World
Russia Lacks Professionals To Pursue Its Policy Goals in Africa
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Understandably more than three decades after the Soviet collapse, Russia has few well-trained multipolar-oriented specialists and professionals to work seriously on its diverse policy goals in Africa.
As simple as the narratives in several reports, Russians have bitterly complained of an acute shortage of policy leaders with the necessary adequate knowledge and expertise who could advance efforts at directing, coordinating and monitoring purpose-driven action plans and deliver impact at a scale expected in Africa.
With the rapidly-evolving multipolar world, the increasing competitiveness for influence and the need to reinforce cooperation between the government and business sectors, Russia has to focus on its agenda and take suitable strategies for implementing policy-set goals in Africa. Perhaps now, Russians are acknowledging their existing weaknesses. Complaints of inadequate professional staff in several reports could be interpreted as poor performance and as a cover-up for its policy pitfalls in Africa.
On the other hand, Russia has so many reputable educational institutions graduating thousands of candidates yearly. The Russian Diplomatic Academy, Moscow State University’s Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship, St. Petersburg State University, the Institute for African Studies, et cetera. Suppose Russian officials still maintain there is a lack of professionals. In that case, it must be due to poor planning, poor vision and poor coordinating efforts between state institutions of government and educational centres, as pointed out in a policy report in November 2021.
That report, titled – ‘Situation Analytical Report’ – was prepared by 25 policy experts headed by Professor Sergei A. Karaganov, Dean and Academic Supervisor of the Faculty of World Economy and International Relations of the National Research University’s Higher School of Economics (HSE University). Karaganov is also the Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy.
The report was very critical of Russia’s current policy towards Africa. It indicated inconsistency in policy implementation and further underlined the fact that has been few definitive results from various efforts in dealing with African countries. It says in part: “Apart from the absence of a public strategy for the continent, there is a shortage of qualified personnel, the lack of coordination among various state and para-state institutions working with Africa.”
Last December, Interfax News Agency reported that the Russian Science and Higher Education Ministry was preparing new educational programmes for developing countries within the context of the emerging multipolar world. Since the Soviet collapse, Russia has trained graduates and professionals for the past three decades in many of its institutes and universities in the Russian Federation.
“The challenge is the transformation of the system of international relations and the re-focusing of educational and scientific flows to the East and the South. We realize that this turn requires a substantial number of competent professionals, so we are preparing a new educational and scientific programme called Oriental and African Studies,” Russian Science and Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov said during Government Hour in the Federation Council.
“We need specialists who are not just fluent in languages of the regions and have a profound knowledge of their history and culture but who are also proficient in economic and geopolitical matters,” he said at the Federation Council, the Upper Chamber of Parliament.
Russian International Affairs Council, a non-government organization and policy think tank, also published an opinion article authored by Kirill Babaev, Director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor at the Financial University. He made an excellent analysis of the relations between Russia and Africa.
The article highlighted future perspectives and successes in building political dialogues during the previous years. On the other hand, he exposes for serious consideration by authorities some existing obstacles and weaknesses.
He wrote that Russia’s return to Africa had been discussed in the media and at various levels of power for two decades. That the African elites, especially those who studied at Soviet institutes and universities, still have memories of the struggle for the political freedom of Africa. During the Soviet times, at the height of fighting against Western colonialism, there were economic offerings of the Soviet era.
However, all these cards are a matter of the past, while in the present, it has been difficult for Russia to offer Africa anything of value that could compete with large-scale Western investment or Chinese infrastructure projects, he wrote in his article.
Today the situation has changed radically, according to his assessment. He pointed out the challenges Russia faces, one of them being “an immense lack of personnel for successful work in Africa”, and further suggested the necessity of putting together a distinctive group of experienced professionals and specialists to work on practical, consistent and effective policy challenges as well as geopolitical tasks with African countries.
In an insightful long-ranging conversation in April 2022, the newly appointed Rector of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Oleg Yastrebov, told me that his university was established back in 1960; it primarily provided higher education to Third World students during the Soviet days. Many students, especially from developing countries, still come to this popular university from Latin America, Asia and Africa. It is Russia’s most multidisciplinary university, which boasts the largest number of foreign students and offers various academic disciplines.
Without mincing words, the youth is the future. The whole development and technological progress depend on them – the present young generation learning to become professional leaders in various fields and get equipped with the necessary skills that help them to acquire the knowledge of communication internationally.
“We are the most international, the most multidisciplinary and the friendliest university in Russia. It has the strongest language school. By studying languages, students receive an extra diploma as a translator. A student can choose from 12 foreign languages to study: European, Oriental or Russian as a foreign language,” he told me authoritatively.
