Africa

How African e-commerce is evolving

Social media, rather than dedicated e-commerce websites or apps, have become the leading online sales channel for independent retailers who answered a survey for Anka, the multichannel e-commerce platform for African businesses. And with WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram dominating the continent, Meta (which owns all three) has some 80% market share today. Overall, social media accounts for 43.6% as the largest point of sale for retailers, with ‘a physical shop’ coming a distant second at 20.9%.

Anka, which means “ours” in the Bambara language of Mali, offers a suite of services for independent African retailers on the continent and around the world, many of whom are women. It describes itself as both a “Paypal and Shopify” of Africa and helps aggregate shipping services to reduce costs. It said it has more than 20,000 sellers in 100 countries including 45 African countries as of the second quarter.

France has Anka’s highest number of online shops with over 4,000, while Nigeria is second with 3,549. But Nigeria has the highest seller average annual volume in the top 10 countries coming in at over $11,000 — more than three times the next country, Ghana. Anka partly explains the disparity by the split between countries with predominantly full-time entrepreneurs versus part-time. The former have a stronger interest in exporting and have a strong use of social media which is said to help.

Anka points out that the average seller on its platform earns around $185 which it acknowledges may not seem like a lot for a designer living in Paris. “But for a designer living in Africa, where a third of the population is in the middle class, it is a considerable gain.”

Kenya’s unusual lawyer problem

NAIROBI — Judicial systems across the continent face numerous challenges. Many, like their countries, are still relatively young and have been through various upheavals as governments and leaders have switched between democracy and authoritarianism and back to democracy.

But in Kenya the judicial system has had a different kind of legal problem: the fake kind. The entire country has been fascinated by the story of Brian Mwenda, who had in recent months become something of a social media sensation here and around the world for his legal feats. Mwenda went viral with claims he won all 26 of his court cases as a young lawyer, had represented clients in major high-profile cases and was even a participant in Kenya’s Law Society meetings.

There was just one problem: he isn’t a qualified lawyer; not even close.

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) came out to clarify that the reports of Mwenda’s perfect record were false, and vowed to bring him to justice. “There is no factual basis to support the misleading claims,” shared LSK President Eric Theuri on X, further stating that the case against Mwenda would be “a deterrent for future masqueraders.”

The situation, which continues to dominate discourse in Kenya, has led to LSK initiating an operation to take down more individuals operating as lawyers in Kenya without credentials — and more ‘lawyers’ are already getting nabbed.

— Martin K.N Siele

Michopo is a classic street food in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. These succulent, grilled morsels of goat meat cater to the fast-paced rhythms of commuters, both in the bustling morning rush and the evening exodus from the central business district. For as little as 2 kwacha (10 cents).

While there are some hygiene concerns with how the meat is prepared and sold, the delicacy is still always widely available within the Lusaka city council area because the demand remains high with a wider range of clientele for the vendors. From sharply dressed junior bankers to hurried students en route to exams, Michopo transcends social boundaries, uniting a diverse array of people in the simple joys of its flavors.

— Zanji Sinkala in Lusaka, Zambia

🇰🇪 A World Bank internal investigative unit unearthed reports of sexual assault at a Bridge International school in Kenya in 2020 and helped cover it up, according to a report from The Intercept. The bank’s investigators also heard concerns from parents, teachers, and local civil society groups that there had been little accountability on the school’s part. In response to the allegations, reporters Ryan Grim and Neha Wadekar learned that World Bank officials colluded with Bridge schools’ founders to draft a far-reaching nondisclosure agreement that would limit the World Bank’s ability to speak publicly about what it knew, as the revelations would “spook investors” and undermine Bridge’s expansion plans in Rwanda. Bridge International schools have also been controversial in Liberia and Uganda (pictured).

🌍 African countries need to reorient their economies towards job-intensive economic growth as opposed to low productivity agriculture or job-scarce extractive industries if they want to counter the negative per capita growth their economies have undergone since 2015. Ken Opalo, an associate professor at Georgetown University, writes that with numerous African countries in debt distress partly owing to rising interest rates, the downward trend will continue without significant changes.

🇰🇪 Models recruited from a refugee camp in Kenya return home from Europe with no financial fortunes and laden with debt, a Times of London investigation reveals. Modeling agencies sourcing talent from the Kakuma Refugee Camp — jointly run by the Kenyan government and the United Nations — insisted they were giving refugees a better chance to make it in Europe. But the models, many from war torn countries in East and Central Africa, said they had been left in worse situations, raising questions about the credibility of the recruiters and employers in Europe.

🇳🇬 Nigeria is implementing new laws to ensure locals benefit from the billion-dollar global lithium market, after the discovery of lithium deposits currently being mined in Nassarawa, Kogi, Kwara, Ekiti, and Cross River states. The solid minerals minister told Deutsche Welle that the government would ensure companies mining raw materials would set up processing and refining plants in Nigeria, as part of revamping the sector that contributes less than 1% to the country’s GDP.

🗓️ Nigeria’s former minister of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, will challenge the seizure of assets by the country’s anti-graft body in court. The agency said it recovered assets worth $153 million from Madueke. (Oct. 23)

🗓️ Nigeria’s Supreme Court will hear an opposition challenge to the disputed February presidential election won by Bola Tinubu. A tribunal last month rejected challenges by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, who polled second and third respectively. (Oct. 23)

🗓️ The Climate Chance Summit Africa 2023 will bring together 600 African actors from the climate community at the Institut Français in Yaoundé, Cameroon. (Oct. 23-24)

🗓️ Lagos Fashion Week kicks off with its mix of designers, fashion distributors, and after-show parties. (Oct. 25-29)

🗓️ The Africa Air Force Forum, hosted by the Senegalese Air Force, will take place in Dakar, Senegal. (Oct 25-26)

🗓️ The African Development Bank, in conjunction with the University of Johannesburg, will host the inaugural Innovate Africa Symposium focused on data innovation and associated technologies. (Oct. 25-27)

• The newest batch of well-monied think tanks trying to influence policy in D.C. has made preventing an AI apocalypse one of its top priorities.
• A crackdown on greenwashing is coming. Top officials in both the U.K. and Australia separately told Semafor that they were readying new legal frameworks and punishments for companies found guilty.
• A fake fight over Gaza refugees shows how the Republican Party has changed since 2016.
• Six months after a panic that killed four of them and threatened others, regional banks still aren’t in the clear — and their problems are coming for giant lenders.

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— Yinka, Alexis Akwagyiram, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, and Muchira Gachenge