The editorial board of Financial Times published an op-ed yesterday announcing a new commodities supercycle. They argued that the global pivot towards climate-friendlier technologies like electric vehicles is pushing demand for metals like cobalt, lithium and palladium (used in catalytic converters.) In addition, the Biden administration’s new commitments to building infrastructure at home (and possibly abroad) will further boost demand for steel, with iron ore futures hitting record prices in Singapore this week.Where FT ...
Category: Technology
South African Telco CEO Ralph Mupita is Looking to China For Both Ideas and Cash
Ralph Mupita, head of the largest pan-African telecom group MTN, wants his South Africa-based telco to draw inspiration and attract more investment from China. On the investment side, Mupita recently partnered with the Chinese state-back Silk Road Fund that funnels ...
Shenzhen-Based Transsion Targets South African Youth Market With New Low-Priced Offering
The Chinese-owned African mobile phone giant Transsion is targeting South Africa's youth market with the launch of the Vision1 Pro smartphone from its Itel brand -- a 6.5-inch waterproof device that costs around $120. Although Transsion's suite of brands dominates the ...
Lots of Concern This Weekend That Debris From an Out of Control Chinese Rocket Was Going to Land in Africa
There was palpable anxiety across a number of African countries this weekend that pieces of a Chinese rocket that hurtled back to earth were going to land somewhere in their countries. Newspapers in Ghana, Nigeria and Namibia, among others, fretted about the prospect of falling rocket shrapnel. ...
This Tweet Shows Why the U.S. Effort to Dislodge Huawei in Africa is Just Not Going to Work
Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama posted a tweet on Wednesday that showcased the depth of Huawei's ties in Africa's largest market and why it is going to be extremely difficult for the United States to get Nigeria or other African countries to abandon the Chinese ...
Tech Digest: How Chinese, Kenyan, and Swedish Music Streaming Apps Are All Battling Out in Africa
2021 has been a big year for music streaming in Africa. Global streaming giants are flocking to the African market with Swedish music streaming provider Spotify announcing a sweeping expansion to 40 new countries on the continent. As Spotify attempts to expand its reach in Africa, ...
The U.S. Congress Wants to Know More About What the Chinese Are Doing in Africa
In a rare display of bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 21-1 on Wednesday to move a bill designed to counter China's growing influence around the world. Next, the "Strategic Competition Act of 2021" will go to the full Senate ...
China’s Tecno Knocks Off Samsung to Become Africa’s #1 Smartphone
Tecno, for the first time, edged out Samsung to become the top smartphone brand in Africa in 2020 thanks to a steady stream of new, affordable devices backed with robust marketing budgets, according to the latest data from Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor service.
EIU Maps Out China’s Rapidly Expanding Digital Engagement in Africa
The Economist Intelligence Unit published a special report on China-Africa relations last month that includes a number of compelling visuals that showcase the breadth of Chinese engagement on the continent. In this instance, regarding China's digital footprint in ...
Deals, Deals & More Deals. China’s Tech Giants Expand in Africa & the Middle East
2021 has been a busy year so far for China's technology giants as they look to expand their international operations and appear to have their sites set on expanding in both the African and Arabian markets. JD, Didi, iQiyi, and Tencent ...
E-Commerce Giant JD.com Is the Latest Chinese Tech Company to Expand in the Middle East
China's second-largest e-commerce company, JD.com, is looking to high-end fashion consumers in the Persian Gulf as part of a new expansion in the Middle East. JD signed a partnership agreement with Namshi (photo), the fashion and lifestyle platform owned by Dubai’s ...