GOOD MORNING CHOP FAMILY!
You will need some hot Rwandan coffee today, since Kigali just wrapped Africa's biggest business summit of the year, and the real test starts now.
The DRC walked onto the global bond market, asked for $750 million, and left with $1.25 billion and $5 billion in demand.
Africa's ports are suddenly the world's busiest detour.
Ghana is back. And MTN just told 312 million people their data bill is still going up. All of it, below.
TRENDING TOPICS
Ebola is back in the news, and whenever it surfaces, it dominates the global media coverage about Africa. But there is a lot more going on than just Ebola. Either way, the WHO has declared a global health emergency. The recent outbreak hit the Congo and parts of Uganda. There have been over 300 reported cases and almost 90 deaths.
African Proverb of the Day
Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.
— West African Proverb
MARKET MOVES
BUSINESS
Kigali Just Wrapped. Now Comes the Hard Part.
Paul Kagame
The Africa CEO Forum 2026 closed in Kigali on May 15 after two days and 2,800 participants from 77 countries. Kagame opened with a message stripped of the usual summit niceties: Africa needs to stop endlessly analyzing global crises and start acting together. That hit differently than the standard aspirational opener because he said it in his own house.
The deals were real. Rwanda signed energy and infrastructure agreements with Egypt's Elsewedy Electric, covering smart meters, EV chargers, and power transformers, plus a technical university, a logistics hub, and expansion of the Kigali Special Economic Zone.
“The forum called itself a transaction platform, not a conference. The difference shows up in whether these agreements have names, timelines, and someone accountable for delivery.”
A separate €30 million financing agreement with Italy's Cassa Depositi e Prestiti came through for the Development Bank of Rwanda. Presidents Tinubu, Ruto, and Kagame in the same room doing business is its own form of deal architecture.
The Africa CEO Forum has earned criticism over the years for producing polished declarations that evaporate after the flights home. Organisers this year built in sector-specific deal rooms and closed-door sessions specifically to address that. Whether it worked is a story that gets written over the next 12 months
FINANCE & MARKETS
The World Rerouted Its Ships Around Africa. The Bill Is Coming Due.
Since the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed in March 2026, every major container carrier, including Maersk, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd has rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope. Houthi attacks resumed on Red Sea shipping in late February, closing that corridor too. For the first time in modern shipping history, both major Middle Eastern maritime routes are down at the same time.
For African ports, this is unexpected revenue. Ships rounding the southern tip of Africa need fuel, anchorage, and bunkering services. South Africa's southern coast ports are now critical pit stops on the world's busiest detour. The Cape route adds 3,500 to 4,000 nautical miles and up to 14 extra sailing days, which tightens global vessel capacity and pushes freight rates across every route, not just the disrupted ones.
African coastline as the world's new shipping corridor was always theoretically possible. It took two simultaneous crises to make it real.
Freight rates have tripled on key lanes. Brent at $109 feeds into fuel prices at the pump. Fertiliser exports from the Gulf, a major input for African agriculture, are also disrupted. The port windfall and the household cost squeeze are happening to the same continent at the same time.
TECH
MTN Has 312 Million Customers. They're All Getting Online.
MTN Group released its Q1 2026 results this week: 312.7 million customers across 19 markets, service revenue up 21.1%, data revenue up 36.1%, fintech revenue up 22.4%, and EBITDA margins expanding to 47.6%. There are now 175.6 million active data users on MTN's network, up 8.7% from a year ago.
Nigeria was the engine: 41.7% service revenue growth in constant currency terms. Ghana grew 35.7%. MTN South Africa, for the first time in this conversation, was the slow one at 0.7% growth, squeezed by competition.
The headline from Johannesburg is the same headline from Nairobi and Lagos this earnings season: data is where Africa's telecoms growth lives. Voice is legacy. The question now is which company builds the most compelling fintech layer on top of 312 million connected people.
MTN's 175 million active data users across 19 African markets is a more interesting infrastructure story than any port or pipeline on the continent right now.
⚡ Quick Bites ⚡
→ Safari Lager Goes Global: Tanzania's Safari Lager just became an official 2026 FIFA World Cup partner. The East African brewing industry is getting a global stage during Africa's biggest tourism marketing moment of the decade. Timing is everything.
→ Pioneer Takes Off: Nigeria's newest airline, Pioneer Airlines (Bayelsa State-owned), just received its Air Operator Certificate. Routes connecting Yenagoa to Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Enugu, Ibadan, and Uyo. Domestic connectivity is where Nigeria's aviation story actually matters.
→ Zimbabwe's Big Promise: ZESA Group CEO told the public this week there will be no electricity load shedding beyond 2026. Zimbabweans have heard this before, but the grid investments of the last two years make it more plausible than it sounds.
🌍 What Else is Cooking?
The Automated Kitchen: A high-end restaurant group in Tokyo has officially integrated autonomous robotic chefs to handle high-precision noodle pulling. It seems the line between culinary art and software engineering is getting thinner by the day.
The Deep-Space Telescope Race: Construction has officially advanced on a massive new array in the Chilean desert designed specifically to map atmospheric composition on exoplanets. We are getting closer to answering the "are we alone?" question.
The "Slow Web" Movement: A growing subculture of global software developers is advocating for "website dieting"—intentionally designing text-only, hyper-minimalist versions of popular websites to slash energy consumption and accommodate slower internet connections.
Dish of the Day 🥘
Kelewele
If you know anything about me, one thing is for sure, and two things for certain. I love plantain! Anyway you mix it up, I will chop. Fried, boiled, grilled, pounded, sweet, ripe, it doesn’t matter.
So when my Ghanaine homey brought me some kelewele, I was ecstatic. Kelewele is ripe plantain cut into cubes, tossed in ginger, pepper, and cloves, then deep fried to perfection. The result is a crispy outside protecting a soft and sweet middle. I devoured the entire bag in seconds.
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