Africa’s exposure to global disruptions is closely tied to its reliance on imports and limited intra-continental trade, Kuagbedzi said, arguing that recent crises have underscored the urgency of reducing that dependence.

“Well, I think that we have to deepen African trade,” he said, referencing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which was created to boost trade among African countries but has yet to reach its full potential.

He warned that continued reliance on external suppliers for essential goods leaves African economies vulnerable when global supply chains are disrupted.

“We cannot continue as a continent to depend on, you know, others for our, you know, supplies in terms of crude oil, in terms of our cereals, in terms of sugar, in terms of everything that we actually import into this country.”

Economists have long argued that such dependence amplifies the impact of global shocks. Analysts, including Dani Rodrik, have pointed to the need for diversification and stronger domestic industries.

"Economic growth and development are possible only through the accumulation of capabilities over time, in areas ranging from skills and technologies to public institutions," wrote in his book, " The Globalisation Paradox ".

Nelson, during the discussion with Abigail Johnson Boakye, intimated that Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials and instead invest in value addition. “I think that we need to diversify our economic basis by adding more value to the raw materials,” he said, pointing to Ghana’s plan to stop exporting raw gold by 2030 as an example of policy direction.

He added that heavy reliance on imports has implications for employment and economic growth. “Once you continue to import, you are creating unemployment in your country, and you are creating a corresponding employment in that country.”

For Nelson, strengthening intra-African trade is central to reducing vulnerability.

“We should try as much as possible to trade within ourselves. We should try as much as possible to deepen our economic and financial relations. And we should also try as much as possible to build our economies based on African solutions that can solve African problems.”

Watch the full interview attached above.

Oil prices have surged above $100 per barrel as military strikes, tanker attacks and the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz rattle global markets.

Global energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Thursday, March 12, the conflict has created the "largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market", removing millions of barrels a day from the market.

The Strait of Hormuz alone normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. With shipping traffic collapsing after Iranian retaliation and US-Israeli strikes, global energy markets have entered a period of extreme volatility.

For Africa, the consequences could be severe.

According to a Ghanaian financial analyst, Nelson Cudjoe Kuagbedzi, the biggest risk for African economies lies in the disruption of international supply chains.

“Okay, so I think the biggest risk has to do basically with the disruption in the international supply chains,” he told Global South  World. “Most of the goods and products that we use in Africa are imported, most especially petroleum products.”

That vulnerability is rooted in the structure of Africa’s energy sector. Despite producing crude oil, the continent lacks sufficient refining capacity and therefore imports much of the fuel it consumes.

In fact, Africa imports more than 70% of its refined petroleum products, leaving economies highly exposed to fluctuations in global oil markets.

Nelson says the continent’s limited production also makes it impossible to cushion the impact of a prolonged conflict.

“It is also important to know that the total crude output in Africa represents less than 10% of global crude output,” he explained.

The crisis also exposes another longstanding economic challenge of how Africa exports raw materials but imports many finished products.

“We haven't also developed our economies enough to the extent that we will use homegrown solutions to solve homegrown policies,” Kuagbedzi said.

“I mean, raw cocoa, raw gold, raw coffee, raw timber.”

For him, the war should serve as a wake-up call.

However, the Middle East remains the backbone of global oil supply. Many members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are located in the region, producing a significant share of the petroleum used worldwide.

According to Nelson, that concentration makes Africa particularly vulnerable.

“Most of the OPEC members that produce the chunk of the petroleum products, whether crude or refined, that we use in Africa, most of those OPEC members are in the Middle East,” he said.

With tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted and oil shipments stalled, markets are already reacting. Brent crude surged past $100 per barrel for the first time since the Ukraine war's energy shock.

If the crisis deepens, some analysts warn prices could climb much higher, intensifying inflation worldwide.

However, 47-year-old Fernando Dias also seems to be in a comfortable lead.

After being disqualified from standing as a candidate, opposition leader Domingos Simões Pereira has thrown his weight and support behind the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), a party headed by political newcomer Fernando Dias.

Expectations of the citizenry

During a conversation with Abigail Johnson Boakye, a journalist with Global South World, Samba M. Baldé, a Bissau-Guinean journalist, shared that despite the hype surrounding the upcoming elections, electorates seem to be less engaged, as they are tired of slogans and manifestos and want real solutions.

"Engagement exists, but it's uneven because voters react to something that has certain benefits than to only promises because for voters, when candidates fail to translate their proposals into real impact or how they can really impact society, public interest quickly drops. ...But people are, for example, no longer satisfied with slogans. They want clear plans and measurable results in Guinea-Bissau," Samba said.

On November 23, 860,000 voters head to the polls to decide whether their country can finally break free from decades of political turbulence.

Who is Fernando Dias?

Although new to the political spotlight, Dias is not entirely new to public life. His journey reflects a careful mix of academic training, political apprenticeship and a recent surge in national prominence.

He is a trained lawyer, holding both a Bachelor's degree in Law and a postgraduate qualification in Criminal Law from the Bissau Faculty of Law.

Before emerging as a presidential contender, he had built a steady career within state institutions, serving as the first Vice-President of the National People’s Assembly during the 11th legislature.

His roots in party politics run deeper than his “newcomer” label suggests.

He once served as Secretary-General of the youth wing of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), eventually becoming its interim leader following a leadership vacancy. In June 2024, he was elected as president of the PRS.

He promises security for the people and desires to ensure the military does not interfere in the West African country's politics again.

"Our mission is clear: free Guinea-Bissau from the shackles of dictatorship and return power to the people. With faith, unity and courage, we will win the polls and build a new time for our nation," he wrote on his Facebook wall.

Background

Guinea-Bissau’s presidential and legislative races come at a moment when institutions are strained, and trust is fragile.

Umaro Sissoco Embaló's bid is seen as controversial because he has strategically reshaped the political arena through sudden dismissals and the appointment of a new prime minister ahead of the vote.

Heavyweight Domingos Simões Pereira and the historic PAIGC party-led coalition, PAI-Terra Ranka, were barred from contesting after the Supreme Court ruled their paperwork incomplete in October. This marks the first time the PAIGC party will be absent on a ballot paper.

Coups d'états, dissolved parliaments, and stalled reforms have marked Guinea-Bissau’s history. Embaló dissolved the National Assembly in December 2023, claiming an attempted coup, and left the country with no operational parliament for nearly two years.

Although his tenure ended in February 2025, Embaló stayed in the seat of power.

While COVID-19 intensified the emotional strain, Gallup’s findings show that this trend predates the pandemic. The causes, researchers say, vary across regions, but one theme keeps emerging about technology and polarisation.

"So, if we look at things like the rates of worry, 39% of the people we interviewed in 2024 reported that they experienced a lot of worry the day before. When we first started tracking that data in 2006, it was only at 30% and so 9% of the global population is a big portion. And we see similar patterns for the other emotions —stress, physical pain, anger, and sadness — over that time frame. With a lot of those gains really coming in the last few years, and it's something that troubles me when I look at this data," Dan Foy thr Global Research Director at Gallup, told Global South World.

In many regions, particularly post-Soviet Eurasia, perceptions of safety have doubled over the last 20 years.

These are countries that have undergone significant political and social transformations, moving from instability toward greater structure and governance.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the sense of safety has slipped, from 58% to 53%, and in Latin America and the Caribbean, only half of the population says they feel safe walking alone at night.

With this paradox, the world has a long way to go in achieving a balance between the safety and emotional health of its people.

Watch the full interview attached to the story for more insight.

Van Linge argued that the struggling economy was the first major factor behind MAS’s poor performance. “The belief is that the economy is in a very dire state. There’s a lot of regulation, very little free markets, shortages of essential goods, petrol shortages. Regular Bolivians are really feeling that in their everyday lives,” he explained.

The second factor, Van Linge noted, was the deep internal rift within MAS. He described how the party, once the dominant force in Bolivian politics, fractured into rival factions led by former President Evo Morales and his successor, Luis Arce.

“The conflict basically came down to who would take the ticket for the MAS party in this election. Morales wanted to come back as president, while Arce had the ambition to continue his mandate. Both being very power-hungry politicians, they couldn’t solve this in a civilised manner and basically tore the party apart,” Van Linge said. 

The infighting, he added, left many Bolivians disillusioned. “The protests and the public arguments put people off completely. The MAS was presenting itself as a mess,” he added.

Founded under Morales, who governed from 2006 to 2019, MAS became synonymous with leftist rule in Bolivia. But this year’s election results show the party has lost much of its grip, with voters turning to opposition candidates in frustration.

Professor Mehari Fisseha, a human rights advocate and international law and diplomacy scholar based in Ireland, joined Ismail Akwei on the Global South Conversation to discuss how entrenched the neglect and abuse of children is in Ireland under the watch of Tusla. 

“...even my own family member was taken from the family members, and then this child was given a wrong medication and then he was sexually molested, physically beaten up. I mean, a lot of things happened to these kids. I mean, there are lots of children in the country that are actually sexually molested,” he said.

“Between 2019 until 2024, 1265 children have been missing. So where are these children? The Minister for Children said we cannot find these children; some of them died, and some of them are nowhere to be found. Is this not crime against humanity?” he questioned.

Recently, another investigation has been opened to find a child who is presumed dead after he was reported missing in North County Dublin, prompting a press conference on September 3, 2025, by Minister for Children Norma Foley, who has asked Tusla to conduct well-being checks on cases closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to RTE , Ireland’s National Television and Radio Broadcaster, the Minister described the case as "hugely disturbing". This latest case comes just one year after schoolboy Kyran Durnin was first reported missing from his Drogheda home, also presumed dead.

