World
Russia Recruiting African Specialists
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
With thousands conscripted into the army to fight in neighbouring Ukraine, several more thousands escaping military mobilization and migrating abroad, Russia currently lacks highly skilled labor for offices and unskilled labour for its industries, agriculture and construction. Reports indicated Russian employment agencies are seriously recruiting all kinds of employees, both skilled and unskilled, from Africa.
HeadHunters, a recruitment agency’s report announced in mid-July that a boom in attracting workers from Africa against the backdrop of a shortage of personnel across Russia. According to the report, in the first half of 2024, Russian companies significantly increased their activity in searching for employees in Africa.
In particular, countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Cameroon became the leaders in terms of the growth rate of vacancies in annual terms, while the number of advertisements in a number of European countries and the United States, on the contrary, decreased. Together with experts, RBC looked into the reasons for the growing popularity of employees from Africa and the main difficulties in hiring workers from abroad.
African hiring boom
According to HeadHunters’ data for the first half of 2024, seven out of ten foreign countries with the largest increase in vacancies from Russian organizations are African countries. If in the first half of 2023 in each of them one could find no more than 500 vacancies from Russian employers, then in the first six months of this year the number of job offers has increased multiple times, in some cases tens of times, analysts noted in the report.
Thus, the number of vacancies increased the most in Kenya – 39 times (from 161 vacancies in the first half of 2023 to 6.4 thousand vacancies in the first half of 2024). A number of other African countries have also seen a significant increase in the number of places offered, although more modest in absolute terms. Thus, in Zimbabwe the number of vacancies increased 15 times (to 165), in Cameroon – nine times (to 130), in Zambia – eight times (to 224). In addition, a sharp increase in the number of vacancies was recorded in Algeria (seven times, up to 1.7 thousand).
Among non-African countries, the leaders in terms of growth in the number of vacancies were Albania, Pakistan and Belgium. In addition, in 2024, Russian companies posted vacancies for the first time in countries such as Nepal, the Bahamas, Barbados, Malawi, Iceland, Sierra Leone, Gabon and the Central African Republic (CAR). The total number of vacancies in the listed countries in the first half of the year reached almost 300, analysts indicated.
The fact that the geography of migration to Russia could expand at the expense of African states was previously predicted in an interview with RBC by the director of the Institute of Demographic Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Marina Khramova. She also admitted that in future, migrants from Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand or the Philippines, could be attracted to the domestic labor market.
Categories of workers for recruitment abroad
The composition of the most in-demand categories of employees when hiring from foreign countries among Russian employers has not changed over the year – these are customer service managers, IT specialists and marketers, as follows from the data on invitations to vacancies. The top ten also included specialists in the field of art and mass media, administrative personnel, workers and builders.
At the same time, the greatest increase in demand was shown by vacancies for workers in science and education – in the first half of the year, the number of invitations for employees in this field from abroad doubled. The number of invitations for foreign workers increased by 68%, agricultural specialists – by 63%, employees in the field of raw materials extraction and construction – by 53 and 51%, respectively.
It is necessary to understand that the search and invitations to employees for vacancies do not fully reflect the typical portrait of a migrant, since their hiring in general varies quite a lot depending on the specialty and region, noted Danina. “We can say with confidence that attracting migrants to positions as workers and construction workers (in general, low-skilled positions) is traditionally typical for Central Asian countries and this year for a number of African countries,” she explained.
At the same time, highly qualified specialists with knowledge of the specifics of local markets and business for the positions of marketers and account managers are sought all over the world, and the search for top managers this year was concentrated in the UAE, Serbia, Turkey, Thailand.
The number of African specialists who enter Russia is growing every year, noted Vsevolod Sviridov, an expert at the Center for African Studies at the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. “African labor migrants occupy completely different niches in the labor market: some are actually employed in fairly low-skilled professions, for example in construction, work in warehouses, in agriculture, while others occupy high management positions in large Russian companies, the expert on Africa pointed out to local Russian media.
A recent example is Timothy Musa Kabba, a graduate of the Mining University in St. Petersburg, who worked as a geologist for Russian oil and gas companies for almost ten years, and he is now the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sierra Leone, recalled Sviridov.
Difficulties in hiring foreigners
Employment of foreigners is associated with a number of complicating issues, notes Danina. For example, if we are talking about hiring workers or construction workers with relocation to Russia, then the main burden lies in organizing logistics (due to the lack of direct or regular flights with Russia), obtaining quotas, and the presence of language and cultural barriers in work teams. When working with highly qualified specialists from non-CIS countries, who are often hired without relocation, there may be problems with organizing financial payments, added Danina.
Migration regulation in Russia also has its own specifics, notes Sofia Luneva, a lawyer in the labor law practice at BGP Litigation. Thus, for foreigners who enter on visas, the registration procedure is the most complex, as it requires obtaining a permit to attract foreign labor for the company, an invitation from the employer to enter and a work permit for the foreigner (in a number of areas, their number may be limited by quotas).
An alternative could be the status of a highly qualified specialist – if it is available, the employee is not subject to quotas. The downside of this simplified procedure is increased costs for the employee. Registration of visa-free foreign citizens is much simpler in terms of documents.
