BUSINESS - The African Mirror

Jul

06

2026

Ford SA boss sounds alarm: cheap imports, Chinese cars are hollowing out the country’s industrial base

BUSINESS

NEALE Hill, President of Ford Motor Company Africa and Managing Director of Ford South Africa, has issued one of the automotive industry's starkest warnings yet - telling government and business that South Africa risks following Australia into total de-industrialisation unless urgent action is taken to level the playing field against a flood of low-cost Chinese and Indian imports. Hill said South Africa's automotive manufacturing sector - the single largest contributor to the country's export economy and a cornerstone of its industrial identity - is at a crossroads, and could collapse entirely if the government does not move with urgency to…

Jul

06

2026

By LERATO MATHEKA, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Stitching Lesotho into the Global Economy

BUSINESS

EVERY Wednesday morning at precisely 7:00, the Ministry of Trade and Industries' boardroom doors closed. Anyone arriving late stayed outside. There were no lengthy speeches or bureaucratic excuses. Around the table sat the minister of trade, permanent secretary, directors, utility executives, immigration officials, bankers, factory owners and trade union representatives. For one hour every week, politics gave way to problem-solving with every discussion centred on one question: What was preventing Lesotho's factories from growing? "There was one rule," recalls former Trade Minister Mpho Malie. "Once the meeting started, nobody was allowed in because they would disrupt us. That boardroom was…

Jul

02

2026

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Africa is building the systems that make climate capital move

BUSINESS

AFRICA'S next race for climate finance is increasingly being shaped not by the size of countries' renewable resources but by the strength of the institutions that can turn those resources into investable opportunities. A growing body of evidence suggests that trust, built through credible policies, project preparation, risk-sharing mechanisms, and transparent markets, is becoming one of the continent's most valuable climate assets. "Trust is the currency that will fund this future. Trust in people. Trust in markets. Trust in outcomes. Trust in impact." That observation by Africa's Green Economy Summit (AGES) chairman Iain Banner captures a shift emerging across African…

Jul

01

2026

By The African Mirror

Angola just took a decisive step to turn AfCFTA from paper promise into business reality

BUSINESS

ANGOLA has validated a National AfCFTA Strategy and Action Plan, signalling a shift from commodity dependence toward a trade‑led industrialisation push. The move maps out how Luanda intends to tap a single African market of more than a billion consumers to build regional value chains, scale domestic firms and broaden economic opportunity for women and youth. Why this matters now Scale on the doorstep: AfCFTA gives Angolan producers closer markets and lower transport costs than distant export routes. That matters for manufacturers, agriprocessors and input suppliers seeking faster growth. Industrialisation by trade: The strategy ties trade liberalisation to capacity building…

Jun

18

2026

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Nigeria’s US$1 billion AfCFTA credit push tests if Africa’s trade finance gap can be eased

BUSINESS

NIGERIA is shifting its AfCFTA strategy from trade participation to trade financing, unveiling a US$1 billion credit facility aimed at expanding the capacity of firms to produce and export across African markets. The move reflects a broader attempt to address a constraint repeatedly identified by development finance institutions: access to capital remains central to whether African firms can actually trade under the continental free trade framework. “The AfCFTA remains one of the most significant economic integration projects in our continent’s history,” Nigeria’s minister of industry, trade, and investment, Jumoke Oduwole, said during a meeting of the AfCFTA Central Coordination Committee.…

Jun

18

2026

By JONATHAN MUNEMO

When global trade becomes a weapon, how can African economies protect themselves?

BUSINESS

“TODAY, everyone recognises that trade is as much a security issue as an economic one.” European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde made this comment in February 2026, while addressing the Munich Security Conference. Although she was speaking about Europe, her words matter profoundly for Africa. The continent’s 54 economies face a three-way tension that has no easy resolution. Firstly, they must stay integrated enough with the world economy to grow. Secondly, they must pull back enough to protect themselves economically against the deliberate weaponisation of external dependencies. Weaponised interdependence is the use of a country’s position within global economic and…

Jun

13

2026

By TAIWO HASSAN ODUGBEMI

Nigeria raised electricity prices to improve supply. Why it hasn’t worked

BUSINESS

NIGERIA’S electricity regulator triggered a big tariff shock in April 2024. It increased rates for some consumers by over 240%, citing the cost of producing and delivering power. The regulator classifies consumers into five bands, A through E, based on how many hours of power their local distribution feeder receives each day. Band A gets 20 hours or more and Band E just 4-7 hours. The tariff changes primarily affect Band A customers. Their tariff rose from ₦67 to ₦225 (US$0.049 to US$0.16) per kilowatt-hour. The public backlash was immediate and fierce. Labour unions protested nationwide and picketed the offices…

Jun

13

2026

By JUSTIN VISAGIE

South Africa’s jobs crisis: what 10 years of tax data tells us

BUSINESS

IT'S time South Africa faced up to an honest question: what if the formal economy can’t deliver the jobs that are needed? I am an economist who has been working closely with South Africa’s administrative tax data over the past five years – arguably the best way to track progress in the formal sector. The sobering reality is that the country has gone backwards. And young people are bearing the brunt of the deterioration. The scale of the jobs crisis is now so large that even decades of strong economic growth won’t be enough to eliminate it. Looking at the…

Jun

11

2026

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

African electricity systems are opening to private capital as utility dominance eases

BUSINESS

AFRICAN electricity systems are shifting away from vertically integrated utility monopolies toward hybrid structures where private capital increasingly finances generation, storage, transmission, and distributed energy systems. This is changing how electricity is produced, financed, and delivered across multiple African markets. According to Mark Odur, Group CEO of Solarity Africa, “Blended finance is no longer a nice option at the edges of a deal… it is the baseline assumption.” “The demand signal has changed. The primary driver is reliability. The grid is not delivering.” His assessment reflects a broader recalibration in how electricity investment decisions are being made across the continent.…

Jun

10

2026

By PENDA THIAM, BIRD STORY AGENCY

How a poultry loss led to a digital management tool

BUSINESS

BEFORE setting foot on her poultry farm, Mengué Diouf already knows how her birds are doing. From her phone, she can check each morning whether the farm's workers have arrived on time, whether feeding schedules were followed, and whether anything unusual occurred overnight. What began as an attempt to stop the heavy losses threatening her own poultry business has evolved into SEDAP'Tech, a digital management platform that is helping farmers across Senegal oversee their operations, track production data and respond more quickly to problems that can wipe out an entire flock. The idea grew out of Diouf's lived experience rather…