Professor Mehari Fisseha has called for unity among families who have experienced injustice to speak up against the actions and inactions of Tusla as he does.

“They have to come together, and these are their children. They have to come together and fight for justice…I am an academician. I'm a human rights law expert and a professor. I will never keep quiet because if I do that, that is unethical…I will fight for social justice, I will fight for human rights, I will fight for African children and African people . In general, I will fight for humanity, whether it's a white, green, yellow, or red child. I will fight for justice, he said. 

Our attempt to reach Tusla at the time of this publication was unsuccessful.

Watch the interview attached to this story.

The DRC, which supplies 70% of the world’s cobalt, halted exports of the mineral in February following a slump in prices. Daniel Mukoko Samba, who is deputy prime minister as well as economy minister, said his country was talking to Indonesia, the world’s second biggest producer, in discussions that have widened to include forestry products and other goods.

“ We understand that we can't do it alone, that we need some kind of cooperation between the big producers and the big exporters,” Mukoko told GSW on the sidelines of the Crans Montana Forum in Casablanca. Asked whether he would like to see the formation of an organisation among resource-rich states, he replied: “ That's what we would like to see happening.”

OPEC, or the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was set up in 1960 by a group of mainly Middle Eastern countries to control the supply of oil to world markets. Although its power has waned in recent years, it has largely succeeded in limiting supply to support prices.

Mukoko Samba confirmed that the government will review the cobalt export ban at the end of the initially announced four-month period, noting that prices had risen following its introduction.

Cobalt is a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries and semiconductors, but its price has been extremely volatile. Twice in the past decade, the market price for a ton of the metal has peaked at over $80,000 a ton before dropping below $30,000. Part of the challenge for producers is that because cobalt is largely mined together with copper and nickel, production becomes delinked from the market.

Indonesia’s Ministry for Energy and Minerals did not respond to a request for comment.

Update: In June, DR Congo decided to extend its cobalt export ban for another three months, although the impact on prices has been muted because of significant stockpiles around the world. The nation did invite US investments in its mineral industry as part of a June accord brokered by Donald Trump to end fighting the country's east. Videography: Glody Nzita Matondo

His allegations, focused on Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency, point to alleged irregularities such as duplicate voter entries, fake addresses, mass registrations, and mismatched photographs.

Gandhi said his team spent six months gathering evidence, demanding not only transparency but also access to digital voter rolls and CCTV footage from polling stations.

The charges have unleashed a political firestorm. Gandhi carried his protest to the streets of New Delhi, where he and several opposition leaders were detained during a march to the ECI headquarters.

The ruling BJP and its allies swiftly countered, accusing Gandhi of trying to discredit India’s democratic institutions for political mileage. Some leaders even demanded that he embark on an “apology yatra” across the country.

During a discussion with Abigail Johnson Boakye on Qonversations, Indian Journalist Sumit Singh added his voice to call for transparency and a background to the political uproar.

The commission’s ultimatum

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has responded in unusually strong terms, branding Gandhi’s claims “baseless, absurd, and without merit.” Citing Rule 20(3)(b) of electoral law, the Commission has issued an ultimatum : Gandhi has seven days to either submit an affidavit with evidence or issue a public apology. Should he fail to comply, the Commission warned, his charges would be treated as null and void.

This sets up a critical standoff. With state elections, including Bihar’s, just months away, the dispute has elevated the issue of electoral credibility into the national spotlight.

For Gandhi, the choice ahead is fraught with risks:

Despite these strides, the campaign seems to have yielded little as environmental destruction worsens. Illegal miners now dig in the open with no fear of authority.

To counter this menace, President John Dramani Mahama's government has also put in motion an intense war by instituting the Goldbod, a body which is now in charge of everything gold and other precious minerals.

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is also not sitting back and has equally rolled out a mining skills programme dubbed the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP), to promote ethical mining.

On the journey to the outdooring of this initiative in Obuasi, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, eight precious souls lost their lives.

These eight, including the Minister of Defence, Edward Omane Boamah and the Minister of Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, were killed in a military helicopter crash on August 6.

Major destruction from galamsey so far

Although illegal mining contributes over one-third of Ghana’s gold production, it costs the state approximately $2 billion annually in lost tax revenue.

Up to 60% of Ghana’s surface water sources, including key rivers like the Ankobra and Pra, are contaminated with hazardous levels of mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals.

Additionally, polluted water has impaired the Ghana Water Company’s capacity by up to 75%, leading to possible reliance on expensive water imports by 2030.

More than 4,726 hectares of forest and riverine areas have been destroyed, affecting 34 out of Ghana’s 288 forest reserves. Over 190,000 acres of cocoa farmland have been lost, either seized by miners or degraded through encroachment.

Current reforms

President John Dramani Mahama, in April 2025, established the Ghana Gold Board (Goldbod) to regulate and check mining in the country.

Under the Goldbod Act, the body is the only powerful, centralised body mandated to oversee the entire gold value chain from licensing and assaying to buying, refining, and exporting gold. GoldBod replaces prior fragmentation to bring structure and control to the sector.

Under the reform, foreigners are barred from directly trading or purchasing gold domestically, and all gold trade must be conducted through GoldBod, in the Ghanaian cedi. This move aims to retain value within national channels and strengthen oversight

Additionally, the Act empowers GoldBod with enhanced monitoring, surveillance, increased penalties, and the establishment of specialised task forces to clamp down on illegal mining and gold smuggling. It also enforces stricter border controls and customs procedures.

“The United Nations , for example, people tend to forget that it is a bunch of governments, and it's only going to be really as good as those governments allow it to be or demand it to, and fund it to be. I think we can't rely on those institutions. We want them to be there. They're important, but we can't wait for them to act. 

“We have to be creative as civil society activists and we have to look to regional cooperation. We have to build new institutions. We have to be working with each other. We can't spend too much time bemoaning the dysfunction. We don't have that kind of time. So we have to be, you know, we have to be aggressive in finding new ways of working,” she said.

She also highlighted the declining human rights situation in the United States and how civil society has to learn from other countries that have gone through similar phases in their democracy to fill the void created.

“The authoritarians are sharing the playbook. They are learning from each other. They are perfecting their evil plans. And we have to do the same thing because so many of the challenges that we're facing are similar...I think activists in the United States have enjoyed such freedom of movement and freedom of activism for so many years, and that is also changing now with attempts to outlaw protest, the intimidation of protestors, the infringements on academic freedom and just the sense of fear that's being instilled through the actions against immigrant communities.

“We have a lot to learn from people who have been through this before and know what the next steps are going to be, because this is, in my lifetime, at least, relatively new, this kind of, ignoring the courts, deploying the military in domestic enforcement. But a lot of our friends and colleagues in other countries have dealt with that. And so I think the way for civil society to fill that void is gonna be through learning from each other,” she advised. 

Watch the full interview attached to this story.

“It kind of seems like it's a global phenomenon where no region is immune to the turmoil that is happening. And people are really starting to question democracy, and in a way, they're redefining it. Here in the United States, you have democracy being associated more with tendencies that reduce freedom, that reduce free speech, but it's under the guise of democracy. And so I think we are at a turning point,” Scott Nemeth explained.

“We are at an inflexion point, but I don't think it's all doom and gloom because there are many folks around the world who see the value of democracy, who see the value of being able to choose your leadership. To be able to choose the way that you live your life and not have it dictated to you. And I think at the end of the day, it's gonna be a messy process, but we'll eventually get to a point where democracy prevails,” he added.

He called on democratic institutions and leaders to be united and defeat authoritarianism, especially with the rise of social media and Artificial Intelligence, which have given non-democratic alliances an upper hand.

“The authoritarians are working together at a time when democracies are not working together. And so when you compound that with the rise of technology, AI, social media, we're in a position where the authoritarians have the upper hand and they have kind of the momentum behind them.

“I think that over the next couple of years, the imperative is going to be on democratic allies to work together and not to silo themselves because with a united front, democracy is always going to win. But if there are fractures in that united front, you're going to see the authoritarians moving up,” he explained.

Scott Nemeth further indicated the influence of Russia and China over other countries and how they empower authoritarians in other parts of the world to break democratic practices.

“In the last couple of years, Putin's ability to go into Ukraine without much consequence, the influence that Russia has had in the Middle East , China's influence in Africa, that's really been kind of unmatched by democracies and democratic alliances. This has empowered those authoritarians in Tunisia, in Nicaragua, in Myanmar to be able to go and hold power because they see the support coming from global powers like Russia and China,” he said.

“We could be at a point where, in the next decade, we would see a lot more authoritarianism and a lot less democracy. But it's going to be up to this next generation to have their voice heard and make that decision of how involved they want to be,” he concluded.

Watch the full interview attached to this story.

According to Punch Nigeria, over 1,043 people have died from violence between May 2023 and May 2025.

Global South World sought to understand the gravity of the impact and what steps have been taken so far to address these dastardly acts through an interaction with Nigerian journalist, Segun Adewole.

Just like many locals in the country, Segun believes that at least 200 people were killed from this treachery which received global attention.

According to the journalist, several measures like doubling the weapons of security personnel as well as dialogue on security are in place to tackle the insecurity menace in the country.

However, efforts at dialogue seem to be producing nothing as security forces appear overwhelmed by the consistent loss of lives in the line of duty.

