The Man Who Scaled M-PESA to 60 Million Customers Now Runs Absa's Retail Empire
Sitoyo Lopokoiyit built Africa's largest fintech. Now he takes charge of one of its biggest banks. The implications for continental finance are enormous.
Imani Levstein
Imani Levstein, co-founder of PowerList Africa, leads a platform that tracks and analyzes leadership, influence, and policy developments across the continent. Produced by the African News Network
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Iran Rejects Peace Talks and Oil Surges Past $108: The 11 Stories Moving African Money Today
Brent crude spikes as Tehran walks away. Gold crashes 21% from January highs. SARB holds. Afreximbank launches trade tech accelerator. The continent's treasury desks are watching closely.
11 Funding Opportunities Open Right Now for African Founders, NGOs, and Entrepreneurs
From Google's $350K cloud credits to Katapult's $500K climate investments. Deadlines range from March 27 to May 1. Here is what is open, who qualifies, and where to apply.
The 10 Largest African Economies in 2026: Who Is Rising, Who Is Stalling, and Why It Matters
Africa's combined GDP will reach $3.32 trillion in 2026. These 10 countries account for 68% of that output. The rankings reveal which reforms are working and which resource models are failing.
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The War on Energy: $110 Oil, $20 Billion in Qatari Damage, and Who Is Getting Rich While Africa Burns
Brent at $110. Zimbabwe fuel up 39%. Who profits from the arbitrage? PowerList names winners, losers and the next move.
geo-economics, oil prices, Iran war, Africa economy, central banks, ZiG, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, inflation
Hormuz Shock Threatens Africa's Disinflation Gains: The 11 Stories Moving Money Today
Oil at $114, fertiliser up 30%, and central banks across Africa rethinking rate cuts. What treasuries and CEOs need to know this morning.
Africa, Power & Influence, Policy Intelligence, Business Leaders, Economics, Policymakers, Rankings, PowerList Africa
How Prof. Mthuli Ncube Engineered Zimbabwe's Fastest Economic Growth in 14 Years
Everyone has an opinion about Zimbabwe's economy. Almost nobody examines the actual fiscal data. We did. The numbers are surprising — and the men behind them is Prof.Mhtuli Ncube and George Guvamatanga
Africa, Power & Influence, Policy Intelligence, Business Leaders, Economics, Policymakers, Rankings, PowerList Africa
The War You Cannot See Is Coming for Your Harvest: How Hormuz Is Starving Africa of Fertiliser
Oil at $100 is the headline. Fertiliser at 45 percent above January prices is the crisis nobody is covering. One-third of the world's seaborne fertiliser trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Africa imports over 90 percent of what it uses. The maths is brutal.
Why Africa's Biggest Trade Bank Just Handed a Zimbabwean the Keys to Its Insurance Empire
Lesley Ndlovu just became CEO of AfrexInsure, Afreximbank's specialty insurance arm. A Zimbabwean replacing a Zimbabwean at the helm of a continental institution worth $40 billion in assets. The trade insurance revolution starts here.
Africa's Finance Ministers Built Their Budgets on $60 Oil. The Hormuz Crisis Just Made Every Forecast Obsolete.
Brent crude has surged past $100 as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. For fuel-importing African economies, the fiscal assumptions underpinning 2026 budgets are now dangerously wrong. Who adjusts first — and who denies longest — will define the year.
Africa, Power & Influence, Policy Intelligence, Business Leaders, Economics, Policymakers, Rankings, PowerList Africa
The Tagwirei Files, Article 1 of 12
In 2009, BP and Shell sold their joint Zimbabwean operation. In 2010, Caltex followed. By 2015, three of the four largest international oil companies had abandoned Zimbabwe's downstream fuel market, surrendering over 130 service stations and the logistical backbone that had fuelled the country's transport, agriculture,
Strive Masiyiwa Just Took Econet Private. OK Zimbabwe Just Collapsed. And the ZSE Just Had Its Best Quarter in Years. Welcome to the Split-Screen Economy.
Three things happened in Zimbabwe’s capital markets in the same fortnight. Together they tell you more about the real state of the economy than any GDP figure or inflation print ever will.