Balance of Power

Good Morning, Chop Family!

You know that bully that intimidates the entire block and the school hallways? Well, sometimes you have to test him. Stand up to him and punch him out if needed. Don’t worry, I will hold your bookbag when you gather up the courage. Happy Monday!

📈 AROUND THE GLOBE

It seems that China, Russia, Iran, and other regional powers got the message from the United States power moves in Venezuela, so they are taking measures to posture and show some of their own skills.

They recently kicked off a week‑long “Will for Peace 2026” naval drill off South Africa, flying the BRICS Plus flag and officially branding it as a mission to protect shipping lanes and maritime trade.

The exercises, hosted by the South African Navy near Cape Town, bring together warships from the three states plus observers from other BRICS newcomers like Egypt and Ethiopia, and land right in the middle of Donald Trump’s tariff fights and Washington’s complaints that BRICS is turning into an anti‑US club.

At home, South Africa’s opposition is fuming that sailing with Moscow and Tehran torpedoes any claim of neutrality, while the military insists it is just standard joint training and points out it still runs drills with the US too.

BUSINESS

Cash(ew)ing In

Cashew nuts were quietly one of the biggest winners on Nigeria’s AFEX exchange last year, jumping over 30 percent in 2025 while most other ag commodities struggled.

Prices climbed to around ₦1,600 per kilo, driven by steady demand and cashew’s growing appeal as a health snack and plant-based staple. In a rough year for commodities, cashew traders were one of the few smiling.

Who really runs the cashew game:
• Côte d’Ivoire – The undisputed king. Largest producer globally and still scaling up local processing.
• India – Grows plenty, but more importantly, dominates global cashew processing and exports.
• Vietnam – A processing powerhouse, importing raw nuts from Africa and shipping kernels worldwide.
• Nigeria – One of Africa’s biggest growers, but still exporting mostly raw nuts instead of finished products.
• Tanzania & Benin – Smaller players globally, but key suppliers in the African cashew belt.

IMF Game

Zambia is ditching the “one‑more‑year” IMF extension and going straight for a brand‑new programme, signalling it wants a fresh anchor rather than limping along on the old bailout.

The current IMF deal, launched in 2022 to stabilise the post‑default mess, will wrap after its final review this month, and Lusaka says it will stick to the 2026 budget and keep reforms on track while it negotiates the successor arrangement.

Markets will read this as: Zambia isn’t breaking up with the Fund, but the real test is how fast it can lock in the new deal before big 2026 refinancing pressures bite.

FINANCE

Ghana and Singapore are building a kind of “internet for money,” pitching Africa’s first “Finternet” as digital plumbing that links government, communities, and businesses on one rail for payments, credit, and insurance.

The joint venture between Ghana’s District Assemblies Common Fund and Singapore’s Embed Financial Group will start in Ghana’s districts, using green data centres, embedded micro‑insurance, and programmable payments to tighten how local funds are managed and push financial services deeper into rural SMEs and households.

It’s basically South–South fintech diplomacy: Singapore exports its digital finance playbook, Ghana gets infrastructure to back its decentralisation agenda, and both sell it as a template for inclusive finance across the continent.

TECH

African AI

Liberia just put a flag down in the AI big leagues: homegrown startup Surna has cracked the semifinals of Harvard’s President’s Innovation Challenge with a pitch built around “sovereign AI” instead of yet another consumer app.

Led by a Liberian data science student at Harvard, the company wants African governments to run their own national clouds and AI models on local or friendly infrastructure, so state data does not live and train Big Tech’s models for free.

If it works, Monrovia becomes a proof‑of‑concept that African states can be AI landlords, not digital tenants renting server space from Silicon Valley.

SMALL CHOP

Recent AFCON action has set up a heavyweight finish: Egypt knocked out defending champions Ivory Coast 3–2 in a thriller, while Morocco, Nigeria, and Senegal all won their quarterfinals to book spots in the last four.

Egypt now faces Senegal, and Morocco meets Nigeria in two blockbuster semifinals that will decide the finalists for Rabat.

Bracket-style view of the remaining games:

• Semifinal 1: Senegal vs Egypt – January 14, Tangier

• Semifinal 2: Morocco vs Nigeria – January 14, Rabat

• Third-place match: Loser SF1 vs Loser SF2 – January 17, Casablanca

• Final: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 – January 18, Rabat

DISH OF THE DAY

Dumboy. No, we aren’t talking about you, but the national dish of Liberia. Since we were in Liberia, checking out the good things that the SURNA AI team is doing, we took time to get some local food.

We heard the term Dumboy, and at first we were offended, but we quickly understood what it was and how it tasted.

Dumboy is the national dish of Liberia and is essentially it is Liberian Fufu made with cassava and sometimes plantain. It’s pounded into a mound and paired with spicy stews and soups. We know what to do.

Till next time,

Chop Team