“How can they go to Benue State and kill people? Killed 200 people and no police could come and do something about it. They went to Benue, killed 200 people. For 2 days, they operated, and the police could not go there. Yet we have the military, we have the army, the navy, the police, the NSCDC, and different security agencies. That shows that there's something wrong somewhere,” Segun said. 

This, Segun also attributes to a problem in the governing structure of the country.

“No matter who becomes president, if Trump should come into Nigeria, with the kind of structure we have right now, he won't be able to succeed because the structure is not created for success,” he added.

Away from the boiling insecurity, the ordinary Nigerian seems to be getting some respite from the new tax measures President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed into law.

In a statement , the president said “The tax reforms will protect low-income households and support workers by expanding their disposable income.”

During the discussion, Segun explained that workers or individuals earning less than a million naira ($653.41) are exempt from paying taxes.

“The tax reforms signed into law, they affect the ordinary citizen, the ordinary man on the streets, because right about now, I think there's a portion that says if you are earning less than a million naira you won't, you'll be exempted from tax. That is one good thing because how can I be earning something little and I'm, I'll still be required to pay tax? So, the payment of tax would be for those earning above 1 million naira and the majority of the populace are earning below 1 million naira, so they are exempted from tax,” he explained.

The new tax laws are: the Nigeria Tax Act , which simplifies taxation by merging rules and scrapping 50+ overlapping taxes; the Tax Administration Act , which standardises tax collection nationwide; the Nigeria Revenue Service Act , replacing FIRS with the independent NRS; and the Joint Revenue Board Act , which boosts coordination and creates a Tax Ombudsman and Appeal Tribunal.

Watch the discussion attached to this story.

He revealed that his long-standing engagement with Cambodia began over a decade ago through his collaboration with exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

“I helped him to write his English-language autobiography, which was published in 2013,” Whitehouse said. “Sam Rainsy is a former finance minister of Cambodia in the 1990s."

Whitehouse, now a freelance journalist with a special focus on Southeast Asia, believes Cambodia’s cybercrime industry represents a new phase of long-standing state corruption. “Back in the 1990s, corruption took the form primarily of illegal logging,” he says. “These days, it’s more about cyber scams being more profitable and far less labour-intensive, which, it's fair to say, make money much faster, in much larger quantities,” he noted.

“There is a large body of evidence that the same ruling elite is now being supported by the receipts of cybercrime,” he added.

Whitehouse traced the rapid rise of scam compounds to the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted tourism and left Chinese-run casinos in Cambodia idle.

“COVID-19 made it impossible for these casinos to operate. So what happened is that those casinos were repurposed… into what today are cyber scam compounds,” he explained. “This process has been quite well documented.”

He cited reports from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as a recent Amnesty International publication, both detailing how these facilities have transformed into heavily guarded centres where trafficked victims are forced to defraud people online.

According to reports by Reuters , Human rights group Amnesty International accused Cambodia’s government on Thursday, June 26, of "deliberately ignoring" abuses by cybercrime gangs that have trafficked people from across the world, including children, into slavery at brutal scam compounds.

Amnesty said its findings revealed a "pattern of state failures" that allowed the billion-dollar industry to flourish, including failures to investigate human rights abuses, identify and assist victims, and regulate security companies and tools of torture.

“They are almost without exception sealed. You can’t walk in and out — especially you can’t walk out. They often use barbed wire and electric fences to keep people in,” Whitehouse said.

Africa in the crosshairs

Initially, the scam networks exploited Chinese-speaking victims. But as operations expanded, traffickers sought English speakers — and began targeting Africa.

“Now [they] include pretty much anywhere where there are English-speaking people,” said Whitehouse. “That certainly includes the English-speaking countries of Africa. If there are young people who need a job… those are the type of people the scammers are looking to recruit.”

He identified East African countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mozambique as particularly vulnerable, citing logistical ease of travel and the influence of nearby trafficking hubs such as Dubai.

Francophone summit raises questions

Whitehouse also criticised the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) for choosing Cambodia to host its next summit.

“The danger with inviting a host of leaders from the Francophone world is that it legitimises the location as a safe, secure, legitimate place to do business and to work,” he warned. “That’s a dangerous signal for people in Africa… who may be tempted to take up job offers there, which may not be real.”

He emphasised that African governments attending the summit should be fully briefed on Cambodia’s cybercrime problem to avoid inadvertently endorsing a country linked to human trafficking and financial scams.

“There should be space for civil society in Cambodia to be represented at the summit,” he said. “Otherwise, you're simply going to get the government narrative.”

Although the U.S. has sanctioned entities like Huione, a conglomerate allegedly linked to the Cambodian government, Whitehouse believes the global response remains piecemeal.

“There’s obviously some awareness of the issue, and some actions have been taken, but they are quite piecemeal. There’s a lot more that needs to be done,” he said.

That includes raising awareness at home. “Governments everywhere, and certainly including African governments, need to do more to warn people about the dangers of travelling to Southeast Asia to take up a job that you don't really know about.”

“When you look at the global backdrop and what happened with the war in Ukraine and, given my first-hand experience, I said to myself that Africa is too reliant on other countries, on Europe, on Asia and that Africa has the potential to feed the world,” Forrest said in an interview for Global South World. 

Forrest, whose businesses cultivate tens of thousands of hectares of land in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has turned author for a new book called: Africa Can Feed the World. He says his experiences in the fertile, untapped landscapes of his homeland have convinced him that a tipping point, first towards self-sufficiency and then towards agri-exports, is far nearer than people realise.

Africa holds 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, according to the World Bank, yet contributes less than 10% of global agricultural output. This paradox is not due to poor soil or climate — in fact, regions such as the Guinea Savannah and the Congolese Plateau offer fertile soils, reliable rainfall, and abundant water reserves. Rather, the gap stems from decades of underinvestment in rural infrastructure, poor access to markets and finance, and minimal technological input.

Forrest points to the example of Brazil. Between the 1970s and early 2000s, Brazil transformed its Cerrado region - a once-dismissed savannah - into one of the world’s most productive agricultural zones. This was achieved through a combination of state research institutions, incentives for private sector investment, and the development of infrastructure like rural roads and silos. Today, Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of soybeans, beef, and poultry. 

As climate change threatens traditional breadbaskets like the American Midwest, Australia, and parts of India due to extreme weather events and soil degradation, some parts of sub-Saharan Africa may be able to make up the deficit.

However, he is scathing about the attitude of external players, and Europe in particular. As European policymakers riding a nationalist populist wave seek to close borders and cut development funding, Forrest warns that they may one day regret treating Africa as a threat.

‘Broken ties’

“The day when Europe has nothing, it will be dependent on others. And it will depend on whom? That’s what I’m saying. That in 2050, if we are not careful, it’s Europe which will be migrating to Africa…. So we need to maintain the ties that we have broken. That is what I am asking. That Europe comes to its senses and considers Africa rather as a partner, not to exploit but for win-win relations.”

In particular, Forrest is critical of policies which prevent younger generations of Africans from travelling to Europe to study - a decision which pushes them towards Russia, China and India, where they will develop relationships and sympathies for the future. By 2050, Africa’s population is projected to exceed 2.5 billion people, with over 60% under the age of 25. 

Forrest’s criticisms extend to the international justice system, which he sees as unfairly focused on Africa.

“When you look at cases around illicitly obtained assets, who gets prosecuted? Only Africans. What about the Middle East? Have we seen asset appropriation there? Did we prosecute people from China or elsewhere? No. Let’s be fair, we can’t have two standards, two tiers, let’s be evenhanded.”

Indeed, Forrest sees the fight against corruption waged upon Africa as being counterproductive, because it drives away the investment which is needed to improve the situation. Non-governmental organisations that come with lectures and impose standards bring nothing but drive away business investment, he claims.

“The more you have investors, the more you have promising projects. The more the government and the authorities are forced to keep rules and structures, the more you will have a better justice system because corruption will gradually disappear. It’s true that it is a curse, but let’s be realistic.”

Dare to dream

But for Forrest, everything comes back to agriculture, which has the potential both to supercharge African economies and remove the curse of hunger and poor nutrition from their populations. 

The African Development Bank estimates that agriculture could be worth $1 trillion to the continent’s economy by 2030. But the scale of investment required is also significant - estimated at $80 billion per year.

While the scale of the ambition requires industrial methods, Forrest remains convinced that there can still be a place for smaller family farms. And he insists that increasing food production will not threaten the ecological marvels of the tropical forests of Congo or other nations.

“It’s not a question of replacing the forests. We don’t need to touch the forests. There’s plenty of available space, even in the Savannah.”

Forrest is an optimist, but also a pragmatist. He believes greater use of science and technology is essential to achieving his vision. His giant agri-food business GoCongo, uses extensive soil testing to determine which crops are best suited to each area. This choice needs to be informed by study, not habit, he states. As an example, he highlights French efforts to impose rice cultivation in the country to replace stocks lost after the demise of IndoChina, which were often poorly located and resulted in low yields.

But with science, human effort and natural bounty, Forrest is confident Africa’s detractors will be proved wrong and his 2050 vision will come to pass.

“In order to do something, first you need a dream. When you dream, you have a goal in mind. This is what you do to achieve it.”

Only the week before, Mukoko had been visiting one of Forrest’s farms. There he saw some of the techniques that can transform his country’s economy from one powered by removing chunks of land to process into foreigners’ computer chips to one based on nurturing the earth and delivering what its own people need most.

