests since the beginning of this year included the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso, Karamoko Traore, with whom several bilateral documents were signed in February. In the same month, Tanzania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, visited with a special focus on expanding cooperation in trade, economic, and investment spheres.
On January 14, the Minister of International Relations and Trade of the Republic of Namibia, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, went on a working visit to Russia, held comprehensive discussions raising bilateral relations. Ashipala-Musavyi, who serves as Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Russian-Namibian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, was received by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Plenipotentiary Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev, who heads the Russian side of the IGC. The conversation focused primarily on the substantive content of the 11th IGC meeting in Windhoek.
Firstly, Russia is one of the world’s largest grain producers. And developing the port infrastructure of the Far East and the Arctic is a potential window for supplies to African countries. Secondly, with the application of state support measures, private investors are creating new large-scale fertiliser production plants. One such enterprise is the Nakhodka Mineral Fertiliser Plant in Primorye Territory, which is scheduled to reach its design capacity in 2027.
“Namibia has rich marine resources and a strategic location. Russia has the fleet, technology and experience. Together, we could maximise catch levels and expand processing. At the same time, Russian companies strive for responsible fishing, paying close attention to marine ecology and the reproduction of key fish stocks,” Zapryagayev said at the business forum that was held in mid-March, as part of the 11th meeting of the Russian-Namibian intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation.
Updated Russia-Kenya’s Experiences
On March 16, Foreign Minister Lavrov held talks with the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Kenya, Mudavadi, who was in Moscow on a working visit on March 15-18. There were detailed discussions on the current state and prospects for Russia–Kenya relations, while both parties outlined practical steps to strengthen political dialogue, and determine pathways for expanding mutually beneficial partnership in trade and the broad economic areas.
An engaged exchange of views resulted in signing a multitude of documents, updated policy interest in Russia’s experience in developing painstaking initiative projects in Kenya. It was described as being in the framework context of Russian foreign policy. In a speech boosting relations, Lavrov, with unrestrained rhetoric, underlined sectors such as energy, including nuclear, telecommunications, geological prospecting, mineral resources mining and high technologies, including space exploration, as promising areas.
Lavrov foresaw Russia’s delay in cooperating with Kenya and suggested speeding up preparations of the agreement on the establishment of a bilateral commission on economic cooperation, an instrument through which to implement economic projects. “We agreed today to expedite the work carried out for rather a long time thus far on preparation of the intergovernmental agreement for the establishment of the Russian-Kenyan commission for economic cooperation,” the minister said.
The visit of Kenya’s foreign minister to Moscow gives a new impetus to the political dialogue between the two parties and makes it possible to outline the path for further deepening of trade and economic relations, agreeing on further conscious efforts in the promising area of bilateral cooperation, at least, as a summary result after Lavrov’s talks with his Kenyan counterpart, Mudavadi.
For now, prospects remain on the table, as Russia shows readiness to offer partnership at a qualitatively new level with Kenya, so also with many African countries. The demand for Russian university education is high in the East African nation. Besides education and training, both Kenyan and Russian officials highly recognise the great potential for increasing trade and economic cooperation, which has not been realised yet. Plans to establish an intergovernmental commission to deal with these matters were announced during Lavrov’s visit to Kenya in 2023. The issue was brought up once again at a meeting between Georgy Karasin, the chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Kathuri Murungi, the Deputy Speaker of Kenya’s Senate.
Notably, the Africa Centre for the Study of Russia (ACSOR), aimed at strengthening scientific, cultural and political ties between Russia and Kenya, opened at the University of Nairobi on February 25, according to local Russian media reports. Western-trained dominates African politics. Russia has under-leveraged its Russian-trained African professionals and specialists, compared to the extent to which the United States and China support theirs in employment structures.
Far ahead of the arrival of the Kenya delegation, Dr. Peter Mutuku Mathuki, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kenya in the Russian Federation, told this article author that Russia’s multifaceted cooperation with Kenya has, steadily, taken on a new dimension, emphasizing the two countries look forward to concluding trade agreements under negotiation, which will open up more economic opportunities both at public and private sector levels. Kenya’s priority in the Russian Federation is to implement the objectives of our foreign policy hinged on deepening the Kenya-Russia bilateral relations across the board. However, Kenya’s economic presence in the Russian Federation is currently minimal, as manifested by a limited range of export products to the market in the Russian Federation.
