World
Russian, African Journalists Discuss Great Personalities in Russian-African Relations History
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
A roundtable of laureates of the first International Contest of Russian and African Journalists: “Great Personalities in the History of Russian-African Relations”, timed to coincide with the 225thanniversary of A.S. Pushkin’s birth, was held on July 31, 2024. The round table was organized by the Russian-African Club of Lomonosov Moscow State University in partnership with the Union of Journalists of Russia, the Faculty of Journalism and the Faculty of Global Studies of Lomonosov Moscow State University with the support of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia).
The speakers of the round table were award-winning contestants, diplomats, media top managers, producers, TV presenters, journalists, public figures, scientists, teachers, and culture and mass media representatives of Russia and African countries.
The contribution of outstanding personalities to the development of relations between Russia and African countries in the works of the contest winners was discussed in the course of the round table. The participants put forward ideas and proposals to popularize knowledge in Russia and Africa about significant persons who contributed to the strengthening of Russian-African relations. They also discussed preparations for the second International contest for Russian and African journalists on the topic: “Short video stories about landmarks of your country”, dedicated to the 270th anniversary of Moscow University. The meeting was held in Russian, English, French and Arabic.
Timur Shafirа, Secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia, addressed the participants with his welcoming speech. He expressed confidence that events like this contest are of great importance in strengthening relations between nations. In his opinion, journalists are civil diplomats, helping to build constructive partnerships and preserve stability and cooperation.
Anna Gladkova, Deputy Dean for International Cooperation of the Faculty of Journalism of Lomonosov Moscow State University, in her speech, conveyed greetings to the participants from Elena Vartanova, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism of MSU. The speaker also emphasized the special importance of holding this contest on the anniversary of the great genius of Russian poetry Alexander Pushkin and wished further success to the project.
The winner of the contest, a student of the University of International Relations from Cameroon Danielle Juanita Kabeyene told about her article, which she dedicated to the modern Togolese public and political figure, president of the “League for the Defense of Black Africans” Egountchi Behanzin. Winning such a prestigious competition is a great honour, Danielle noted.
Hafiz Basi from Sudan, who also won the contest, wrote an article about Alexander Pushkin, as he considers the great poet to be a true symbol who combined a true love for Russia and Africa. Hafiz noted that the poet never forgot his African roots, which can be proved by many lines from his poems. At the same time, Africa has always known and remembered Pushkin. Many generations of Africans got acquainted with the great Russian literature through Pushkin’s works. Hafiz also told his second article about Pushkin’s ancestor – Abram Petrovich Hannibal who was African. According to the contestant, this bright man also became a symbol of historical relations between Russia and Africa.
Christian Mounene, a laureate from the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote an article about Patrice Lumumba for the contest, as he considers him a man of great stature, one of the most prominent fighters against colonialism, who stood up for the rights of Africans and expressed the aspirations of African peoples to rapprochement with the USSR and Russia.
The contestant from Senegal, Abdou Karim Diakhate, editor-in-chief of Le Panafricain magazine, who also won the competition, wrote an article about the Senegalese writer and film director Sembene Ousmane, who made a great contribution to awakening Africans in their struggle for independence.
Another contestant from Russia, Anastasia Zapolskaya, called her award-winning article “Sergey Lavrov – the face of Russian diplomacy in the 21st century”. Anastasia said that she was particularly interested in the role of diplomacy in modern world processes. She is sure that Sergei Lavrov, as Russian Foreign Minister, makes a huge contribution to building a just world order based on multipolarity and equality.
The main character of the article by the award-winning contest from South Africa, Khola Kesva, was a prominent military and political leader from Mozambique, Samora Machel, a revolutionary who waged an active guerrilla struggle against the colonizers in close cooperation with the USSR and later became President of Mozambique.
Yves Ekoué Amaïzo, Director of the Afrocentrism think tank from Togo, noted that when writing the article for the contest, he was guided by the idea that there were and are many ordinary people from different countries who make their huge contribution to strengthening ties between Russia and Africa, but their activities are hardly covered in the media. The contest winner expressed the opinion that it is ordinary people working in the Russia-Africa agenda who are the foundation on which strong friendly relations are built day by day.
This idea was supported by a round-table participant from Rwanda, Chairman of the Board of the African Diaspora Union for Truth and Advancement of People of African Descent “Inganzo Gakondo” François-Xavier Tulikunkiko. He noted that there are various Russian-African organizations in many cities in Russia where many things are being done to strengthen relations between Russia and Africa. Besides, a very large number of university graduates from the USSR and Russia now live in almost all African countries, and many of them hold significant positions. The speaker suggested that graduates should be regularly involved in such competitions.
Ilya Shershnev, Program Director of the Russian-African Club of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Global Studies of Moscow State University, noted the important work of university ambassadors – alumni as “envoys” and “ambassadors” of universities in Russia and Africa. In recent years, university ambassadors have appeared in many Russian and foreign universities, they are actively deploying their activity abroad. The geographical expansion of this journalistic contest will largely depend on university ambassadors and their personal relations and contacts.
Zenebe Kinfu, President of the Union of African Diasporas, joined his colleagues’ opinion and called on all organizations active in the field of relations between Russia and Africa to stand together and work on a united front.
President of the Cameroon Diaspora and the round table moderator, Louis Gowend, who is also the Director for African Diasporas and Media at the Russian-African Club of the Lomonosov MSU, stressed that African alumni and Russian-African organizations should become the foundation for relations between Russia and Africa to be built on.
Daniel Sawadogo, Cultural Relations Attaché at the Embassy of Burkina Faso, emphasized the importance of the international journalism contest and called for such contests to be held as often as possible. According to the diplomat, it is necessary for close cooperation between African countries and Russia. Mr. Sawadogo called the journalists’ contest a brilliant success of the MSU Russian-African Club.
Sergey Chesnokov, permanent expert of the Russian-African Club of Lomonosov Moscow State University, international journalist, and academician of PANI, proposed to create branches of the club in African countries. In the expert’s opinion, this would contribute to even closer interaction and would allow us to receive information and exchange opinions with African experts.
Summarizing the round table, Alexander F. Berdnikov, Executive Secretary of the Russian-African Club of MSU, supported the need for interaction between the African diaspora established in Russia and alumni located in African countries. According to him, this contest promotes the establishment of such ties. He suggested publishing a collection of articles written by all participants of the journalism contest and organizing the next contest together with other universities that are also working to strengthen ties between Russia and 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.
