Preeti Jha

1 week ago | semafor.com | Preeti Jha

Organized crime groups in Africa have embedded themselves in gold supply chains to such a degree that they now present “a serious global threat,” a new UN report warned. Some are using profits from illegal gold mining to fund armed activity, strengthen territorial control, and fuel conflict. “Their presence heightens violence, corruption and environmental degradation, while exposing vulnerable populations to exploitation and human rights abuses,” it said.

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Preeti Jha

The NewsOrganized crime groups in Africa have embedded themselves in gold supply chains to such a degree that they now present “a serious global threat,” a new UN report warned. Some are using profits from illegal gold mining to fund armed activity, strengthen territorial control, and fuel conflict. “Their presence heightens violence, corruption and environmental degradation, while exposing vulnerable populations to exploitation and human rights abuses,” it said.

3 weeks ago | semafor.com | Preeti Jha

The gender gap in mobile internet use narrowed in sub-Saharan Africa for the second year in a row, a new report found, though it remains the region with the highest proportion of women not yet adopting the technology. Sub-Saharan Africa showed “promising progress in closing mobile gender gaps,” the telecoms industry body GSMA wrote in the report seen by Semafor, with the gulf between men and women using mobile internet dropping from 36% in 2022 to 29% in 2024.

1 month ago | semafor.com | Alexis Akwagyiram |Preeti Jha

African investment funds are starting to struggle to raise capital for women-led businesses because many previous backers do not want to be associated with a gender-driven ethos that goes against executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump. Gender-lens investing, which incorporates considerations about the role of gender in achieving a financial return, has emerged in the last decade as an approach that can identify untapped opportunities ordinarily overlooked by funds.

1 month ago | semafor.com | Preeti Jha

Three African cardinals are among the potential contenders to become the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church after the death of Pope Francis. Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, DR Congo’s Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, and Côte d’Ivoire’s Cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo have all been tipped as possible pontiffs. Many Catholics on the continent — where the Roman Catholic church is growing the fastest — in modern history.