It will be a challenging journey, as Mukuko Samba acknowledges: “So the yields are very low, food yields are low, rice, maize, and all those foodstuffs, we have very low yields. So until we see a sharp rise in the yields in the DRC, it's very difficult for us.”

But Mukoko Samba is confident - “we know what we need to do” - citing investment in infrastructure such as irrigation projects, seed production and research into better practices and technologies. Farmers also need support sourcing fertiliser and seeds, he adds.

The first step towards Africa feeding the world will be Africa feeding itself.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the DRC produced 4.1 million tonnes of cereals in 2024 but still needed to import a further 770,000 tonnes.

The government in Kinshasa sees self-sufficiency in staple crops as a ten-year project. Work has already started, but a lot more needs to be done.

Watch the full interview :

Videography: Anoir4art

“No war today is won with guns alone. It is about information,” Kone told Global South World in an interview at the Crans Montana Forum.

His grouping unites politicians from defence committees across Africa, and all are showing an increased interest in preventing and countering threats through human and digital information.

At the heart of these operations is the Centre for Anti-Terrorist Intelligence Operations, which works closely with Kone’s Network.

As well as building information-sharing structures, personal relationships remain important on the continent. Kone noted the example of the Alliance of Sahel States, which has officially separated from many of the multilateral organisations in the region. Intelligence continues to be shared through informal channels, however, because many officers from different militaries have studied or served together in the past, he said.

And while Kone hailed the role of Artificial Intelligence to analyse signals from social media and other sources, he believes firmly in the primacy of human sources. To leverage these, he calls on military leaders to consider not only how they fight their enemies but also how they can build trust with their own populations.

“Our role [as politicians specialising in defence] is to go on the ground and talk with the security forces so that they don't frighten the population and tell the population not to be afraid of the security forces. They need to collaborate together, they need to do activities together so that they can regularly exchange information.“

The threat from terrorism on the continent has been increasing in the past decade. According to figures from the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, 2023 saw the highest-ever number of killings attributed to Islamist terrorism at 23,000. Better coordination, better intelligence and most importantly, confidence between the public and security forces will all be needed to fight the danger.

Videography: Anoir4art

The DR Congo is resilient, and government finances remain robust despite large-scale rebel attacks in the east, Mukoko Samba said.

“We have lost the revenues because there are two provinces that we are not… controlling any more. We hope it's not going to take too much time. But so far, inflation is going down; growth is high; and public finances are doing well. So far so good. And we wish that this situation can come to an end so quickly so that we can recover.”

He put the lost revenue from the provinces of North and South Kivu at 5% of total government receipts. Rebels from the M23 group, which Kinshasa says is backed by neighbouring Rwanda, captured the areas earlier this year. With its eyes on mineral concessions in the region, Washington stepped in and last week brokered peace talks between the two nations.

Despite regular outbreaks of violence, the DRC economy has grown every year for more than two decades, recovering strongly after COVID. Much of that has been as a result of buoyant demand for commodities such as copper, cobalt and gold.

In February, the country halted cobalt exports following a price collapse, a decision that is still expected to be reviewed in June, according to the minister.

Dedollarisation

To help improve its control of the economy, the government is seeking to shift away from widespread use of the US dollar, which has been a popular shield against inflation and swings in the local currency, the Congolese franc. The central bank last year mandated that electronic payments should be made exclusively in francs but Mukoko Samba conceded that the switch is not happening as quickly as the government would like.

“ We still have 90% to 95% of bank deposits in the US dollars, in the entire banking system in the country. And it's almost the same figure for bank credits, 95%. So that's the best illustration, you could have that. We have a highly dollarized economy.”

Asked how the government planned to change the situation, Mukoko Samba, a trained economist, said completing the process would require 10 to 15 years of consistent growth with low inflation. He indicated that he was looking to the central bank to help out by lowering interest rates which would encourage borrowers to take out local currency loans.

“ Let's hope that the central banks will become, I would say, less worried about what could happen if it lowers the interest rate. They've kept it for now. One year and even more. So once that interest rate keeps going down or starts going down, then probably the interest rates on credits in Congolese francs will also be lower.”

Feeding the world

As the second biggest country in Africa and holding an astonishing 52% of the continent’s surface water, the DRC should be an agricultural powerhouse. And yet it is reliant on imports of some of its most important foodstuffs. Yet George Forrest, the businessman behind the country’s biggest food producers, believes that the country should be producing enough to feed the whole of Africa.Forrest’s vision is shared by Mukoko Samba, who puts a ten-year time frame on achieving self-sufficiency in staple crops such as maize and rice. Nevertheless, the country has a long way to travel with only around 1% of its cultivable land currently being farmed.

“ What needs to be done is first, we have to invest more in agriculture because the whole chain is not in place. We are not putting money into seeds production; we are not putting money into irrigation; systems; we are not investing enough in research, agronomic research. So public investment in the agriculture sector is the first step. ”

Videography: Glody Nzita Matondo

Speaking to Global South World , Del Re argued that the EU’s true strength lies not in military might, but in the enduring power of humanitarian and development support.

"Humanitarian aid and development cooperation are our distinctive aspects because... the European Union is the main provider at the global level, which gives the European Union a profile, a very important profile," Del Re said. "We have to reinforce our positive aspects, our credibility, our capability of influence without, of course, imposing our influence."

Del Re warned against following the trend of cutting aid budgets, as seen in the United States and parts of Europe. Instead, she urged the EU to embrace its soft power identity more fully. "I think that the European Union should go in the opposite direction because both humanitarian aid and development cooperation are a distinctive aspect and profile of the European Union," she told GSW.

"Soft power is absolutely necessary in the global system and also, of course, favours a system that really goes straight within the communities rather than only thinking about restructuring and redefining the defence system," she added.

Del Re also discussed the challenges facing EU engagement in the Sahel. She described the EU as "the main partner of each country of the Sahel," but noted ongoing struggles with coherence and perception. 

"The European Union has found itself in a difficult position, being considered still very much related to the former colonialist country, France and also being considered as a partner that imposes rather than discusses the way forward," she said.

The legacy of colonialism continues to affect relationships with African countries, the Italian diplomat noted, "We have not developed what I call a European-African or African-European language that can really favour the canalisation of common messages."

Videography: Anoir4art

Carnegie, founder of risk management firm Thouwd, paints a grim picture where the U.S., Turkey, China and others are competing for agricultural and mineral wealth without regard to the people whose livelihoods those goods represent.

“It's a bit like if you go back to 150, 200 years to the 1860s and that sort of land grab for Africa. And that causes friction and tension … with the countries where are rich in minerals or commodities that people need,” he observes, warning that powerful nations are not looking for sustainable relationships," he told GSW.

“You have the various different countries that are looking to get into some of these Africa, Middle East , wider areas, Central Asia. They compete against each other. You've got the Turks, Turkish, Chinese, you know, American, European and It's essentially the influence that China can have in terms of repaying or paying national debts, taking stakes in land, and they know that some of these countries will never be able to pay that debt back,” he added.

This new form of colonialism may have apparent upsides - Donald Trump ’s US administration is brokering peace talks between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to gain access to mineral deposits in the conflict zone - but the long term damage will persist for years if states sign away the future revenues they need to develop.

Several African countries, including South Africa , are enforcing much stricter rules on foreign businesses in a bid to keep wealth onshore. Mali’s foreign minister, Adboulaye Diop, explained to GSW that his country was also implementing tough rules to stop miners from draining all their profits to foreign shareholders.

And Carnegie sees mutual mistrust being one of the key threats to businesses operating in Africa.

“The perception will be that this foreign company will want to come in and take their mineral assets and their perception is it will go back to that sort of colonialism, that period where they come in, take the land, take everything out of it and leave them with nothing."

“And the perception of the investor will be when we go into this country. We're going to be met with hostility, we're gonna be met with bureaucracy, we've got to be met with corruption, we got to be met, you know, and the list goes on." 

“If you were to take a step back and look at that and manage that perception from the outset. I think it would be a very different picture.”

Carnegie, a former senior British soldier, points out that the United Arab Emirates, where he is based, is trying to take a more collaborative approach with its investments to avoid tensions and future crises.“They look at it very much from a collaborative approach, where essentially they can go in and work with governments, rather than trying to take advantage of a disadvantaged situation to their long-term gain, so it destabilises,” he says.

“ We are a country fighting for our autonomy: security autonomy, economic autonomy, but a nation where we count on ourselves to make those transformations,” he said, adding: “ W e count on the ingenuity, the mindset of Malians, because we have been for centuries traders, adventurers. And we think that it's possible for us to do those things .”

The military government in Bamako has taken several measures to bolster the economy in recent months, including new regulations on mining, which accounts for a fifth of public revenues. The new rules will see Malian public and private entities controlling up to 35% of operations with a levy on revenues for local development.

However, introducing the rules comes amid a long-standing dispute with miner Barrick Gold , which has concerned some international investors. The company’s contractors reportedly began firing staff last week as a row over previous changes to ownership regulations continues. 

Diop told Global South World that any investors from any country would be welcome as long as they fulfil three conditions - respecting the country’s sovereignty, following the decisions of its government, and acting in the interests of its people.

As well as the new rules around mining, Diop said the country was keen to ensure that value-added processing of raw materials takes place locally. Mali is a major supplier of cotton and lithium as well as gold, but most exports are raw materials, meaning the bulk of the profits are generated outside the country’s borders.

To fulfill that goal, Mali needs to contain a decade-long insurgency which has crippled the economy and brought down several governments.

