The map of Africa is changing. Not just the startup map. The diplomatic map. The financial map. The trade map.
This week, we examine a shrinking U.S. diplomatic footprint, a fintech industry racing toward $65B, startup ecosystems emerging beyond Africa's traditional hubs and a surprising finding from UNCTAD: Africa's biggest trade barriers aren't tariffs at all.
Beneath each story sits an interesting trend. I hope you learn something new. I always do.
Graphic of the Week
American Diplomacy Retraction
Source: NBC News
According to NBC News, nearly 2,000 U.S. diplomats have left the Foreign Service over the past year through layoffs and forced retirements, taking with them decades of institutional knowledge, crisis-response experience and specialized language skills. A few numbers stood out:
Nearly 100 U.S. embassies are operating without Senate-confirmed ambassadors.
More than 75% of African countries currently lack a U.S. ambassador.
Less than 8% of ambassadorial nominees are career diplomats, down sharply from previous administrations.
Around 250 foreign service officers were laid off during a State Department reorganization.
Why it matters: As geopolitical competition intensifies, America's diplomatic footprint is shrinking. For Africa, that means fewer senior U.S. officials on the ground at a time when China, Gulf states, Russia, Turkey and others are expanding their influence across the continent.
What We Are Reading
Africa: Algeria and Morocco advanced competing multibillion-dollar gas pipeline projects to export West African natural gas to Europe (Bloomberg).
Botswana denied a tanker sailing under its flag was registered there, exposing widespread use of fake African registrations by shadow fleets to evade sanctions (Bloomberg).
Egypt: Inflation was expected to ease to 14.5% in May but analysts warn it will rise again due to higher electricity and food prices (Reuters).
Ethiopia: Tony Elumelu’s investment bank, United Capital, is expanding into Rwanda and Ethiopia (Bloomberg).
Ghana: Free speech concerns are rising after 14 arrests for false news and offensive speech in just 16 months under President Mahama, nearly double the number recorded during the previous administration's eight years (Aljazeera).
Kenya: Victims of Sudan’s war asked Kenyan prosecutors to investigate alleged torture and sexual violence by RSF members in an unprecedented attempt to pursue the paramilitary group outside Sudan (AP News).
Nigeria: BUA Foods grew rapidly amid hunger protests and high food inflation as insecurity and import reliance strengthened large conglomerates’ dominance (FT).
Rwanda: IMF approved a $250M loan for Rwanda as strong growth slows and inflation pressures rise from global oil and fertilizer costs (Reuters).
Senegal made early payments on two international bonds ahead of IMF talks, signaling its commitment to meeting debt obligations (Bloomberg).
Somalia: FIFA removed a Somali referee from the World Cup after he was denied U.S. entry over alleged links to suspected terror associates (AP News).
South Africa has begun rolling out lenacapavir, a twice-yearly HIV prevention injection shown to be highly effective in clinical trials, offering new hope in the country with the world's largest HIV burden (AP News).
Uganda: WHO urged Uganda to reconsider closing its border with DR Congo over Ebola, saying travel bans are ineffective despite ongoing cross-border infections (Reuters).
Zambia secured enough bondholder support to complete a $1.36B debt buyback, unlocking a pioneering debt-for-development swap that will direct $275M in savings toward expanding the country's electricity grid (Bloomberg).
Zimbabwe: Across the country, burial societies are evolving into grassroots financial networks, providing savings, loans and business support where traditional banks often fall short (AP News).
Business & Finance in Africa
The Missing Bank(s)
Fintechs are serving customers that traditional banks still can't reach.
Even the Financial Times is catching on. Using BCG and World Bank data they reported this week that Africa is the world's fastest-growing fintech market. Revenue is projected to reach $65B by 2030, roughly 13x higher than a decade ago. According to the article:
37% of Nigerians remain unbanked.
51% of Ethiopians remain unbanked.
57% of Egyptians remain unbanked.
Fintech revenue is expected to reach $65B by 2030.
The first wave of fintech focused on payments. The next wave is tackling harder problems like credit for small businesses, insurance, remittances and cross-border commerce. Companies such as 4G Capital, Numida and Inkomoko are using transaction data and digital infrastructure to extend financing to businesses that traditional banks often overlook. Definitely take a look at the BCG report.