He unreservedly argued that the university staff and academic teams provide the necessary knowledge and cutting-edge skills for young aspiring leaders from 160 countries, and that makes the university first-class among many others in the Russian Federation. The countries include those in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
The Institute for African Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in 1959. Since then, it has undergone various changes and carried out huge scientific research on Africa. It has nearly a hundred staff including well-experienced researchers, academic fellows and specialists on various African issues and directions.
Professor Dmitri Bondarenko, Deputy Director of the Institute for African Studies (IAS), told me during discussions, just before the first Russia-Africa summit and precisely the 60th anniversary of the IAS, that state institutions and business companies seek the Institute’s consultancy services more and more often nowadays. In particular, the Institute played an important role in the preparation of the first Russia-Africa summit held in October 2019.
“The situation has been changing during the last few years. Today the importance of Africa for Russia in different respects, including political and economic, is recognized by the state, and the Russian Foreign Ministry and other state institutions dealing with Russia-African relations in various spheres, ask us for our expert advice on different points quite often,” said Bondarenko.
According to him, the situation now is much better for African studies than for a long time before. In particular, today, there are much more opportunities for doing fieldwork in Africa. Russian Africanists and their work are becoming better known in the global Africanist community. Quite a lot of junior researchers join the academy nowadays. In an assessment, African studies in Russia are on the right road to broadening international cooperation with Africanists worldwide.
Unlike the United States and Europe, Russia has poor relations with its trained African professionals and African specialists who graduated from Soviet and Russian educational establishments. Without a doubt, some of them could serve as bridges between Russia and Africa. Why not? At the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, there was an explicit indication to engage African professionals in the entire structure in the process of re-setting relations and moving it to the next stage. That is an irreversibly strong positive step.
Are Russia-Africa relations truly based on long-standing traditions of friendship and solidarity created by the Soviet Union? Is forging closer relations within their agreed framework to continue coordinating positions on platforms? Why are Russians complaining? Have they already trashed the joint declaration adopted, after the first summit, on the key areas of Russian-African cooperation or will it be considered only as an important historical document in the State Archival Library of Vladimir Lenin?
The accelerated development of human resource potential is inextricably linked to economic development. The 21st century has heralded the rise of the knowledge economy, and Russia really needs people who will be able to make vital contributions to tackling social and economic challenges facing Africa. Of course, the Soviet Union made an invaluable contribution to developing the scientific and educational potential of a number of African countries.
Obviously, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reminded several times that Africa is Russia’s priority, especially during this emerging democratic polycentric world order. There should have been well-coordinated efforts toward working with graduates trained in Russian institutions and an integrated manner of working closely with African specialists in opening up practically a new page in the history of Russia’s relations with Africa.
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.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa is set to make history as it hosts the World Public Summit for the first time, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, welcoming global leaders and changemakers from July 29–30, 2026, for the landmark gathering under the theme “New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
The inaugural African edition of the World Public Summit marks a significant milestone in the continent’s growing role in shaping international dialogue on governance, sustainable development, human-centred leadership and global cooperation.
Hosted by the World Peoples Assembly in partnership with African and international organisations, the summit will convene government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, journalists, youth representatives, civil society organisations and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world.
According to Andrey Belyaninov, General Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, “the Summit is not just a meeting—it is a space for unity. A space where the ‘values that unite us’ come to life: respect for people, openness to the world, responsibility for the future, and a commitment to creation.
“Today, we understand more clearly than ever: the future cannot be built alone. It is born in dialogue, in trust, in the ability to listen to one another and to act together.”
The programme begins on July 29 with a series of high-level roundtables and expert discussions covering Pan-African economic integration, civil society, education, scientific cooperation, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian partnerships.
The opening plenary, “Values, Development and Partnership as the Basis of a Sustainable and Just World,” will explore how African values—including Ubuntu—can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable global future. Discussions will also focus on youth leadership, innovation, civil society, ethical AI, public initiatives and international partnerships.
The summit will also showcase Africa’s creativity and innovation through the “Innovations for the Future” exhibition, the contemporary African art exhibition “Unity,” and the international exhibition “The World Paints Happiness.”
Another featured initiative is “The Zambezi River: Economy, Society, Soul,” an international interdisciplinary project exploring the river’s socioeconomic importance across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting the shared heritage and development potential of one of Africa’s most important waterways.
The event will conclude with the adoption of the African Communiqué, reflecting the summit’s shared vision for stronger international cooperation, sustainable development and people-centred leadership.
Tsegaye Chama, General Secretary of the Global Black Centre, promised that, “The Summit will be delivered with exceptional distinction, reflecting the magnitude and spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. It embodies a unity that is not transactional, but purposeful and conscious, a unity that shapes new contours for a world that works for all peoples of the World.”
As delegates prepare to arrive in Addis Ababa, anticipation continues to build for what promises to be one of Africa’s most significant international gatherings of 2026—one that will place the continent firmly at the centre of global conversations about the future.
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.
