World
Russia – Dating and Promising Africa
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Russia has a long time-tested relationship with Africa. After the first symbolic Russia-Africa summit in the Black Sea city of Sochi on October 23-24, 2019 both Russia and Africa adopted a joint declaration, a comprehensive document that outlines the key objectives and necessary tasks that seek to raise assertively the entire relations to a new qualitative level.
In order to realize this, it requires a complete understanding of the tasks and the emerging challenges, identifies necessary support for new initiatives and, as always reiterated, commitment to dynamic work with Africa.
According to official documents, there has been a great interest in the further development of relations, and in deepening and intensifying Russian-Africa cooperation. Priority areas of economic cooperation in which concrete results could be achieved in the coming years were outlined.
The main areas identified were energy, included among others, renewables, infrastructure development and especially railway and housing construction, modern and high-tech extraction and processing of mineral resources, agriculture, digital technologies, oil and gas exploration, medicine, science and education.
Acknowledging that six of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world today are in Africa, and that presents an attractive condition for foreign investment, over 170 Russian companies and organizations submitted a total of 280 proposals to do projects and business in Africa.
Reports further show that 92 agreements, contracts and memoranda of understanding were signed at the Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum. Agreements worth a total of RUB 1.004 trillion ($12.5 billion).
Far before the summit, at least, during the past decade (2010-2020), several bilateral agreements were also signed. There have been several meetings of various bilateral intergovernmental commissions both in Moscow and in Africa.
Besides all that, pledges and promises consistently dominated official speeches – an approach primarily aims at signalling and further sustaining hope of leveraging to Africa.
Of great importance is that over the past few years, considerable steps taken in strengthening relations with the majority of African countries.
But now, as Russia prepares for the second African leaders’ summit 2022 in Addis Ababa, many policy experts are questioning agreements that were signed—many of them largely unfulfilled and some already forgotten—at least during the past years with African countries.
Experts, such as Professors Vladimir Shubin and Alexandra Arkhangelskaya from the Institute for African Studies in Moscow, have argued that Russia needs to deliver on its previous several pledges made to Africa countries.
“The most significant positive sign is that Russia has moved away from its low-key strategy to vigorous relations, and authorities are seriously showing readiness to compete with other foreign players.
Russia needs to find a strategy that really reflects the practical interests of Russian business,” said Arkhangelskaya, who is a Senior Lecturer at the Moscow High School of Economics and a researcher at the Institute for African Studies.
Currently, the signs for Russian-Africa relations are impressive. Declarations of intentions have been made; several important bilateral agreements have been signed. Now it remains to be seen how these intentions and agreements will be implemented in practice, she pointed out in an interview with InDepthNews.
The revival of Russian-African relations has to be enhanced in all fields. Obstacles to the broadening of Russian-Africa relations have to be addressed more vigorously. These include, in particular, the lack of knowledge or information in Russia about the situation in Africa, and vice versa, suggested Arkhangelskaya, adding the last Sochi summit has significantly rollout ways to increase the effectiveness of cooperation between Russia and Africa.
Ahead of the upcoming second Russia-Africa summit, the Coordination Council was established under the aegis of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum (RAPF), which is overseeing the organizational and practical preparations of future summits, has held its third meeting in the format of a videoconference. During the meeting, participants discussed preparations for the forthcoming second Russia-Africa summit, its concept, targets and a list of events.
The Council members deliberated the status of preparatory works and plans for the near future and significant issues necessary for enhancing the entire relations between Russia and Africa. They also discussed mechanisms to improve existing and planned projects as well as developing road maps for cooperation. The meeting approved the draft concept as well as the organizational and financial scheme for the second Russia-Africa summit.
Vsevolod Tkachenko, the Director of the Africa Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that “African partners expect concrete deeds, maximum substantive ideas and useful proposals.” The current task is to demonstrate results and highlight achievements to the African side. Over the past years, African countries have witnessed many bilateral agreements, memoranda of understanding and pledges.
Since the basis of the summit remains the economic interaction between Russia and Africa, “the ideas currently being worked out on new possible instruments to encourage Russian exports to Africa, Russian investments to the continent, such as a fund to support direct investment in Africa, all these deserve special attention,” Tkachenko says.
According to Oleg Ozerov, Head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum (RAPF), African partners emphasize the importance of Russia’s participation in agriculture, major infrastructure development projects, energy development, mining and digitalization.
Early June 2021, a Russia-Africa dialogue aimed at business networking and intensifying policy discussions were also held on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). Discussions centred on identifying pathways, the necessary groundworks for addressing Russia’s weak economic presence in Africa.
Participants called for effective steps to support Russian business in Africa. Russian companies are known to be keen on exploring opportunities in Africa, but very slow in implementing agreements and, as a result, has few concrete results.
Alexander Saltanov, former Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and now Chairman of the Association of Economic Cooperation with African States (AECAS) acknowledged that African countries no longer know as much about Russia as they did about its predecessor, Soviet Union.
Notwithstanding the setbacks down these years, Saltanov is currently working on a common information space project between Russia and Africa scheduled for October.
When talking about bilateral ties, the most common complaints are inadequate to support systems – both from the state and financial institutions.
Russian NGOs are also pushing for a diverse set of initiatives aimed at enhancing ties. The Coordination Committee for Economic Cooperation with African countries, a business and policy NGO, established as far back as 2009, proposes that funds be availed to support Russian business and investment in Africa.
Senator Igor Morozov, Member of the Committee for Economy Policy of the Federation Council (Senate) and Chairman of the Coordination Committee on Economic Cooperation with Africa observes that conditions that are opening up for Russian business today are not the same as those for businessmen from France, the European Union, India or China. Senator Morozov has therefore called for improving Russia’s competitive edge and taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The search for effective financing of projects and business is still ongoing, according to official reports. “There is a lot of demanding work ahead, and perhaps, there is a need to pay attention to the experience of China, which provides its enterprises with state guarantees and subsidies, thus ensuring the ability of companies to work on a systematic and long-term basis,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a meeting of the Ministry’s Collegium.
In addition, Lavrov further suggested taking a chapter on the approach and methods adopted by China in Africa, and that was back in 2019. Russia could consider the Chinese model of financing various infrastructure and construction projects in Africa.
It was only in July 2021, that the Association of Economic Cooperation with the African States (AECAS) held the first meeting of the working group to discuss ways for adopting a suitable mechanism of financial support for Russian business and projects in Africa.
That meeting was a marketplace of tremendous ideas. Business leaders discussed the lack of credit lines and guarantees as barriers, and the next problem relates to poor knowledge of the business environment as it poses a challenge. On the other hand, Russian businesses are unprepared to invest in R&D a first preliminary step towards economic engagement with Africa.
Nikita Gusakov, Head of the Russian Export Credit and Investment Insurance Agency (EXIAR), reiterated that Africa was a priority for the agency, outlining a number of deals that EXIAR has been involved in on the continent.
“We have the desire and the capacity to finance projects in Africa. In our experience, there are two problems that need to be addressed: the low level of project planning by Russian companies wishing to enter the African market, and the lack of awareness among Russian companies of the opportunities available on the African market,” Gusakov told the special meeting on project finance held in July.
The 2019 Sochi summit was held under the theme ‘Russia and Africa: Uncovering the Potential for Cooperation and was co-chaired by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. During the past two decades, a number of foreign countries notably China, the United States, the European Union, India, France, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea have held such gatherings in that format with Africa.
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.
