Digital Transformation OP-ED - Whose (fintech) rails are these anyway? Notes from a Hong Kong week of trams, card taps and blueberries A candid dispatch that takes stock of the everyday fintech infrastructure behind Hong Kong's digital transformation, with flags worth minding as (South) Africa builds its own rails.
Digital Transformation OP-ED - China's courts already lean on AI. The lawyers are next. A Suits actor is selling a tool upending a profession built on privileged access and scarce expertise. Law is starting to look like the early case rather than the exception.
Artificial Intelligence OP-ED - The space race is a vanity dash. The vault is the prize. A Chinese open-source model wiped a percentage point off the S&P 500. Three weeks earlier, the world's largest hedge fund beat every frontier model it tested with a fine-tuned Alibaba base and its own expert-labelled data. African banks and telcos should take notes.
Fintech POD - April Long on why chasing 'impact' almost killed her fintech whilst bulk traders quietly transformed Africa-China trade Pyxis (rebranded Waka) CEO April Long reveals how her obsession with serving SMEs blinded her to the aggregators actually moving $286 billion in trade - and why accepting this reality saved her venture.
Market Intelligence OP-ED - Who controls the narrative? First-party data, truth and power in Africa’s digital economy As powerful actors spin persuasive stories, the challenge is documenting reality with first-party evidence, resisting myths, and shaping narratives that serve more than self-interest.
Fintech OP-ED - The education of April Long: a Chinese entrepreneur's humbling lessons building for Africa's $286 billion trade gap After a decade in East Africa, fintech founder April Long reflects on the tough pivots, misread assumptions, and modest wins behind building Pyxis (rebranded Waka) for Africa-China trade.
Market Intelligence OP-ED - How routine township shopping in South Africa now buys you 'invisible' funeral cover through embedded insurance SAG Ventures’ Purchase Pal, underwritten by Sanlam, tucks funeral insurance into everyday grocery purchases. No forms, no intermediaries, no premiums. Prince Nwadeyi shows what happens when deep consumer research drives product design.
Digital Transformation OP-ED - Can fibre optic manufacturing joint ventures like YOA Cable drive Africa’s next industrial wave? Pieter E. Viljoen, a physicist-turned-optic cable manufacturing boss, is betting that rethinking fibre from first principles could help restart Africa’s stalled industrial ambitions.
Artificial Intelligence OP-ED - Decoding DeepSeek: will China’s lean AI model alter global information flows? Andile Masuku takes stock of the rapid evolution of global AI innovation, exploring its far-reaching implications for journalism, the creative industries, and the legal landscape.