Mali threw out French troops based in the country in 2022, complaining that they were not responding to the population's needs. A United Nations Peacekeeping mission ended the following year as the country’s military rulers promised to take control of the situation.

Groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIS want to form an Islamist state within the region and have gained substantial footholds in the countries of the Alliance of Sahel States. International experts say the countries are relying too much on counter terrorism tactics such as raids and not making enough effort to reassert state authority.

Diop rejects these claims, asserting that government forces are now able to operate in all parts of the country. With 25% of government spending going to the military, “the situation has improved significantly,” he told Global South World.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that arms alone would not win the war against the terrorists.

“ We are mindful that a total military response will never be sufficient, but it is necessary when you are attacked to respond, but we are working for national reconciliation in our country. To promote peace at the community level. To also promote economic development. To create more hope for these young people who are growing up in many of these areas where people are tempted to be in the terrorist networks or to join criminal groups or to be even on the road to illegal migration.”

Videographer: Anoir4art

He added that China, India , and the Gulf region are stepping up as key investors in Africa. "That's good. That's new partners, new cash, new businesses," he said.

Sachs suggested that the US’s diminished role creates space for developing countries to grow independently and diversify their alliances.

On the topic of geopolitical tension, he addressed the rising narrative that Russia poses a threat to developing nations. He dismissed such fears as propaganda, explaining, "The US competes with other big powers. And so it says nasty things about the other powers. But frankly, all of the bad talk, the bad mouthing of China, of Russia, of others, to my mind, doesn't add up."

Analysts note that the shift toward multipolarity is characterised by the rise of countries like China and India, which are expanding their economic and diplomatic footprints. China's Belt and Road Initiative and India's increasing engagement with African nations exemplify this trend. These nations are not only investing in infrastructure and development projects but are also influencing global norms and standards

Sachs encouraged Global South nations to seek investment partnerships broadly and not be swayed by Western narratives. "I would look for business partners, investment partners anywhere," he said.

For him, this moment represents the building of a new, fairer multipolar world where the voices of Africa, Asia, and Latin America will increasingly shape global affairs. "The West, it led and it was often very cruel in its so-called leadership," he explained.

Watch the full interview here :

"For 500 years, basically the West,  meaning Europe and the United States, were in charge. They were in charge through imperialism. They were in charge of world finance. They were in charge of the world economy," Sachs told Global South World.

According to Sachs, the legacy of colonial domination, from the Atlantic slave trade to late-19th-century African colonisation, left enduring economic scars. But now, he argues, that era is ending,  not by design, but by global shifts in power and technology .

“Finally, this Western system is ending,” he remarked, adding, “And I say finally because it was not a fair system. It was not a just system. It was not an ethical system. It was a system of power.”

The current shocks, marked by the United States’ reintroduction of tariffs , intensifying geopolitical rivalries, and sanctions that have shaken the post-World War II economic order, have left many developing nations in economic limbo. But Sachs insists this is also a time of unprecedented opportunity.

“Power is now more diffused, more shared, across more parts of the world than has been true for centuries,” he noted.

He cited the growing influence of China and India as examples of the shifting balance and called for the African Union to rise as a unified global force, pushing for fairer systems of trade, finance, and governance.

“Technology is spreading, economic development is spreading. The world is online everywhere, even in remote villages — though not equally yet,” he noted.

In this new world order, Sachs says the path forward for the Global South lies in unity, investment in technology and education, and a firm demand for inclusion in shaping international policy .

Data Girl Technologies, based in Cameroon, offers young African women access to coding education , mentorship, and networking opportunities.

Speaking with Global South World's Edward Sakyi, Eposi Frida, co-founder of Data Girl Technologies, said the company believes that more women are needed in the tech space and that they must have access to the software, hardware, and education needed to pursue the tech dream.

"The goal is to not just train these women to run off, but it's for them to gain the skills that they need, you know, to get a job or to, you know, start their own businesses," Frida said.

In the spirit of International Women's Day, Data Girl Technologies is challenging traditional gender stereotypes and biases by breaking down barriers that have historically prevented women from pursuing careers in tech.

The company is showing the world that women can be just as successful and innovative in tech as men.

Click to watch the full interview below:

He stressed that resolving energy inefficiencies is vital to sustaining economic reforms.

Mahama further highlighted the inefficiencies in the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), citing its 32% technical and commercial losses. "I don't know any electricity company that can survive with 32% losses. I mean, and two years ago, they made a loss of 10 billion. Last year, I think they made a debt loss of about 6 billion. It cannot continue, and it has to stop."

Mahama proposed ramping up domestic gas production to meet 100% of Ghana’s electricity generation needs. Currently, gas from the Jubilee Field and ENI operations supplies just over 60% of the country’s requirements. Increasing this to full capacity, he said, could save the nation $400 million annually.

He criticised the government’s mismanagement of the energy value chain, which has led to payment defaults and reduced gas volumes from ENI. "If this continues, Ghana risks another default to the World Bank," he warned.

“This government has missed the whole chain, the whole value chain in the energy sector. And so, again, from the gas that is being taken, they are paying for it. And so because of that, ENI has reduced the volumes that it's pumping. We set up the ENI project with a well-done guarantee. We believe that the guarantee has been drawn down for non-payment until it's left to just $50 million. If ENI draws down on the $50 million, it means we would incur another default to the World Bank. And so it's a very precarious situation that needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible,” he added.

Mahama emphasised the need for swift and expert-driven solutions to prevent the energy sector from collapsing. "The energy sector debt can crush this economy if not addressed urgently," he said.

In a Global South World exclusive, the former head of state expressed that the country's challenges have been made worse by high government expenditures under the Akufo-Addo administration. Mahama shared that the utility bills and housing facilities provided for political appointees compounded the country's debts.

"I mean, at a point, this government had 125 ministers. You know. And I mean, that clearly is excessive. Even now they have 87 ministers. And so we have promised that we're going to cut that down to 60 ministers. We're going to cut down the number of political appointees. I mean, when you do that, you're cutting down the number of houses you have to provide for these appointees. You are cutting down the number of vehicles you have to buy for them. You're cutting down the amount of fuel they have to use. You are cutting down the electricity and utility bills that you normally provide for such people," he said.

Beyond cutting down government expenditure, Mahama, who is contesting the presidential election for the fourth time, suggested that Ghana needs a "total reset" to have economic stability.

"We've hit a dead end. Our economy is in crisis, and everything else has a linkage to the economy. Inflation is up," Mahama said. "When you use your phone and it gets frozen, what do you do? You reset it; you restart it. And so we need to restart.”

As of July 2024, Ghana's finance minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, announced that the country's debt had shot up from the GH¢658 billion ($42.9 billion) recorded in February 2024 to GH¢742 billion (US$50.9 billion).

Watch the full interview below:

John Mahama, who will challenge Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia in the December 7, 2024, election, says the economy is in crisis and needs urgent fiscal reforms and a “total reset” to get a fresh start.

“I'm going to give it my all. My purpose for going back into office is to establish a legacy. And once I do that, I will hand over to the next generation and go to my farm,” he told Global South World in an exclusive interview.

Watch the full interview below :

The rise of social media and other visual platforms is shifting the narrative. In the past, women were often seen as secondary in male-dominated professions, but now, they are gaining visibility and influence.

For creative fields like the arts, Anusha is confident that female artists are finally able to showcase their talents on a larger scale. With platforms like social media, women can display their work and reach audiences in ways that were previously out of reach.

“I think especially now with this visual space that we have entered because of social media, we see women as being more at the centre stage. Even if we're talking about just musicians that are more celebrated now, like I think we see more because it is such a visual, visually driven media landscape that we are driving into,” Anusha Alamgir told Global South World.

“I think women now more than ever will have the time to call the shots. And I think being a woman artist in this day and age, it just will allow it, it will just continue to get progressively better for women.”

With the right tools and platforms to control their own narratives and show their work, Anusha is convinced that the contemporary woman has a bigger chance to call the shots in the professional world, rather than have to depend on men to do so.

Nanasi was designed to address the need for digital tools to manage inventory and payments. Initially serving restaurants, the app quickly expanded to a wider range of small and medium-sized enterprises.

As Nanasi evolved, Mativo recognised a new challenge, businesses needed better tools to forecast customer behaviour and optimise their inventory and pricing strategies. This insight led him to launch Duck, a data analytics company that helps larger businesses make informed decisions based on real-time data.

"And what we do is that we provide real-time data to large businesses to help them figure out you know, how to price their products as well as where to distribute the products," Mativo told Global South World in an interview.

A report from Edge Delta states that most businesses analyse  37% to 40%  of their data, and 97.2% of companies invest in big data solutions.

According to Mativo, Duck was birthed from a mixture of conversations with businesses as well as, being able to identify that there was a problem, that businesses needed to solve.

He found that many companies struggled to access the data necessary for effective pricing and distribution. Duck’s mission is to bridge this gap, providing actionable insights that help businesses refine their strategies.

"As a good entrepreneur, I believe you should be able to identify opportunities. So how I identified this opportunity was through customer feedback," he explained.

"So, for example, think of a product like Coca-Cola that's being sold in a market like Africa. Coca-Cola would struggle to price its product competitively, given that there are other you know, consumer brands or drinks in the market. It would also struggle to know where exactly they should distribute those products." Mativo added. "So what I realised was there was an information gap or a data gap where businesses don't really have an accurate picture of their products and competition in the market."

