Acsair

04/08/2026

04/06/2026

Across Africa, the informal economy is looked at as a tax problem, but it is also a livelihoods system, an employment system, a survival system and a financing challenge. Millions of people operate outside formal structures because formalization is costly, complicated, risky or disconnected from immediate economic benefit. Treating informality only as noncompliance misses the deeper institutional reality.

Informality occupies a major part of Africa’s output and employment and this means that a large share of the continent’s economic life produces value without leaving strong records, credit histories, social protection links or reliable tax pathways. The result is a narrow revenue base, weaker financial inclusion, limited business scaling and reduced capacity for states to plan with accurate data.

Formalization must therefore be designed as a pathway into opportunity and not as a punishment. Digital payments, simplified registration, low-cost transaction fees and compliance, mobile-based bookkeeping, business identification systems and access to credit can help informal firms see the value of entering the formal economy. When formalization gives entrepreneurs visibility, protection, finance and market access, it becomes a development tool.

03/06/2026

There is an ongoing public discussion on income inequality and this usually often begins after people enter the labour market. We compare wages, jobs, business opportunities, and access to capital yet a large part of inequality begins earlier, in the unequal conditions that shape who enters school, who remains there, who reaches higher levels and who later benefits from that education.

There is a difference between inequality of results and inequality of opportunity. Inequality of results is visible in income and wealth differences, while inequality of opportunity is rooted in circumstances such as parents’ education, household wealth, place of residence and family background. Inequality of opportunity is less visible, but it can shape life outcomes long before individual effort begins to matter.

When a child’s schooling depends strongly on parental wealth or education, the education system becomes part of the mechanism through which inequality is reproduced because the child may be talented, ambitious and capable, but the surrounding infrastructure of opportunity may already be uneven.

Africa’s inequality challenge must therefore be addressed before people reach the job market. It begins with early educational access, household support, school quality, safe learning environments, rural inclusion and pathways from school into meaningful work because a fairer economy begins when opportunity is made less dependent on inherited circumstances.

02/06/2026

Global fragmentation is changing the meaning of regional integration for example, in calmer periods, integration is often presented as a trade opportunity and in more uncertain periods, it becomes a shock absorber. When global supply chains are disrupted, currencies come under pressure and external financing becomes less predictable and African countries with stronger regional value chains, trade corridors and local production networks are better positioned to adapt.

The AfCFTA matters because it can reduce Africa’s excessive dependence on distant markets for essential goods, intermediate inputs and export opportunities but its promise will depend on practical systems such as efficient customs, functional transport corridors, harmonized standards, digital trade facilitation, regional industrial policy and payment systems that make intra-African commerce easier and cheaper. There must be urgent move of integration from treaty language into operational infrastructure.

For ordinary businesses, regional integration should mean lower border delays, simpler documentation, wider markets, and more predictable rules whereas for governments, it should mean stronger supply resilience and more diversified growth.

In a fragmented world, Africa’s internal market is one of its strongest strategic assets, but it will only serve that role if policy ambition is matched by implementation urgency and discipline.

29/05/2026

Global energy and fertilizer shocks often enter African economies through prices, but their impact goes far beyond inflation figures. They affect transport costs, food production, household budgets, exchange rates, public finances and business confidence. A disruption in a distant shipping route can quickly become a higher food price in an African market, a higher fuel bill for a small business or a weaker currency for a government managing external payments.

Africa cannot build resilient economies while remaining highly exposed to imported fuel, volatile fertilizer markets and external logistics disruptions. The continent needs a more deliberate energy mix that includes renewables, gas as a transition fuel where appropriate, regional power pools, local refining capacity, green public transport and stronger cross-border energy infrastructure. The more Africa can produce, transmit, store and trade energy within the continent, the more it can reduce the external shocks that repeatedly weaken growth and household welfare.

27/05/2026

In Africa, solar energy is often introduced through the language of access such as lighting homes, charging phones and connecting off-grid communities. These are important first steps, but the deeper opportunity for Africa lies in productive use. When solar energy powers irrigation, refrigeration, agro-processing, drying, cooling, market stalls or small workshops, it becomes economic infrastructure and enables the move from survival activity to value creation.

The potential of solar home systems, mini-grids, water pumps, solar dryers and productive-use equipment in agriculture and small enterprise is on the rise and this matters because many African’s livelihoods are located in sectors where energy can directly increase productivity. A solar pump can reduce labour and improve yields, a dryer can reduce post-harvest losses, a refrigeration can extend market life and lighting can lengthen safe working hours and improve learning conditions.

