Is climate financing truly helping African businesses grow? This article explores how climate change is reshaping Africa’s business landscape and why access to climate finance is critical for MSMEs and farmers. Drawing on real-world examples from Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Tunisia, it highlights how microfinance institutions like Advans are integrating climate risk into financial products, insurance, and education to build resilience, support recovery from climate shocks, and enable sustainable business growth across the continent.
Category: Business
Business
How African Leadership Principles Helped Me Unmask Fear
In How African Leadership Principles Helped Me Unmask Fear, Christopher O. H. Williams reflects on a defining leadership moment during the COVID-19 crisis as President of African Leadership University. Drawing on African leadership values and real-world executive experience, he explores how fear emerges in high-stakes decisions and how leaders can confront it with clarity, responsibility, and courage. Through a practical five-step framework—naming fear, identifying its source, estimating its likelihood, visualizing success, and understanding the cost of retreat—Williams shows how fear can be transformed from a barrier into a guide for ethical leadership, decision-making under uncertainty, and personal growth.
How Marketing Changed in 2025 and What It Means for Brands
2025 marked a turning point for marketing in South Africa, as shifting consumer behaviour, rapid AI adoption, and evolving digital platforms reshaped how brands connect with audiences. According to Penquin Co-Managing Director Ryan Nofal, the year signaled a move from trend-chasing to results-driven, human-centered marketing. Artificial intelligence became non-negotiable, enabling personalised marketing at scale across South Africa’s multilingual and multicultural market. Short-form video, hyper-local storytelling, and the fast-growing creator economy emerged as dominant channels, while purpose-driven and sustainable branding increasingly influenced purchasing decisions among Millennials and Gen Z. Together, these forces redefined brand strategy in 2025 and set a clear direction for 2026: agile, authentic, and tech-enabled marketing built on real connection.
Digital Economy Expected to Grow 9.5% within the global economy, new DCO Trends 2026 report reveals
The global digital economy is projected to grow by 9.5% in 2026, reaching an estimated USD 28 trillion and accounting for 22% of global GDP, according to the Digital Economy Trends (DET) 2026 report by the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). Launched in Riyadh, the report analyzes insights from over 400 policymakers, economists, and technology leaders across 26 countries, identifying 18 key digital economy trends shaping global innovation. The study highlights end-to-end cybersecurity, ambient intelligence, and converging frontier technologies—including AI, robotics, and spatial computing—as the most impactful forces driving inclusive growth, digital transformation, and economic value creation. DET 2026 also underscores trillions of dollars in potential from AI-driven workforce transformation, immersive technologies, digital trade, and resilient digital infrastructure, offering governments and businesses a data-driven roadmap for navigating the future digital economy.
Southern African and Italian Business Leaders Sign Bold Manifesto to Accelerate Africa’s Next Phase of Growth
Southern African and Italian business leaders have signed a landmark CEO Manifesto aimed at accelerating Africa’s next phase of economic growth. Announced at the 12th TEHA CEO Dialogue in Johannesburg alongside the G20 summit, the agreement brings together over 150 CEOs and policymakers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Italy. The Manifesto outlines ten strategic priorities focused on energy investment, infrastructure development, SME financing, digital transformation, talent mobility, regulatory stability, and women’s economic empowerment. Backed by the African Development Bank Group and The European House – Ambrosetti, the initiative positions the private sector as a driving force behind sustainable, inclusive growth across the continent. This strengthened Italy–Africa partnership aims to unlock Africa’s economic potential through coordinated investment, innovation, and long-term collaboration.
The evolving role of AI in business process outsourcing
The integration of AI into Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has evolved from early excitement about its transformative potential to a more pragmatic approach focused on specific, high-impact use cases. While AI was initially viewed as a potential job disruptor, its role has proven to be an enabler rather than a replacement for human agents. AI’s greatest value in BPO is in automating repetitive, low-value tasks, like after-call summaries, which enhances operational efficiency and improves customer experience. However, the rapid adoption of AI has also revealed challenges, such as data privacy concerns, limitations in large language models (LLMs), and the importance of human oversight. Going forward, successful AI implementation in BPO will require a balance between innovation and caution, with a focus on enhancing human capabilities while addressing ethical and regulatory considerations in data management.
Strauss & Co collaboration with strong results for rare and important art from across East Africa
Strauss & Co’s inaugural collaboration with Nairobi’s Circle Art Agency delivered outstanding results, marking a milestone for East African modern and contemporary art. Rare works by Tanzanian modernists Sam Ntiro and K.F. Msangi led the auction, with Msangi’s Baobab Under the Red Moon (1968) achieving a remarkable KES 3,522,000 (US$27,271). The sale totalled KES 29,666,980 (US$229,727) from 52 lots, boasting an 80% sell-through rate and over 70% of lots exceeding high estimates. With strong participation from 19 countries and nearly half of bidders new to Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, the event highlights the rising global demand for East African art and reinforces the region’s growing secondary market.
Why skills development isn’t just a numbers game
South Africa’s unemployment crisis cannot be solved by skills development alone. As Jessica Hawkey of redAcademy explains, real impact requires creating sustainable, long-term jobs, aligning training with actual industry demand, and building pathways that lead young people into meaningful work—especially in the tech sector where theoretical training falls short. Only by linking skills, employment opportunities, and business value can South Africa drive lasting economic change.
Developing, Promoting and Measuring SEO-Driven Articles for PR — with a Focus on Africa
This article explores how to develop, promote, and measure the effectiveness of SEO-driven articles that also serve public relations (PR) goals. It outlines practical steps for keyword research, content creation, technical optimisation, promotion, and performance tracking, with a special focus on Africa, where localisation, mobile-first design, language diversity, and cultural context are key.
Why investing in your people is a crucial step to improving customer service
In today’s fast-evolving customer service landscape, balancing technology with human capability is key to achieving exceptional customer experience (CX). As AI and automation take over repetitive tasks, human service agents must develop both technical and emotional skills to handle complex, empathy-driven interactions. Investing in employee training, emotional intelligence (EQ), and communication channel mastery empowers teams to deliver superior, personalized service. Businesses that prioritize people development not only improve resolution times and customer loyalty but also boost employee engagement and retention. Ultimately, the most successful customer-centric organizations are those that combine digital efficiency with genuine human connection.