At the same time, all migrants are required to have documents confirming that they have undergone fingerprinting, photography and medical examination. And in any case, regardless of the status of a foreign worker, the employer is obliged to notify the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs about the conclusion/termination of an employment contract within no more than three working days. In conclusion, workers and employees are required in the Russian Federation. (Report made with addition materials from Russian media).
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.
World
Russia to Support Industrial Growth, Technological Advancement and Supply Chain Resilience across Africa
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
With the heightening of geopolitical rivalry and competition, a new Russia-Africa working group has emerged as a significant institutional mechanism and plans to focus on facilitating and monitoring strategic investments, industrialisation, and infrastructural development—the Strategic Action Plan 2023-2026—that was outlined during the second Russia-Africa summit, in St.Petersburg, the second largest city in the Russian Federation.
While substantial progress has, largely, lagged on the multidimensional economic front with Africa primarily due to its internal difficulties and the complexity of relations with its former Soviet neighbours, Russian officials believe there still remains huge untapped potential in strengthening bilateral cooperation. As planned, President Vladimir Putin has already signed an executive order that directs Moscow to host the forthcoming third Russia-Africa summit in October 2026.
On June 30, a regular meeting of the Business Council on Africa was held under the chairmanship of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry. It was dedicated to issues of trade, economic and investment cooperation with Africa. The group discussed the current state and prospects for the implementation of policy initiatives with an emphasis on assisting the countries of the continent, strengthening their economic, energy, technological and food sovereignty, as well as training specialists for Africa.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reiterated that Russia-Africa relations primarily depend on an understanding of the importance of collective action based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and resolving common tasks. In the past few years, Russia-Africa cooperation has been noticeably strengthening. “We are deepening political dialogues, developing bilateral contacts with African countries, promoting cordial cooperation between ministries and departments, and expanding humanitarian exchanges. We are also continuing the structural diversification of trade partnerships and economic dimensions.”
“Next on the agenda is the launch of diplomatic missions in The Gambia, Liberia, Togo, and the Union of the Comoros,” Lavrov said at a meeting of the Business Council under the Russian foreign minister. Lavrov noted that Russian embassies began operating in three other African countries in 2025: Niger, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan. A new Department for Partnership with Africa was also established. According to the top diplomat, “expanding Russia’s diplomatic presence on the continent contributes to developing relations.”
There are already 45 Russian embassies operating in Africa. The Russian foreign minister noted that Moscow is quickly rebuilding its presence in African countries, which sharply declined during the collapse of the Soviet Union. “There will be literally four or five countries left where we still need to establish full-fledged embassies, and then, we will have 100 per cent coverage of the entire African continent with our diplomatic presence,” Lavrov emphasised.
After the first summit in October 2019, the Foreign Ministry also created the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum. Its main tasks include controlling the roadmap to Africa’s multidimensional cooperation and guiding potential Russian investors to the continent. This also underscored the priority and post-Soviet solidarity Russia currently attaches to its policy towards Africa, within the growing framework of the emerging new architecture of multipolarity in the Global South.
In an interview in June 2026, the director of the Department of Partnership with Africa at the Foreign Ministry, Tatyana Dovgalenko, shared a few insights in the lead-up to the third summit. Furthermore, Dovgalenko explained that Russia would move away from security to concentrate more on economic issues, especially to team up with African colleagues to streamline mechanisms for implementing projects that will ensure food security and agriculture, and help Africa in installing processing facilities to support its self-sufficiency. She also emphasised energy and vital infrastructures, and the third direction was to simultaneously work more coherently with sub-regional organisations.
Over the past few years, bilateral relations have been increasing. There are positive dynamics in trade turnover, estimated at $30 billion. Steps are being taken to build payment systems, preferably in national currencies, while Russia looks to open four more diplomatic offices, bringing the total to 48 across Africa. Russia is currently training 37,000 African students, but only approximately 1/3 on state scholarships in Russia’s educational institutions. “We are ready to share valuable experiences of building a sovereign development model with African partners to achieve self-reliant economic growth based on their own resources and capabilities. Russia aims at creating processing capabilities and localising production, and provides access to advanced technological solutions,” underlined Dovgalenko in her interview with New Eastern Outlook.
For African countries that have endured difficult decades on the path to political independence, it is now important to take full control over the untapped resources, direct income and revenue toward stimulating the national economic sector, rather than paying for the well-being of the Western “golden billion” during this changing geopolitical era, according to Dovgalenko.
According to reports, the forthcoming Russia-Africa summit will have an economic agenda, including the digital economy, technology, artificial intelligence, healthcare, investment, and settlements in global trade. Of course, the agenda will also cover Africa’s political aspects. But if African friends bring along any specific ideas, Russia will give them serious attention. In addition, with continuity and consistency, pay increased attention to expanding ties with Africa’s regional integration associations.
Going forward, the focus will be on translating strong trade relations into deeper investment partnerships, fostering technology collaboration, strengthening industrial linkages and contributing towards the shared objectives set by the leadership of both African countries and Russia. At the third summit, the above-mentioned specific initiatives will be further designed. In this regard, the key document, the new action plan for the next three-year period (2027-2029), is intended to reflect dynamic realities in the future relations of Russia and Africa
