According to news reports, the Ghanaian Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovations will “sanction a directive in two weeks” banning the production and importation of non-degradable plastic products.
Like many countries, Ghana’s rapid development has put significant pressure on sanitation management systems in the country’s urban centers. However, the issue became a national…
In remarks delivered over six years ago in Cairo, Egypt, President Obama elevated entrepreneurship on the U.S. engagement agenda and the global agenda more generally. One of the most significant announcements was the creation of a Summit on Entrepreneurship. Each year, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (“GES”) serves as “a global platform connecting emerging…
Next week, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari travels to Washington for a two-day visit, which culminates in an Oval Office meeting with President Obama on July 20. Buhari is expected to travel light — not on luggage, but advisors. Since he has appointed no ministers as of yet, only a handful or two of advisors is…
The expanding middle class has been one of the cornerstones of the “Africa rising” narrative. Discussion of that topic has been particularly lively over the past few weeks. From a private sector perspective, this debate presents an interesting lesson about doing business in Africa’s consumer goods sector.
As an initial matter, it is important to…
Considerable attention has been paid to the recent signing of the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA) which will bind three of Africa’s regional economic communities (RECs) together into one large free trade market of 26 countries, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the continent’s GDP. How significant the Agreement will prove to be lies in…
Over the past few years, Nigeria has reformed its transfer pricing regulations, introduced mechanisms to tackle tax evasion and pursued other revenue enhancing initiatives. With revenue from petroleum taxes at its lowest point in fifteen years, the country is under even more pressure to increase its tax enforcement efforts. At the same time, there…
The election of a new president to head the African Development Bank captured the headlines out of Abidjan last week, but the Annual AfDB Programme and meetings were more than electing Africa’s new leading voice on development and inclusive economic growth. Thousands of people attended this year’s Annual meetings from government, the private sector, and…
After six rounds of voting that saw off seven candidates from across the region, Nigeria’s outgoing Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has been elected to serve as the next president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
From the start, Adesina was one of the leading contenders for the role. During…
The African continent is revolutionizing itself as the place where no infrastructure is no problem. This began in the telecommunications field: Africa lacks a robust system of landlines, which traditionally enable better access to desktop computers, online services, and financial institutions. But the emergence of cellular telephony has allowed individuals across Africa to bypass…
It is a welcome development that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has moved closer to reauthorization. However, much more can and should be done through AGOA to strengthen intellectual property (IP) rights in Africa, particularly in the continent’s creative sectors. Africa’s creative sectors have the potential to be key economic drivers and IP…