Incredible Lessons from Summits
Nonetheless, before the 2019 summit, trade volume between Russia and Kenya was $397 million in 2018, compared to $625 million in 2023 and $638 million in 2024. Russia still has an opportunity to leverage the untapped potential in the continent to drive sustainable development. Investors can benefit from the diverse government incentives existing across Africa. As Africa is indiscriminately open for business, so in May 2026, Kenya will hold an investment summit for France, to position Africa as a key partner in global innovation and economic development while strengthening bilateral ties with France and advancing Africa’s collective agenda on the international stage.
Today, Russia’s engagement is largely noticeable in politics, while there is little impact on Africa’s economy, except reaping huge revenues from military and weaponry sales to African countries in persistent and endless conflicts, and raising exports of agricultural products such as grains to the continent. In addition, African leaders are excited about the emotional solidarity and harbour nostalgic Soviet-style romanticism. Over the years, African leaders’ negotiations have been one-sided, only considering Russia’s investment in Africa. Thus, until today, Africa’s economic presence is extremely low in the Russian Federation.
Policy experts and academic researchers review the current Russia-Africa relations, portraying it as a threat to Africa’s sovereignty or an opportunity to exploit resources. In the French-Speaking African countries, Russia’s agreements seek uninterrupted access to natural resources in exchange for military cooperation, maintaining security and even providing security guards to African leaders, such as in the Central African Republic (CAR). Since 2017, when Russia operated in CAR, it has hardly undertaken any infrastructure projects or invested in any productive sectors in that country, headed by Faustin-Archange Touadéra.
Russia to Study Africa’s Investment Landscape
Perhaps, and precisely, the Director of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Irina Abramova, described Russia’s connectivity with Africa explicitly, in her interview with local media African Initiative in February, first pointing to the historical fact that after the collapse of the Soviet era, Russia slammed the door on Africa. She further argued that Russia’s policy is currently full of symbolism, highly-toned rhetoric and little action on implementing agreements signed with several African countries. For now, Africa opens up the broadest economic opportunities for any external player—primarily the Chinese, followed by Indians, and now players from the Arab Gulf region, who picked up this “baton” and are strategically active on the continent.
That, however, simply means Russia has to study the investment landscape. But, constantly referring to reasons such as the lack of money is an ineffective way to deal with Africa, according to Professor Abramova. She suggested to ministry officials to “discard reciting administrative rules and regulations; make way for flexibility. And finally, the most important thing is coordination.”
But in reality, if Russia had built a normal new financial mechanism, it would not have cared. In practical terms, Russia has little foresight. Russia, simply, lacks interconnectedness with Africa and with Africans. That is, elements of psychology and elements of faith are involved. And this is an absolutely new phenomenon that is spreading across the entire world.
For approximately 15 years, Professor Abramova has reiterated that Africa must be approached in a comprehensive and coordinated way. Coordination is the most important thing. First and foremost, it is people, because personnel decide everything. Africans’ attitude towards Russia is, generally, very positive. This is genuinely felt when travelling a great deal around Africa.
Focus on Security over Development
According to researched academic reports, Russia’s weak economic presence in Africa has become research topic in educational institutions, with the Federal Committee on Economic Policy, Association of Economic Cooperation with African States (AECAS) established under the auspices of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum (RAPF) and the Coordinating Committee on Economic Cooperation with Africa, pointing to conditions of pressure from sanctions imposed by United States. Finding excuses to cover policy weaknesses. This sole reason has prominently featured in official reports since the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis in late February 2022. With renewed rising interests in Africa, experts also cited Russia’s weak structures in establishing effective ways of entry into the huge continent full of opportunities.
Russia has only 1% of its direct investment, due to limited financial resources, a lack of investment mechanisms, and severe competition from Chinese and Western investors. Russia focuses on arms and the export of grains to generate revenue for its budget. While Russia has forgotten billions, over 30 years ago, in Soviet-era debts to foster goodwill, this often links to new arms deals, which do not absolutely build diversified, sustainable economic integration in Africa.
Against the backdrop of intensifying relations with Africa, the percentage of collective influence (politics, economy and social, combined) varies: China holds 65%, the US – 53%, the EU – 49%, India – 38% and Russia – 29%. Trade with Africa also varies largely: China has now offered zero-tariff treatment to 52 African countries, and its trade has already reached $348 billion in 2025. India has $58 billion, and the United States has extended its AGOA agreement with Africa. Russia has nothing; at least the trade preferences that were promised over the years have remained meaningless for Africa.
