Remittances are vital financial resources for Africa, surpassing Official Development Assistance and Foreign Direct Investment. However, the exorbitant transfer costs hamper their potential. This op-ed highlights solutions to address these challenges, including fostering competition, developing remittance ecosystems, and promoting mobile money transfers to maximize the impact of remittances, empowering African families and accelerating the…
The eighth Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development (GFRID) summit provided policy guidance on leveraging remittances and diaspora finance to drive Africa's sustainable development. The Summit highlighted additional work is needed to maximize the developmental potential of remittances and diaspora finance toward achieving the three per cent objective in Sustainable Development Goals target 10.c
Chafi Sani Laoualiis is a 32-year-old entrepreneur from Niger whose company, IPREN, provides solutions to key socio-economic issues impacting African rural communities by leveraging renewable energy. IPREN harnesses solar energy to provide electricity for schoolchildren, strengthen cold storage chains to increase food security and make smart irrigation accessible to underprivileged women, boosting their livelihoods.
Ruth Mtuwa, a young engineer, drone pilot, and entrepreneur from Malawi, who is encouraging young people, particularly girls, in leveraging STEM education to develop products and solutions "Made in Africa" to boost development. Ruth’s company seeks to produce actionable intelligence and collaborate with innovators to move beyond data and build customized solutions to challenges affecting people’s lives.
In today’s interconnected world, shots fired in one corner of the globe create ripple effects in other, seemingly far, places. One year since the 24 February Russian invasion of Ukraine, African countries, although physically miles away, have not been spared its aftershocks. As the world reflects on the various shocks created by the year-long conflict, Africans must grapple with the short-term inadvertent threats to their economies, food systems…
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted structural inequalities in the global economy while exposing vulnerabilities on the African continent, including pervasive illicit financial flows (IFFs) depriving countries of resources that could go toward financing their development. To end this financial haemorrhage, a global framework against IFFs must be established.
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