GOOD MORNING CHOP FAMILY!
I don’t know about you, but my group chat has been lit lately. Most of my peeps have been going on about the FIFA announcement, oil prices and the recent U.S. Fed Reserve announcement, oh yea and Tyla getting her a Bratz deal… lets chop.
"A tree that stands through a storm does not boast about its leaves, but its roots."
After a brief pause, the fighting has erupted in the Middle East again. Iran sent some missiles, the U.S. bombed some more targets, ships were targeted in the strait of Hormuz, and you guessed it - oil spiked again.
It’s a frustrating affair, and to think for egos sake, some world leaders are willing to put the world on the brink of economic collapse and or world war 3. Ugh.
MARKET MOVES
BUSINESS
The recent World Cup was success by most measures. Great games, great stories and a new champion. But the buzz right now is that FIFA president Gianni Infantino is looking to sell stakes of a newly formed company - FIFA Forward Enterprise. This entity would control its commercial and event operations at a snappy 20 billion dollar valuation.
Fans around the world and most honorable people smell something foul. Especially when the orchestrators of this scheme are the Kushners - in-laws to Donald Trump.
UEFA (which runs European football) is not happy and they called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and some sources have hinted that they may even boycott the World Cup if this goes through.
Can’t they leave things alone? This seems like a recipe for fraud and influence, and there is already enough of that to go around.
I hope the deal fails, because I want to go to the next games when they come to Morocco.
FINANCE
African nations are getting that investment bag.
Egypt led the continent in raising start up cash a cool $327 million and Nigeria came in second with $214 million, for the first half of 2026.
Nigeria’s numbers, when you peel back the layers, are actually more impressive. This is because the majority of Egypt’s funding came from one investing round, for the EV and battery company SPIRO.
Nigeria had greater deal volume, spreading capital across several start-ups and not on just one big juggernaut.
Kenya and South Africa did not have as good of rounds, and they didn’t even clear over $100 Ms. South Africa led the continent last year in start-up cash.
Ready to get in the game? Where are you going to put your cash? Let us know.
Quick Bites [AI SUMMARY]
→ 🐘 A sad mystery in Amboseli. Kenya Wildlife Service is investigating the deaths of 15 elephants across the Amboseli ecosystem between June 24 and July 24. Ten showed partial paralysis before dying within a day or two, and preliminary tests point to a possible toxin. Most were females and their calves. It's the first mortality event of this scale in the region in decades, and the labs are still working. We'll follow it. (More in a moment, kept brief out of respect.)
→ 🍎 Apple dethroned Nvidia as the world's most valuable company. Apple hit ~$4.95 trillion, edging past Nvidia's ~$4.77T on strong iPhone sales. The kicker: the "Magnificent 7" are up just ~2.6% as a group in 2026, their worst year since 2022, while the S&P sets records without them.
What Else is Cooking? [AI SUMMARY]
Tectonic Shifts: Geologists monitoring sensor networks in East Africa report accelerated tectonic activity along the East African Rift, where the African landmass is slowly fracturing into two separate continental plates over time.
Compliance Overhaul: European trade watchdogs are ramping up safety audits on cross-border e-commerce platforms to protect local manufacturing supply chains from cheap unverified imports.
The Human Washing Machine: Japan unveiled an automated "human washing machine" capsule that cleans, massages, and micro-dries users in 15 minutes, sparking viral interest across global wellness hubs.
Dish of the Day 🥘
Fish Pepper Soup
Rolling through the streets of Lagos, I found a nice food joint that was selling one of my classic Nigerian dishes - Pepper soup. My choice was fish pepper soup today and it was a brothy brew of spices, herbs, fish and a whole lot of goodness - love this stuff. Very spicy!
Hungry for more? If this newsletter was forwarded to you, hit that subscribe button to get the Daily Chop in your inbox every week!