Mativo was surprised to find a strong demand for data-driven insights, a shift from his initial scepticism about whether businesses would invest in intangible assets like data.

Two-thirds of C-level executives at least sometimes ignore data and make decisions based on intuition, according to The Alation State of Data Culture Report .

"So it makes sense to sell a physical product to a business. However, when you think of an intangible asset like data you're not really sure whether businesses can actually pay money for information. So I was surprised that businesses are actually willing to pay for information about their products," Mativo expressed his disbelief.

Through Duck, Mativo is not just offering a service but empowering businesses with the tools they need to succeed.

Watch the full interview:

Isayaku Musa, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer believes that the startup’s innovative solutions hold great potential. “With drones, you can reduce the traditional method of farming, whereby you use tractors and other things, where you emit carbon dioxide and other unwanted air pollutants into the environment… You can minimise that. That is part of the mitigation aspect of climate change,” Musa explained in an interview with Global South World.

Despite their vision, Vora Robotics has struggled to thrive due to a lack of financial support. After initially raising 3 million Naira (approximately $1,920) with five co-founders, the startup has faced difficulties in securing grants or additional funding.

According to Musa, this lack of investment hampers their ability to fully realise the potential of their climate-smart agricultural technology.

The absence of government support contrasts sharply with promises made during Nigeria’s 2023 elections. President Bola Tinubu’s manifesto vowed to support innovation and entrepreneurship by transforming Nigeria into a nation of creators rather than consumers.

The commitment to fostering economic growth through manufacturing and invention raised hopes among startups like Vora Robotics. However, since taking office in May 2023, Tinubu’s administration has been met with widespread criticism over economic challenges, inflation, and unsatisfactory policies.

Frustration culminated in the #EndBadGovernance protests that swept across the country from August 1 to August 10, 2024. These protests, driven by economic hardship and dissatisfaction, had severe consequences for businesses.

For Vora Robotics, the unrest led to a complete halt in operations. “We have not even resumed to the office because of a fear of the unknown,” Musa said at the time of the interview.

Operating out of Kaduna in northern Nigeria, the team has been particularly affected by the protests, which turned violent in many areas. “The protests have gone to the level whereby you can be injured… They can even kill you, if I'm not mistaken, because a lot of people lost their lives because of this protest,” Musa disclosed.

The company continue to face significant obstacles, from financial constraints to security challenges. Yet, Musa remains hopeful that with the right support and investment, their drones could revolutionise agriculture in Nigeria.

Watch the full interview:

As a final-year aerospace engineering student at the Airforce Institute of Technology in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria, Shamsuddeen is determined to go beyond creating drones for the sake of it. His vision is to develop technology that addresses real-world problems within his community. "Looking at the food insecurity we are facing in Nigeria as well as in Africa, we needed to ensure that we bring solutions in that sector," he said.

Where passion meets practicality

Recognising the critical role agriculture plays in Nigeria’s economy, Shamsuddeen focused on creating drones that could help farmers enhance productivity while also reducing health risks. In Nigeria, where 26.5 million people were projected to face acute hunger during the June-August 2024 lean season, agricultural solutions have become more urgent. The World Food Programme reported that the food insecurity crisis in Nigeria is exacerbated by factors like conflict, inflation, and the impact of climate change.

Shamsuddeen saw an opportunity to automate farming processes, particularly the manual spraying of crops, which often exposes farmers to harmful chemicals. "If you look at the way they do their local way of spraying in the farm, it leads them to inhale some chemicals… Even though they are masked up, they still inhale it," he explained. The goal of Vora Robotics is to create drones that can safely and efficiently perform such tasks, reducing health risks and increasing agricultural efficiency.

The birth of Vora Robotics

Operating primarily in Kaduna and Abuja, Vora Robotics was co-founded a year ago by Shamsuddeen and four others. Shamsuddeen serves as the Chief Technical Officer, overseeing the company’s technological development.

Isayaku Musa, the Chief Operating Officer, shared insights on the company’s early challenges and growth trajectory. With a seed fund of 3 million Naira (approximately $1,920), Vora Robotics has been developing its products while employing a team of 10 workers.

"We want to perfect our product before entering the market," Musa said, emphasising that the company is still in its research and development phase.

However, logistical challenges, especially the need to import materials not readily available in Nigeria, have proven to be obstacles. "More than 60% of our requirements to develop this drone are locally sourced, but there are a lot of things we cannot get here, particularly in Kaduna State. We have to import it from somewhere far, sometimes even outside the country," Musa added.

Building a sustainable tech startup

Despite these hurdles, Vora Robotics remains committed to long-term growth and positive community impact. One of their key objectives is to create 1,000 jobs for Nigerians within the next five years. To achieve this, Musa called on the Nigerian government to support startups like Vora Robotics that are working to drive change and address critical challenges in the nation.

Watch the full interview:

LenoKids, a WhatsApp Chatbot learning platform is an early childhood education start-up powered by South African students in partnership with the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa.

Sange Mafinyongwana, the platform's Chief Executive Officer in an interview with Global South World's Edward Sakyi, shared that the project was born out of the 2022 MTN Digital Innovation Programme which looked to provide solutions to some of the social problems in health , education and agriculture.

"We were part of the 2022 MTN Digital Innovation Programme... Looking to address social issues within our communities... Those three sectors were mainly education, health and agriculture. Due to the passion that I have and with my team within the education space, we then looked at finding or addressing a problem within the education sector," Sange said.

It was on their journey to solve some educational sector problems they discovered an alarming statistic that "81% of fourth graders in South Africa could not read for meaning."

"If learners cannot read for meaning at the foundation phase, can you now just imagine in terms of how that will affect their future careers as they grow up?" he added. The group, according to Sange, while trying to find why this problem existed came up with LenoKids.

"We wanted parents to be involved in their child's learning journey by more or less creating a WhatsApp innovative platform that is driven by an AI that is educationally based and trained to more or less make learning and reading fun and engaging for learners by creating content that will be gamified and that will be aligned with the school curriculum," Sange explained.

Commenting on why the team opted for WhatsApp, Sange emphasised: "In South Africa, over 80% of cell phone users have WhatsApp. It's one of the communication channels that's being used mostly in South Africa. We saw a niche unique value proposition of us developing the platform on WhatsApp because it's already an on-use platform. And with terms of data, it won't be more or less a challenge for parents to use or give their children access to data."

"Utilising WhatsApp was more or less a good strategy for us by saying, we don't need to worry about accessibility. They are already using WhatsApp. We don't need to worry about data. Parents already use WhatsApp with their data. And then we don't need to compete with other apps," he added.

In a 2021 report on Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), South Africa ranked last with 288 points against 500 points in a global assessment to monitor the progress of literacy and reading comprehension of 9 and 10-year-olds.

BBC reports that the country's minister at the time, Angie Motshekga, blamed the low score on the closure of schools during the pandemic.

She also added "Reading instruction often focuses solely on oral performance, neglecting reading comprehension and making sense of written words" as a contributing factor.

Watch the full interview below:

Beyond the effects of climate change, coffee production itself contributes to the carbon footprint. So, while a cup of coffee can bring a lot of joy, the rising temperatures, lack of rainfall, and humidity are all reducing the growth and production of the crop.

Simply put, there’s high demand for coffee but less supply, which means you either need more money to buy it or be prepared to change your coffee-drinking habits.

This gap in the market is what motivated Prefer CEO and Founder Jake Berber and his Co-founder, the "Fermentation Prince" Ding Jie Tan, to create bean-free coffee.

Together, they introduced Asia’s first bean-free coffee in 2022, a product that has become the leading alternative to traditional coffee on the market.

“We use bread, soy, and barley from local manufacturers here to create coffee flavours via our fermentation process. And after we ferment it, we roast it and then we grind it up into coffee grounds,” Berber told GSW.

“It is the real deal. It tastes just like coffee. It gives the same experience as drinking coffee and, if you want, it gives that same kick or caffeine that coffee does. We're just able to create coffee in a more affordable and sustainable way,” he added.

Prefer currently works with several businesses in Singapore, including cafes and restaurants, that are happy to integrate their bean-free coffee into their operations to reduce costs and their carbon footprint.

Watch the full interview below:

In an interview with Global South World, 19-year-old Henry, founder of Code Club Academy, shared his journey of developing assistive devices for the visually impaired.

Henry, recalling how the traumatic event set him and this path said "I knew what persons with disability go through because if I had a fire accident, and people started seeing me with a disability, what of people with actual disability?"

By age 13, Henry had developed his first prototype: a smart spectacle designed to assist visually impaired individuals. This early invention laid the groundwork for Code Club Academy, a project dedicated to teaching technology and developing assistive devices.

Henry founded Code Club Academy to achieve two main goals: educate people in robotics and technology and create practical devices for those with disabilities.

“So I enrolled myself in self-training technology courses and at an earlier age I started teaching university students robotics and other technology-related courses," Henry told GSW.

Code Club Academy's flagship products are the Smart VI (Visually Impaired) devices, a smart spectacle and a smart stick. The smart spectacle detects obstacles above shoulder level, while the smart stick identifies objects at lower levels.

"Aside that, it has some special functions like light detection and an emergency button where in case of emergency, with the click of a button the emergency goes straight to the caretaker," Henry added.

Henry chose to focus on visually impaired individuals because it represents a broad category of disability. "We wanted to focus on the wider disability before we come to the smaller ones," Henry explained.

