AFRICA-USA NOW Carol Pineau & Kellen Cody

Africa is experiencing a filmmaking boom. Nollywood is the 2nd largest producer of films in the world, beating out Hollywood. African movies and TV series on Netflix and Hulu, and African films are increasing winning international film festival awards. The expansion of African content is an exciting frontier with new stories and techniques bursting onto the scene, ready to be consumed by a large internal market or streamed anywhere in the world. African content will be only be big business, but also cultural diplomacy and African increasingly curves out a bigger chuck for itself in the global landscape.

A recent agreement between India and 18 countries, including 6 African nations, announced the creation of the financial infrastructure to trade in their respective currencies instead of using an intermediary, such as the US dollar. This has been a enormously beneficial de facto standard for the US, but at the same time has created problems for countries with smaller currency volumes. With the emergence of other major economies and increasing trade relationships that don’t include the US, many central banks are increasingly looking to see how they can transition away from a reliance on the US dollar.

The African diaspora in the US is large, educated, and one of the most successful groups in the country. Recently, they are investing in projects, businesses, and markets throughout the continent, creating investment opportunities like diaspora bonds. With far better understanding of real instead of perceived risks on the continent, they make ideal partners for foreign investors and offer patient capital, while also aiming to achieve development in Africa.

The recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) sent shockwaves through the tech ecosystem. The collapse revealed links to Africa in the startup ecosystem where many Africa startups were clients of SVB, a rarity among American financial institutions. The bank saw the potential in African start-ups and facilitated investments between funders in America and founders in Africa. But how will this relationship change now that there are visible cracks in the system? We have an insightful episode this week with three extraordinary guests. Eric Osiakwan, Managing Partner of Chanzo Capital, Karima El Hakim, Country Director for Egypt at Plug and Play Tech Center And Sherif Aziz, Co-Founder of Subsbase.

There is often no better way to connect across cultures than at the dinner table. Food diplomacy is tool that we can use to create mutual understanding and build relationships. Africa has much to offer in culinary delights, from West African jollof rice to Ethiopian and Eritrean injera with spicey stews and couscous and tajines in North Africa. But African cuisine is not as well-known in America. Fortunately, that's changing. Today, there are African culinary entrepreneurs who believe African food is potentially a multi-billion dollar market in the US. Many other places from Asia to South America have had incredible success in exporting their food and culinary traditions to the US, and there’s no reason why Africa can’t be next up.

AI and other new automation developments will likely be the 4th industrial revolution and change the world, as important as computers are today. AI will have profound implications for Africa: from solving age-old problems such as lack of physical ID cards, to new ones, such as logistic optimization with the passage of the AfCFTA. If the continent plays its cards right, early adoption of these technologies could change the game economically for the continent and make it a leader in the next industrial revolution. But with every opportunity comes risk. AI is only as good as its programmers, and many times it’s developed without African input, leading to racial biases and serious consequences. How will Africa strategize its next move in the sector and capitalize on the next technological wave?