A Few Significant Steps Forward
In this analysis, Russia and Africa have historically come a long way. One significant step forward is to seriously prioritise its policy architecture and turn over a new page in the history of mutually beneficial cooperation, with special attention on the development of corporate business, technology and agro-industrial complex. It has placed concrete emphasis on the importance of the active participation of Russian companies in the implementation of infrastructure projects on the African continent. Building modern distribution centres, developing port complexes and organising joint logistics solutions will be key areas of cooperation.
These ambitious steps will allow us to strengthen Russia’s ultimate position on the market, further outlining practical measures to boost dialogue in economic, trade and other fields, and to establish stable economic relations with African countries. Together, Russia will be able to realise the potential of both regions and ensure the prosperity of Africa and its people.
For multilateralism, and what Foreign Minister Lavrov has frequently mentioned, in the framework of multipolar architecture, Africa has to, without discrimination, interact and hold regular meetings with any external states it seriously considers important for its development. In practical terms, Russia has to demonstrate its preparedness to engage Africa. One fact is clear—Africa, as of today, remains a critical arena for key global powers, balancing the great-power competition and rivalry. African leaders are prepared for this so long as these players truly have adequate funds to invest, not just political rhetoric and a show of symbolism. In a continental context, that is broadly referred to as Africa’s Agenda 2063.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A $1 million funding package has been secured by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup, Echovane, to expand its market research platform.
The fresh capital would be used by the company to build AI agents that execute market research end-to-end, used by Fortune-500 firms, including P&G, Haleon, and Kantar.
Echovane will utilise the funds, co-led by Titan Capital and Neon Fund, to make complex market research a done-for-you AI-native service.
The platform is built on the premise that AI should take on the machinery of research while researchers retain control over the judgment. The result should be faster execution without sacrificing rigour, traceability or trust.
Echovane was founded by former Amazon, Stripe, Gojek and Razorpay product leaders and graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology, Smriti Gupta, Vipul Nair and Himadri Roy.
They initially set out to build an AI moderator for consumer interviews. But the deeper they went, the clearer it became that the interview was only a fraction of the problem. Research teams were still spending weeks recruiting participants, coordinating fieldwork, analysing evidence and turning it into something the business could act on.
So, the founders expanded Echovane into the execution layer for the entire research process.
“We thought better AI interviews would unlock faster research. But that was only one step in the research operations, for one methodology of research.
“In reality, research is more complex, and can vary from interviews to unobtrusive observations and longitudinal studies. It has multi-level complexity including finding niche participants, getting the research completed on time with them and maintaining quality checks,” the chief executive of Echovane, Smriti Gupta, stated.
“This funding allows us to deepen the agent infrastructure behind Echovane, expand our multimodal capabilities, and strengthen the global participant network required to deliver increasingly complex studies with consistency,” the chief technical officer, Vipul Nair, noted.
Also commenting, the chief operating officer of Echovane, Himadri Roy, said, “Having done the research ourselves, we understand the operational pain researchers have to go through to conduct a good research that gives useful insights.”
“Echovane has made complex, multi-market studies feel simple. They find the right hard-to-reach participants, handle the nuances across markets and languages, and deliver actionable insights with remarkable speed and consistency,” the Consumer Science and Product Experience Lead for Haleon, Zee Alcasid, disclosed.
“Echovane turned a month of product research into two days. They reached exactly the right participants and let us test, learn and iterate continuously across multiple audiences, countries, product variants all within a single study that would be impossible to execute at speed and scale,” the chief product officer for Trustly, Adam D’arcy, stated.
A spokesperson for Titan Capital said, “We have backed Smriti, Vipul and Himadri because they have deeply understood why market research has stayed slow and expensive for decades.
“With Echovane, they are building an AI-native, end-to-end research platform focused on the quality of the final insight, encoding each client’s context into a system that gets sharper with every study.
“They are turning research from a recurring expense into compounding infrastructure — faster, cheaper and genuinely deeper. Their first-principles thinking and capital-efficient execution gave us confidence in Echovane’s long-term potential.”
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Russia’s system of foreign students’ admission is currently experiencing a completely different shape, due to the rapidly shifting geopolitical reality. The emerging trends are closely connected with increasing the number of highly interested applicants rather than the quality of education. The geopolitical shift is pushing Russia to make education for young Africans an ultimate priority. The quota campaign has already begun as the figure compares favourably with previous benchmarks but, to some considerable extent, noticeable challenges are currently affecting enrollment from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Despite that, general interest in Russian education among foreign nationals is increasing; the quota campaign confirms this trend. Last year, for instance, there were about 144,000 registrations in Rossotrudnichestvo’s Education in Russian system. The number has exceeded 160,000 in 2026. What is important here is that Russia shows preparedness to get more students from developing countries, especially from Africa and uses it as a factor for influencing its foreign policy in the region.
