Il y a des villes qui vous reçoivent sans bruit, et Ouagadougou, en cette année 2019, m’a accueilli ainsi dans la ferveur discrète d’un festival qui ne ressemble à aucun autre. Le FESPACO n’est pas qu’un rendez-vous cinématographique. C’est une liturgie, un moment où le continent se regarde dans le…
Aprés avoir acheté Lettre à une introvertie, Hajar dédicaçait sa lettre à un inconnu; moi. De nos échanges après sa conversation, elle comprit l’essence de ce que je suis en train de devenir. Elle inscrivit dans la mémoire de l’éternité: Lettre à une introvertie: pour croire en son feu et…
« Dans la nuit, lancer des passerelles. » Antione de Saint-Exupéry, Terre des hommes Les passerelles On ne lance pas des passerelles uniquement dans la nuit. Parfois, c’est en plein jour entre Rabat et ce que nous pensions déjà savoir. Rabiaa Marhouch, Hajar Azell Chokairi et Khalid Chergraoui nous ont rappelé que ces…
A decade on from “African Philanthropists and Economic Progress” May 31, 2016 - May 31, 2026 When I wrote those lines ten years ago, I was a young father of a two-year-old and a four-year-old, learning simultaneously how to be a parent and how to lead better. There is something…
There is a particular kind of African leader who does not announce himself. Who enters a room and you feel the shift before you locate its source. Who builds quietly, and lets the continent speak for him. Phuthuma Nhleko is that kind of leader. I first encountered him not through…
I picked up The Friendship Bench at chechebooks this weekend. I started reading it yesterday. By the third chapter, I had stopped underlining and simply sat with it. That is what a certain kind of book does. It does not inform you. It returns you to something you already sensed…
In this episode, Carl explains why financial inclusion and digital payments are not social initiatives, but core economic infrastructure essential for Africa’s long term growth, productivity, and resilience. Drawing on his concept of Polytunity, he reframes Africa’s current economic disruptions as opportunities to redesign markets, institutions, and business models that…
Yuen Yuen Ang encourages us to stop looking at the polycrisis and start seeing the Polytunity. Most economic models apply linear paths onto a non-linear continent. In my recent conversation with Boason Omofaye, we discussed why Africa’s real strength lies in its adaptive complexity; what I call the Coevolutionary Tango.…
Auteur : Carl Manlan Africa's top 100 banks in 2025 reveal a pattern that is hiding in plain sight. The continent's financial heavyweights are not merely products of urban affluence, mineral wealth, or balance-sheet sophistication. They are, more fundamentally, rooted in the soil — dividends of agricultural transformation. South Africa,…
Auteur : Carl Manlan The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) underway in Morocco is more than a football spectacle. It is a live demonstration of what sustained grassroots investment and long-term vision can deliver. Teams such as Comoros, Mozambique, and Tanzania have competed credibly against traditional powerhouses, underscoring a critical…
Transformative power of a soap First, I want to begin with the most basic of commodities: a bar of soap. In the early 2000s, Unilever faced a common corporate challenge: their Lifebuoy soap was stagnating in a crowded market. Today, it’s a billion-dollar business. What changed? They didn’t just sell…
Executive Summary Africa’s current polycrisis marked by a decline in traditional development aid and persistent systemic challenges is not merely a series of failures, but a symptom of a deeper flaw: the application of linear, mechanistic models to complex, adaptive economies. This paper applies Yuen Yuen Ang’s concept of “Polytunity”…
Akiko*, a Kruger National Park guide, parked by the buffalo thorn tree and then he gave my family and I a glimpse of nature’s creative spirit. That tree, with its paired thorns - one hooked and one strait - offers the Cape buffalo a protective element against predators. The paired…
A few weeks ago, while in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, I had lunch at L’usine Chez Rose, an open space where the community connects over fish. It serves simple food like your grandmother or mother would make it. On my plate, I had a large fish, attièkè and alloco. This is…
In the 1931 novel Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, we are reminded that “even our misfortunes are a part of our belongings.” My first reading comes at a time when I am reimagining the journey to date. In the novel, Rivière, the director of the mail service, believes the…