Despite facing doubts from friends and family who saw robotics as a frivolous pursuit, Henry remained committed. “My family, and friends didn’t support me much because they thought it was a waste of time, energy and resources. They weren’t into it that much until they saw it growing, He recalls.

The Code Club team

Henry also had to contend with economic challenges in Ghana. High costs for imported components have strained his efforts, but he remains resolute. “The journey has not been easy,” he admits.

At 19, Henry holds diplomas in system engineering, robotics engineering, and special needs. Since 2023, Code Club Academy has raised about GHC 40,000 to develop the devices and bring them to market.

Henry attributes his transformation from a young burn victim to a robotics engineer and founder of Code Club Academy to consistency.

"I’m the type that believes that life is not a random way so we shouldn’t always follow that, which is go to school and get a job," Henry added. "I diverted from that and taught myself all that I know through online education. So you can always make your way."

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In an interview with Global South World, Benedict Owanga shared his journey to entrepreneurship. Originally from Congo, he spent his early years in South Africa, then moved to Canada, and eventually studied law in the United States.

During his second year at law school, a power outage during a crucial training session led him to consider the broader implications of unreliable electricity. "I lost power for an hour but that one hour has shaped my two months' worth of experience," Owanga said. This experience prompted him to think about the daily struggles of those who face frequent power outages.

With his co-founder Chinelo whom he met in law school, they set out to address the severe electricity shortages in Congo.

Despite receiving millions in donor funding, the World Bank reports that just 19 per cent of the Democratic Republic of Congo's 108 million people have access to electricity.

The common and costly methods of power; kerosene lamps and generators which contribute to fossil fuel pollution have proven to be dangerous and harmful to the environment.

Owanga and Chinelo offer a fresh and affordable take on electricity distribution. The company has developed portable battery packs that can power a three-bedroom house or a small shop. These packs are available for rent at $2 a day or can be purchased for $250. They are powered by solar panels or regular grid energy, making them both accessible and sustainable.

"And one thing that we're really proud of is that we make it on the continent, but it's also sustainable," Owanga said.

"So the biggest problem we encountered was just like logistics and getting batteries abroad. So we were like, hey, let's build with what we have." Owanga explained. So we used recycled laptop batteries. We obviously analyse everything, make sure it's safe. And we also use plastic bottles to create the device.

By manufacturing locally, Owanga Solar is also creating skilled labour opportunities for those who need them most.

Launching a hardware company in a developing region presents unique challenges. Owanga and Chinelo faced issues ranging from logistics and production delays to securing funding. Their initial support came from a $10,000 grant from DivInc and a $500 monthly stipend from The Hatchery at Emory University, which allowed them to experiment and refine their prototype. They also gained traction through pitch competitions, which provided additional funding and recognition.

"I really want to try and fix Congo and it all starts with electricity. The moment people are connected to the grid, the moment people have electricity, students, and kids can study much better. Moms can make that money they need," Owanga expressed his desire for change. "And not only that, like the society is so much better and people can be more innovative and people can really open the country."

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"I’m not even going to lie, literally 30 minutes of the riots breaking out…the Prime Minister already gave a speech and the intensified police everywhere. While it was happening, there were helicopters around. You could literally hear them in the video I made. There were police everywhere but the numbers were a lot at that time literally less than an hour after…in his speech that was where he condemned them as far rights and said they were going to be charged. The court started sitting for 24 hours and they started charging them immediately. People are getting six months, twelve months in prison,” said Oluwasemilore.

The filmmaker believes the government's actions played a crucial role in curbing the violence and preventing further unrest. "The measures taken by the UK government undoubtedly helped a lot, I’m not going to lie," he stated. "The UK government kudos, they did well to cop this thing happening.”

Concerns about racism despite government efforts

However, despite the government's efforts, the filmmaker expressed ongoing concerns about the deep-rooted issue of racism in society. They highlighted the pervasive nature of racial prejudice, noting that the problem extends beyond immediate actions and requires long-term solutions.

“I still feel unsafe walking around, you know, cause, I just feel like this thing is embedded in people like from, like their childhood. Like you see, like kids, everyone. You see the video online, you would see kids, you see people that literally don't even know what they are fighting for. I think what the UK government can do is just, cop it in a little way, which is what they are doing. But, this thing is deep down, like into people like this thing is deep down into people. And it is so sad. It is so sad that some people just feel like because you have a different skin colour. You are better than I am. I just do not understand it,” Oluwasemilore said.

The filmmaker emphasised the need for re-education to address the underlying issues of racism, arguing that media, folklore, and generational biases contribute to the problem. "It's not just about enforcing laws; it's about changing minds. Music, films, and other forms of media can play a crucial role in showing that everyone is equal, regardless of skin colour or religion. Racism is not inherent to any race - it's about individual attitudes and behaviour. The world needs more love and understanding. Until re-education reaches the grassroots, I fear the situation won't change. The UK government has made a good start, but there's still a long way to go."

British authorities have arrested over 1,000 individuals in connection with days of rioting that involved violence, arson, looting, and racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants, a national policing body reported on Tuesday. The unrest began in response to the killings of three young girls in the northern town of Southport on July 29. This incident was falsely attributed to an Islamist migrant due to online misinformation.

"When it started, I was in my house, which isn’t too far from the Pakistani area in Middlesbrough. It felt like we were a target. They literally targeted the street behind me, and it was really bad. I could hear the screaming and shouting - it was scary," Oluwasemilore recalled.

As the chaos unfolded outside, Oluwasemilore was also confronted with disturbing videos circulating online, showing attacks on people of colour and Muslims.

"That moment when I made that viral video, it was really bad. I was terrified and scared, knowing that I could get attacked for my skin colour without doing anything. It was a scary point in my life," he told GSW.

The traumatic experience has left a traumatizing impact on Oluwasemilore, who now feels constantly on edge in his daily life in Middlesbrough. "It has traumatized me so much that when I walk the streets of Middlesbrough, I’m always looking around, especially because it’s a really white-dominated area. That’s why the impact was huge. I’m always very cautious; I wasn’t like that when I first came here."

The filmmaker also shared that the riots have made him feel unsafe to the point where he avoids going out at night. "Since these riots, I’m always very wary of my environment. I can’t even take night walks anymore because you don’t know who hates you."

Anti-racism march

As the riots have simmered, the psychological toll and business losses that the riots have caused residents, especially those from minority communities are profound.

Some businesses are reportedly still counting losses as the riots have resulted in substantial property damage, stock losses, and a decline in sales as shoppers prefer to stay indoors.

Meanwhile, thousands of anti-racism protesters have since gathered in towns and cities across England in response to the riots. Stand Up to Racism organised up to 22 'Stop the Far Right' demonstrations on August 10 in cities including London, Manchester, and Birmingham.

The unrest was sparked earlier this month by a fatal knife attack on children in Southport, which misinformation on social media falsely attributed to an illegal immigrant and Muslim. 

Coffee Resurrect , an Ethiopian startup founded in 2021, repurposes unwanted coffee grounds into sustainable, high-quality products. As Africa's first coffee biorefinery, Coffee Resurrect creates all-natural ingredients for personal care, nutraceuticals, and food products.

Ethiopia is the world's fourth-largest coffee producer and the largest in Africa. In the 2023-2024 year, Ethiopia is expected to produce 8.35 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee, continuing a trend of growth over the past three years. The East African country, the origin of the coffee plant, has a centuries-old tradition of coffee farming.

Coffee Resurrect’s sustainable innovation

Almaw Molla, CEO and Founder of Coffee Resurrect shared the company's mission to divert industrial coffee waste into “100% natural, active and multifunctional” ingredients. “The industrial wastes are urban wastes, which are the spent coffee grounds and the silver skin. The spent coffee grounds come from coffee bars, restaurants, canteens, and airports. The silver skin is a waste produced during the processing and roasting of coffee,” he said in an interview with GSW.

“Our first products are coffee oil, coffee flour, and coffee fibre. These products serve two different sectors: the coffee flour and coffee oil are used in nutraceuticals and food ingredients, while the coffee fibre and coffee oil are applicable for personal care and cosmetics,” he added.

From thesis to startup

Almaw, a trained computer scientist, created Coffee Resurrect from his Master’s thesis at the University of Milan, Italy. His inspiration came from his family's coffee exporting business and a desire to find sustainable solutions in the industry. “I have a family who exports coffee to the US and European markets. I wanted to explore sustainable niche markets and innovative solutions, which led to the creation of Coffee Resurrect,” he said.

Despite its success, the company has faced challenges, particularly in securing funding and acquiring biotechnology expertise. “It's a new kind of technology, involving the circular economy and biotechnology. Achieving high purity standards requires significant expertise,” Almaw explained.

The company consists of five team members in Ethiopia, most of whom are women with backgrounds in chemistry, biology, and pharmaceuticals. “We have a team of five here in Ethiopia, mainly women, working in the coffee sector and pharmaceutical sectors,” he added.

Prospects and partnerships

Currently in the research and development stage with small-scale production in progress, Coffee Resurrect aims to launch its products in Ethiopia by early 2025. The goal is to expand production to Kenya and South Africa through pilot projects. According to Almaw, the products will be marketed both locally and internationally, with a focus on the European and US markets for personal care ingredients.

He disclosed that the food ingredients will focus on partnerships with local communities.

“What we're trying to create is, to incorporate this with the energy and to give back to the people… Our business model is going to be 70 - 30… We signed our biggest deal to collect from the biggest South African restaurants. It has 300 branches in South Africa. If you are collecting this raw material in South Africa, the business model is going to be applied in the food sector. 70% is going to be on the commercial side. 30% of the food ingredients are going to be given back to the people, back to the farmers, to the market, the community and to the pupils” he explained.

