Africa

1. World Cup 2030
2. The Traveller
3. Nairobi’s park
4. Bamboo architecture

Also, the link between Chinese demand for rosewood and African deforestation.

Hello! Welcome to Semafor Africa’s weekend edition. I’ve been mulling over the furor with whether or not Netflix is exiting Nigeria. The company has said it isn’t leaving and is still investing in Nigeria, but three different producers I spoke with have learned that the streaming giant is cutting back on investing in original shows and movies. The underlying issue is economic with the country’s currency devaluation and runaway inflation, which impacts everything from production budgets to sclerotic growth in subscriber numbers. Then there’s the point that several of Netflix’s early big bets on original productions haven’t paid off, according to these producers.

And it does feel to be Nigeria-specific rather than about Africa. I’m writing from Johannesburg, where Netflix seems to be “fully moving forward” as producer Enyi Omeruah told me. In fact a current Netflix job ad for a content strategist for Europe, Middle East, and Africa specifically calls for South African entertainment knowledge.

But the influence of Nollywood and the Nigerian market won’t go away forever. “These things tend to be cyclical,” said Arese Ugwu, a filmmaker whose Smart Money Women series ran on Netflix in 2021. “I’m sure they’ll review as things improve.”

Have you followed us on WhatsApp yet? What are you waiting for?

Getting set for World Cup 2030

Or $687 million. The amount the African Development Bank said it’ll lend to Morocco to support the North African country’s infrastructure for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The financing will help improve Morocco’s rail and airport systems, as well as building a new state-of-the-art stadium in Benslimane, near Casablanca, and upgrading six stadiums, according to government plans. Morocco will co-host the 2030 World Cup, alongside Spain and Portugal, becoming only the second African nation to host the tournament after South Africa in 2010.

Branding Africa

Thebe Ikalafeng is the founder of Johannesburg-based Brand Africa which is best known for its annual Top 100 Most admired African brands index. His new book, ‘The Traveller: Crossing borders and connecting Africa,’ is part biography, part-travelogue, and offers insight into the corporate life of some of Africa’s top brands.

💡 What’s the central theme of the book?

It’s the significance of crossing African borders to highlight shared experiences and unity rather than division. I emphasize the importance of authentic African storytelling. Having been to every country on the continent, and over 120 countries in the world, I have crossed a lot of borders, but the borders that have been more significant for me have been the African borders.

💡 Does Africa have a brand narrative problem?

As a result of negative coverage, Africa pays an additional £3.2 billion ($4.1 billion) for interest on their sovereign debt. We need to make sure we have an authentic narrative about our continent.

💡What’s the link between stronger African brands and economic prosperity?

On average, only 20% of the brands Africans admire in Africa are made in Africa which means there’s an 80% reliance on non-African brands. You can’t have prosperity if you are importing 80% of your ideas and exporting 80% of your resources.

— Yinka

The fight for Nairobi’s green space

A fight is brewing over a plan to lease parts of Nairobi’s largest park to private developers under public-private partnership agreements.

Nairobi county government said its plan for Uhuru Park would generate revenue, create jobs, and improve the experience of parkgoers.

Environmental groups, elected officials, and residents have voiced opposition to the proposal, arguing that it could set the stage for grabbing of public land and deny city residents access to green spaces. Earlier this year, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja revealed plans for the commercialization of the park, including construction of a night club.

“What we’re seeing lately is a desire to make [Uhuru Park] more of a business hub,” environmental activist Kamau Maina told Semafor Africa.

The Green Belt movement activist group, in a statement, said it “will not watch” as authorities “privatize the only remaining green spaces in Nairobi.”

— Martin K.N. Siele in Nairobi

Build back better with bamboo

A bamboo display in Lagos aims to highlight the material’s status as a historic pillar of architecture and a necessary medium for future sustainable building.

The installation, unveiled last month by Lagos-based architecture firm HTL Africa, constructs a pavilion out of a network of bamboo scaffolds. It honors bamboo as “a renewable material, easy to be sourced locally and sturdy yet flexible enough to be the primary element” in multidimensional building, said James Inedu-George, founder of HTL Africa.

The display debuted at Ecobank’s Build and Design Expo and will be preserved as an outdoor reading room, HTL Africa said. Inedu-George doesn’t claim to be pushing for a reinvention of real estate development. But his bamboo tower “is scalable,” he said. “We are yet to see how grand it can get, but we will be happy to research and experiment until we know this,” he told Semafor Africa.

Alexander Onukwue in Lagos

Weekend Reads

🇲🇿 The demand for rosewood furniture in China is driving deforestation and fueling deadly terrorist attacks in Africa. Adam Rousselle writes in The Diplomat that Chinese smuggling rings from Mozambique — China’s top rosewood supplier — to West African nations including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, have supported insurgent groups by providing access to advanced weapons made by Chinese defense contractors.

🇷🇺 Russia’s government is using a group of organizations to spread pro-Kremlin propaganda in Africa and tarnish the image of Western nations, writes Rachel Chason for The Washington Post. Chason follows the activities of African Initiative, an organization linked to Moscow, which boosts Moscow’s image by sponsoring activities such as Russian martial arts competitions and school programs in Burkina Faso.

🇳🇬 For ArchDaily, Nour Fakharany explores the philosophy behind the work of celebrated Nigerian architect Tosin Oshinowo. Fakharany notes that Oshinowo’s projects center local cultural and environmental contexts to challenge “narrow definitions of African architecture.”

🇲🇦 🇬🇧 Morocco’s sunshine and healthy wind speeds could help Britain’s government achieve its goal of creating a clean energy system by the end of the decade and meet its new ambition to cut carbon emissions by 81% by 2035, according to The Guardian. But that depends on the viability of plans to source up to 8% of Britain’s electricity from renewable energy and battery projects in Morocco’s Tantan province. A 4,000-kilometer cable, to be constructed for about £100 million ($127.5 million), would carry the electricity from Morocco to Britain.

🗓️ Week Ahead

Dec. 9 — The 23rd International Economic Forum on Africa 2024 will take place in Paris. It will cover how better education and training can increase Africa’s productivity.

Dec. 9-12 — South Africa will host the first Sherpas, finance deputies and central bank governors meetings of the G20 under its presidency in Johannesburg.

Dec. 10-11 — The 2024 UNESCO Forum on higher education in Africa will take place in Nairobi. It will welcome higher education institutions, young people, skills providers and partners.

Dec. 12 — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will host his Angolan counterpart João Lourenço on a state visit to solidify relations between the two countries who share deep historical ties.

Dec. 15 — Nigeria’s statistics office is expected to release the latest inflation data.

The OPEC+ group of major oil producing countries held off on raising production quotas until at least April, setting up a showdown with President-elect Donald Trump over his plans to boost US drilling, Semafor’s Tim McDonnell wrote.

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