The Africa VC Map Is Changing
Source: Renew Capital
Capital remains concentrated. Entrepreneurship doesn't.
Renew Capital released a new report this week, Where Capital Flows, analyzing a decade of African venture activity. One finding stood out: early-stage startup formation is spreading well beyond the continent's traditional hubs.
While Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Egypt continue to dominate funding, their share of sub-$1M investment has declined as founders emerge across a broader set of markets. Ghana, Rwanda, Morocco, Senegal and Uganda are all generating meaningful startup activity.
Why it matters: The most interesting startup ecosystems are often visible in deal counts long before they appear in funding rankings. Big thanks to Maureen O’Shea for her work on the report.
Source: UNCTAD
Africa's biggest trade barriers aren't tariffs.
Tariffs grabbed headlines in 2025, but UNCTAD says non-tariff measures such as standards, certifications, testing requirements and licensing rules, remain the larger obstacle for most countries. I’ve covered this a bit before, but a few findings stood out:
Regulatory cooperation could reduce Africa's non-tariff trade costs by 30% to 40%.
African agri-food exporters face a 12.8% cost penalty from technical regulations, seven times higher than manufacturing.
Most African LDCs lose roughly 10% of potential exports to G20 markets because they cannot meet compliance requirements.
In some cases, exporters must send products through third countries simply to obtain certification.
Why it matters: The fastest path to expanding intra-African trade may not be lower tariffs, but better rules. Harmonizing standards, improving transparency and building testing and certification capacity could unlock some of the biggest gains under the AfCFTA without a single tariff negotiation.
Tourism in Africa
Exporting Experiences
Source: Visual Capitalist
Tourism remains one of Africa's most overlooked industries.
While Africa is often discussed through the lens of commodities, manufacturing and technology, tourism remains a major economic driver across the continent. From safari destinations in East and Southern Africa to cultural tourism in Morocco and Egypt, visitor spending continues to generate jobs, foreign exchange and infrastructure investment.
The latest global rankings show Seychelles, Cabo Verde and The Gambia among the world's most tourism-dependent economies, highlighting tourism's outsized role in parts of Africa.
Why it matters: As countries seek to diversify beyond commodities, tourism with all its risks, remains one of the continent's most scalable and underappreciated economic sectors. Read more: Visual Capitalist.
Education in Africa
Beyond Coding Bootcamps
The next generation of African talent may be built in engineering labs, not coding schools.
According to Tech Safari this week, Africa's tech talent story was simple for the past decade: learn to code, work remotely and sell skills to the world. This perspective created hundreds of thousands of jobs and produced companies like Andela, ALX and Moringa School.
Now AI is changing the equation. Roughly 84% of developers use AI coding tools and an estimated 41% of code is already being written by AI. Entry-level tech hiring is slowing just as Africa's youth population is surging. Meanwhile, capital is shifting toward harder problems. Deep tech now accounts for 36% of global venture funding, while investment in robotics, chips, energy and advanced manufacturing continues to rise.
Africa is starting to respond. Institutions like Carnegie Mellon University Africa are training engineers, researchers and entrepreneurs capable of building physical technologies, not just software. The model, hopefully, looks less like a coding bootcamp and more like the engineering ecosystems that helped transform Taiwan and India.
Explorations in Africa
The Smoke That Thunders
Source: Africa Geographic
Many have been to Victoria Falls. But this article (and the photos) caught my attention because it captures what’s so geographically incredible about Vic Falls: one river, the Zambezi, carving through a fractured basalt plateau to create the largest continuous curtain of falling water on Earth.
The Falls are known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya — "The Smoke That Thunders." It's a reminder that long before Africa's geography appeared in guidebooks, maps and investment memos, it was already shaping cultures, languages and stories.
Why it matters: Africa is home to some of the planet's most extraordinary geographic features: the Sahara, the Nile, the Congo Basin, the Great Rift Valley and Victoria Falls, among them. It's always worth remembering that the continent's landscapes remain one of its greatest sources of wonder. Read and see more (though it’s a bit salesy): Africa Geographic.
Thanks for reading. If you like (or need) reports for your work, you should check our growing compendium of reports that provide the context for The Africa Brief. As always, email us at [email protected].