The development question is therefore how to connect renewable energy to income and not only consumption. Africa’s energy transition will be stronger when solar systems are designed around the economic lives of communities, especially producers and traders. In that sense, solar power becomes a platform for rural enterprise, food security and local resilience.

26/05/2026

The financing gap is often presented as a shortage of money, as though Africa’s main problem is simply that too little capital is available. Africa’s development challenge is also a systems challenge, because large amounts of value are lost through weak tax administration, inefficient public investment, illicit flows, fragmented financial markets and limited institutional capacity to deploy capital productively.

This changes the way development financing should be discussed. Africa certainly needs more capital, but it also needs stronger systems for collecting, protecting, allocating and multiplying that capital. A dollar raised through taxation, borrowing, remittances, pension funds, climate finance or private investment has different development value depending on the credibility of the institution that manages it and the productivity of the project into which it is placed.

Seen from that angle, closing the financing gap is a governance, data, planning and financial architecture agenda. The continent’s opportunity lies in building institutions that can convert available resources into roads, energy systems, digital infrastructure, schools, health systems, industrial parks, research capacity and productive enterprises. Africa’s financing future will depend as much on institutional quality as on the volume of money mobilized.

24/05/2026

ACSAIR has officially launched the African Innovation Fund for Development (AIFD), a new programme designed to identify, finance and strengthen African-led innovations that respond to real development challenges across the continent.

AIFD was created to bridge the gap between promising ideas and the resources needed to test, strengthen and scale them. Through catalytic support, technical guidance, impact measurement, mentorship and strategic partnerships, the programme will support innovators building practical and locally relevant solutions in areas such as livelihoods, food systems, health, education, digital inclusion, climate resilience, financial access, community development and responsible use of data and technology.

At its core, AIFD is built on the belief that Africa’s development will be accelerated when African ideas, enterprises and leadership receive the right support to grow. The programme places strong emphasis on youth-led, women-led and community-driven solutions that create opportunity, strengthen livelihoods and deliver measurable impact.

ACSAIR also invites development partners, donors, investors, foundations, universities, diaspora networks, public institutions and corporate partners to collaborate in financing and strengthening African innovations rooted in local realities.

Africa’s future will be shaped not only by the challenges it faces, but by the solutions it chooses to support. Through AIFD, ACSAIR is helping create a pathway for African innovators to move from promise to progress, from ideas to implementation and from local action to wider development impact.

23/05/2026

Women’s Cooperatives Can Become Energy Institutions

Women’s cooperatives are often treated as community groups, but in the renewable energy sector they can become serious economic institutions. Across Africa, there is high potential of women-led solar cooperatives and clean cookstove initiatives to pool resources, manage equipment, provide services and expand last-mile access. This model is important because it responds to both market failure and social constraint.

A cooperative can reduce individual risk, strengthen bargaining power, create shared ownership and improve access to finance. It can also make renewable energy more trusted at community level because adoption often depends on relationships, demonstration and after-sales support. Women’s groups already hold social credibility in many communities and with the right technical and financial support, that credibility can become a distribution and service infrastructure.

The deeper insight is that Africa’s clean energy transition does not have to rely only on large utilities or private firms. Community-based institutions can carry part of the transition, especially where markets are thin and households are dispersed. Women’s cooperatives can help transform renewable energy from a delivered product into a locally governed system.

23/05/2026

From 19 to 21 May 2026, the Afrique Center for Statistics, Artificial Intelligence & Innovation Research (ACSAIR) attended AI Everything Kenya 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya, a major gathering that brought together leading voices in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, investment, agriculture, public service innovation and inclusive technology across Africa.

For ACSAIR, the event was an important opportunity to engage with conversations shaping Africa’s digital future. Key discussions highlighted the need for African institutions to move beyond consuming imported technologies and actively contribute to building data systems, AI solutions, research models and innovation frameworks that reflect African realities.

The event also reinforced the importance of digital sovereignty, responsible AI governance, cybersecurity, local-language technologies, agriculture intelligence, climate resilience and practical solutions that work for communities with limited connectivity and access.

ACSAIR’s participation strengthened our commitment to connecting research, data, artificial intelligence and community needs to support Africa’s development. Africa’s technological future must be ethical, inclusive, locally relevant and built with the people it is meant to serve.

Mastercard Foundation Open Society Foundations