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A Body in Motion

A Body in Motion

January 01, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Good Morning, Chop Family!

Welcome to the New Year - 2026. Make it yours, don’t wait for things to happen to you, make them happen yourself! Be light. Be prosperous!

📈 Around Africa -

Some of our favourite images from New Year’s in Africa - see below

Fireworks over the Great Pyramids

Fireworks Durban Beach

MARKET MOVES

BUSINESS

🏢 Kenya Launches First Dollar-Denominated “Green” REIT

Kenya is breaking new ground with a Sh4.8 billion (≈ $37 m) Green, USD-denominated Income REIT (I-REIT) designed for dollar-yield investors [basically this means you can buy shares in companies that buy and sell real estate, and you can use USD.], a first for the nation and a smart hedging play for locals and foreigners alike.

The fund will buy and manage environmentally certified commercial towers in Nairobi’s Two Rivers Special Economic Zone, with leases priced in hard currency and structured for annual escalations. Regulatory approval is expected ahead of a January 2026 public listing.

👉 Daily Chop take: This is kinda big, it’s a new asset class for Africa’s capital markets: dollar stability + green credentials + recurring income. Expect institutional interest first, but if retail access opens up, this could jumpstart hard-currency real estate investing across East Africa.

Macro Snapshots

Africa’s GDP growth is expected to average ~3.8–4.2% through 2025 — above many global peers — supported by young demographics and increasing connectivity.

REAL ESTATE

🏙️ Africa Real Estate Festival (AREF) 2026 Preview

The Africa Real Estate Festival (AREF), an emerging hub where property, culture, tech, and capital intersect, is gearing up for its 2026 edition in Accra. Expected to draw 1,500+ delegates and 100+ exhibitors from 30+ countries, the festival is a magnet for investors, policymakers, and real estate innovators.

👉 Daily Chop take: Real estate in Africa is more than buidlings and apartments, it’s proptech + sustainability + community design. Events like AREF can drive cross-sector investment and help mainstream AI/tech into how cities grow.

TECH

🚀 African SaaS/Fintech Funding Surge Continues

Capital is flowing into African tech like never before, especially SaaS and fintech. Venture interest surged this year, with reports showing 78%+ year-on-year funding growth and a whopping 430% jump in SaaS deal activity in September alone. Infrastructure plays — like Equinix’s new **$22 m data centre in Lagos — are underpinning the boom too.

👉 Daily Chop take: It’s no longer “emerging market hype.” Africa’s tech stack is maturing: connectivity + cloud + digital platforms are finally coalescing into scalable business models that investors actually understand and want to back.

SMALL CHOP

Prayers up for Anthony Joshua, who is recovering from a tragic car accident that left two of his closest friends dead. They were in Nigeria celebrating after Joshua’s recent victory over Jake Paul.

The car they were in crashed into a parked truck on the side of the road in Lagos. The two men died instantly at the scene, and Joshua was seen being carried off by passersby.

This tragedy exposed the lack of emergency response in Nigeria, and the lack of any basic road safety, including signage, ligting, speed limits, etc.

DISH OF THE DAY

With all the food from Christmas and New Year’s, we are not hungry again…

Did You Know? many Amazigh (Berber) communities in Morocco and Algeria celebrate their own New Year, Yennayer, around 12–14 January with big couscous feasts (often “seven-vegetable” couscous) and music, marking both cultural pride and hopes for prosperity in the new agricultural cycle?

Till next time,

Chop Team