International recognition

In its three-year existence, Coffee Resurrect has garnered international recognition. In 2021, it was named in the Entrepreneurship World Cup Top 100 (EWC). In 2023, it won the Global Startup Awards in the Best Green Tech category for East Africa and the Global Startup Awards Africa, among others.

"it's definitely worth it. So that is worth it, putting yourself to this. You have to know your limits and practice multiple times before you actually go and attempt it," said Savagya. He, however, cautioned that "there's a fine line like you shouldn't cross that line where it is affecting you."

The Guinness World Record franchise has seen numerous records shattered by individuals vying to etch their names in history books. In Africa, a surge of various marathons—ranging from cooking, singing, and long speeches to talk shows and tree-hugging—are witnessing participants staying awake for over 130 hours to claim world titles.

The most recent marathon to have grabbed the headlines was by Nigerian chess champion Tunde Onakoya , who surpassed the existing 56-hour chess record by clocking in 60 hours. Although Onakoya did not disclose any health implications after completing his attempt, his fellow Nigerian, Kehinde Odesola , an artist who in his attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the longest painting marathon in an interview with GSW in February spoke of hallucinating after over 100 hours into his attempt.

Despite the taxing effort involved in these endeavours, Sarvagya celebrates them for the opportunities they present to individuals who achieve world record titles.

"The benefits are that it's good. You could tell people about yourself and they're generally curious about hearing your story and it helps you, like, gives you that edge over other people. It also opens doors to a lot of new opportunities. Personally, it has opened doors for public speaking opportunities. So now I've given that talk, I've given two TEDx talks as well and I really do public speaking. So that's, and if you can get collaborations and stuff. So those are the doors it opens and then it helps you create an identity for yourself," he added.

In 2020, Sarvagya Kulshreshtha secured his first Guinness World Record title by solving a Rubik's Cube in just 15.75 seconds, surpassing the existing record of 20 seconds at the time. He went on to achieve his second and third titles in 2022, for Rubik's Cubes and Pyraminx, respectively.

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Nevertheless, Sabin Aboitiz, CEO of holding company Aboitiz Equity Ventures, told Global South World that the Philippines remains reliant on fossil fuels to ensure cheap, reliable electricity for its growing population.

“Sustainability is in our DNA. It’s just that it's harder in the Philippines because, you know, we cannot rely on expensive renewable power only because we need it and we still need the old conventional way of doing power,” he said in an exclusive interview from his office in Manila.

“We need to balance our thinking of sustainability and, um something that will not hamper our growth, like higher power rates or no power at all, or no water, right or so, between power and water,” he added.

As an example of achieving this balance, Aboitiz cites his company’s involvement in Apo Agua - a project which combines the needs of power generation with water supply and waste-water management.

Another illustration can be found in the use of coal domes at the Therma Visayas and Therma South power plants. The first in the country to introduce the structures, these plants have been able to dramatically reduce their environmental footprint as a result of trapping coal dust which would otherwise have escaped into the air.

By ensuring the Philippines' energy needs are fulfilled from increasingly diversified and more and more sustainable sources, Aboitiz says he believes his businesses can ensure the Philippines fulfils its potential to become “the next big thing” among Asian economies.

He described the impetus behind his strategy in an exclusive interview with Global South World.

“It's like we're just being in tune with the times, and it's reminding us, that we must transform because we live our lives every day, and sometimes we transform automatically when we're forced to - like the pandemic. People had to do certain things because they were forced to. We don't want to go there. We want to be prepared, right? Let's not be forced to do something. So let's lead. Let's not follow.” 

The efforts he is making are so important that he did not consider the word “transformation” sufficient on its own to express the urgency and the scale of the challenge. So, taking inspiration from the Great Migrations of Africa, which saw mass movements across hundreds and thousands of miles, he decided to add a prefix.

“The transformation is something that we need to do so to escalate and make sure that we kind of exaggerate what transformation is needed. We put these two words together,” he said.

And of course, at the heart of The Great Transformation is technology. Aboitiz Equity Ventures’ interests span operations as diverse as Coca-Cola, Mactan airport, UnionBank and its core earnings driver, AboitizPower. Bringing systems and data across those operations can deliver huge benefits to customers in all sectors, Aboitiz believes.

“We can use data to be able to benefit the whole instead of individual companies. So, our clients in food data, for example, can benefit the bank and maybe benefit our clients of Coca Cola who can benefit the bank, too. And our clients of the distribution utilities, for example, again can benefit the food group or the Coca-Cola Group and that data used to be able to have better information on customers so that now creates a premium.”

Aboitiz describes his business as the first Asian Techglomerate and is passionate about its ability to improve the lives of Filipinos, whether through expanding the reach of education or finding solutions to generate cleaner affordable energy.

“We have a growing population, we have a very digital-savvy population … as the infrastructure, the roads are being built, so you're seeing infrastructure go in …I think before this president finishes, we will be the next big thing in Asia. I truly believe that,” Aboitiz said.

Aboitiz, 57, whose own businesses have been transformed into what he describes as a “techglomerate” spanning the fields of energy, transport, food and finance, said that by listening to business, the government was identifying and addressing issues which had previously held the country back.

He highlighted the work required to improve the infrastructure to support tourism, an area where his group has been contributing by developing Mactan Airport. Another important challenge is around the supply of clean and sustainable water, he noted. AEV’s lead project Apo Agua is an example of the kind of investments needed to secure the future prosperity of urban centres, he said.

"We have a great opportunity now. The success of the nation is really not the burden of the government but the burden of us, Filipinos. How we vote, how we act, how we support,” he concluded. “It lies on us.”

In the lengthy interview with Global South World, the businessman talked about his strategy to build a “techglomerate” that can leverage data across different units to benefit customers.

He also addressed some of the infrastructure challenges facing the Philippines including what his own companies are doing, for instance: managing water supplies to ensure sustainable and clean supplies for growing populations; improving airports to attract more tourists and ensure the kind of positive first impressions that will encourage them to return; balancing the need to supply reliable energy to power the economy with the necessity of reducing carbon emissions.

Watch this interview:

"Populism is the most dramatic cancer"

Latin America is a victim of populism, "the most dramatic cancer," but so are "the strongest and most established democracies," such as the American and the European ones, Carlos Mesa explained.

“Populism is born of abundance. When abundance runs out, populism reveals its weaknesses,” he said, quoting Uruguay's former president Julio María Sanguinetti.

The Bolivian historian, who served as president from 2003 to 2005, believes that populism is destroying democratic institutions, and states that it must be fought and exposed for what it is: “The destruction of institutions and the economy, the construction of friend-enemy spaces, and a black-and-white view of the world".

Asked about which Latin American countries he considers to be the most affected by the rise of populism, Mesa listed Nicaragua and Venezuela , “without a doubt".

“They destroyed, perverted, and degraded institutionality. The same is true for Bolivia,” he added.

"A weakening of democratic institutions"

According to Mesa, some Latin American governments, both from the left wing and the right wing, are showing their “authoritarian nature”.

"We are witnessing the argument that authoritarianism and the reduction of freedom should be accepted in exchange for security," Mesa said.

Migration, violence, and a growing presence of organised crime , drug and human trafficking are some of the reasons he linked to this issue, weakening democratic institutions.

"Latin America doesn’t have internal or international wars, but it has the most violent cities in the world."

Inflation, rising costs, and the need for foreign investment

This complex political scenario is compounded by a worrisome economic crisis in the continent, according to the former president. As a consequence, Latin America’s "economic and political influence" on the international stage “is decreasing”.

“The region is facing a situation of increasing inflation , rising costs, and the need for significant foreign investment,” he said. 

Mesa mentioned Bolivia as one of the countries with a "gloomy" outlook.

"We are facing the beginning of a crisis: subsidies, fiscal deficit, an economic situation marked by the depletion of basic natural resource reserves and the reserves of the Central Bank of Bolivia, the end of the gas era, and the need to import more gas, petrol, and diesel than we export."

Regarding international trade, the former president believes that finding the right interlocutor in the region is a challenge for the rest of the world.

"The European Union, the United States, or even the bloc led by China, have a basic question: Who do I talk to?" Mesa explained. "Do I speak with countries that have bilateral free trade agreements? Do I speak with a bloc like Mercosur , which today has a president like Lula in one direction and Milei in the other?"

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So, what are the challenges for Latin America and what does the future look like?

"The most important thing is rebuilding a credible and true democratic model," Mesa stated, emphasising that institutional reconstruction is key.

"A region, a country, or a society without institutions has no future," he said.

The former president insisted that countries, such as Bolivia, can’t continue to depend on natural resources indefinitely because they are "fragile, limited, and dependent on an international market that controls prices".

"We need to build a new space where investors are partners of our countries, where we are not simply suppliers of raw materials and they are not simply suppliers of technology and investment."

Mesa also highlighted that Latin America has "extraordinary investment potential," but the continent needs to change its consumption model and its view of the environment.

"We have to engage in the fight for carbon reduction, combat pollution, and explore the possibilities of both renewable and non-renewable natural resources that can enable us to diversify our energy model," he said.

The former Bolivian president concluded that, in order to address these challenges, Latin America must understand itself as a large region composed of at least three blocs acting in an integrated manner: South America , Central America and the Caribbean , and North America .