Regarding educational initiatives, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with relevant agencies and organisations are active in Africa. Noticeably, Russia is developing and expanding the existing, successfully operating cooperation in the sphere of education. In fact, priority is given to projects in the field of education and training of professional personnel for African countries. Currently, over 37,000 students from Africa are studying at Russian universities. Reports say a gradual increase in the number of scholarships for African citizens and the expansion of the range of professional training programs will provide a strong incentive for further promoting education at Russian universities.
This will continue to actively strengthen inter-university ties with African partners, including through specialised umbrella organisations such as the Russian-African Network University, the Consortium of Technical Universities “Nadra Africa” based at the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University, the Russian-African Network Transport University, and the Consortium of Russian Universities Working in West Africa based at the NGO “Centre for Public Diplomacy.”
Reports further indicated that the Rossotrudnichestvo representative offices—the Russian Science and Culture Centres—operating in eight African countries, as well as the Open Education Centres operating under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of Education in 31 African countries, serve as a solid foundation for our humanitarian presence in Africa. They serve as conduits for the Russian language and culture on the continent. It is, however, hoped that their number would only increase in the subsequent years.
While addressing the staff and students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Russia’s readiness to cooperate actively in the sustainable economic development and to strengthen efforts at training the needed specialists and professionals for Africa. After the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991, there were problems sustaining relations with Africa. Then, after more than a decade, Russia started to return to Africa. This process has been ongoing for the past 15 years, according to the top Russian diplomat.
According to Lavrov, these past few years have been characterised by frequent interactions between Russian and African Foreign Ministers, plethora of MoUs were signed that set out the broad parameters of cooperation. Russia’s Education Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry have raised the quotas for many African countries, the highest given to Angola, Ethiopia, Namibia and Mozambique, and South Africa.
According to a report posted on the MFA website in August, for instance, some 1,120 Angolans have enrolled, on Russian scholarships or grants, at various institutes and universities throughout the Russian Federation. Figures for other African countries are available on the official information portal of the ministry.
Besides state-sponsored students, Russia’s Education Ministry has also launched a large-scale educational campaign targeting the recruitment of private foreign students into its educational institutions across the Russian Federation. The program is to be implemented until 2025, which has a website (studyinrussia) translated into different languages, seeks to boost the popularity and improve its image abroad.
Undoubtedly, Russia aims at strengthening the next generation of pro-Russian elites who will help promote its interests, including long-term ones in their home countries. With this in mind, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ultimately, hope to improve the efficiency of “soft power” in Africa, though not to the levels during the Soviet era.
Understandably, Russia is now targeting Africa’s fast-growing population as a huge potential market for knowledge transfer and export education. Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a widely circulated Russian daily newspaper, reported that Russia has been focusing on the young population in developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, targeting the elite and middle class in these markets for the export of education, which has great potential.
The newspaper reported on the advantages of multiculturalism and cross-cultural interactive activities paving the way for integration in Russian society. As far back as 2023, Russia’s Federation Council and State Duma (upper and lower houses of parliament) passed a bill. That bill was finally signed into law, allowing foreign students the right to employment, a replica of the work and study model in Western and European countries.
Professor Viktor Sadovnichy, Rector of Moscow State University and Chairman of the Russian Rectors’ Association, an organisation that unites more than 700 heads of higher education institutions, argued that education and demography are interconnected; developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America have growing middle classes. “This favours the export of our education; it has great potential cooperating in the education sphere, it could serve as a huge market – training young professionals that are in demand on the labour market,” Sadovnichy said, addressing a plenary meeting of the Russian Rectors’ Association at Peter the Great St Petersburg State Polytechnic University.
Professor Natalia Vlasova, Deputy Rector at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of the Ural State University of Economics in Yekaterinburg, explained that many African countries are developing rapidly, and the African elites and the growing middle-class have great potential for sponsoring their children’s education abroad. “In the times of the Soviet Union, African countries were strategic partners, and now we should reactivate these relations because in the near future they will have big economic and political power. This could, indeed, be a huge market and has the business potential,” she noted assertively.
An educational survey released in September 2024, divided into five major groups, said Russia has made significant efforts at improving teaching (the learning environment), research, citations (research influence), knowledge transfer, and international outlook (staff, students, research) in the educational field, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
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.
