Next Africa

In Ethiopia, the share of electric vehicles on the road has jumped to 6% from just 1% after a 2024 ban on new gasoline-car imports.
Across Africa, EV adoption is now among the fastest-growing globally — with Chinese automakers capturing the lion’s share of the market.
On today’s episode, Bloomberg’s Fasika Tadesse joins Jennifer Zabasajja to unpack what this surge looks like on the ground in Addis Ababa, while Asia transport reporter Linda Lew explains why companies like BYD are targeting African markets.
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Aliko Dangote plans to sell about 10% of his oil-refining company on multiple African stock exchanges to help fund the next phase of the tycoon’s business empire.
The IPO comes nearly five decades after a landmark share sale in Asia that went on to mint the continent’s richest person. In 1977, Dhirubhai Ambani sold shares in Reliance to thousands of domestic investors and reshaped equity culture in India. In this special episode of the Next Africa podcast, we ask whether Dangote could spark a similar transformation in Africa.
Bloomberg’s Managing Editor for Africa, Arijit Ghosh and our Abuja based reporter Nduka Orjinmo join Jennifer Zabasajja to discuss what we know about the IPO, why Ambani’s IPO in 1977 was such a game changer and what needs to happen if Dangote is to have the same effect.
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Starlink, SpaceX’s Satellite Internet Service is pushing for changes to South Africa’s equality rules which it says blocks the company from operating in Africa’s most industrialised economy.
South Africa requires companies in some sectors to have at least 30% Black ownership. These laws were introduced after the end of apartheid and they compelled companies in industries including banking, mining and telecommunications to sell stakes to Black people who were systematically excluded from the economy during White-minority rule, but now the governing coalition is split on whether to change this law.
On this week’s episode - Jennifer Zabasajja is joined by Bloomberg’s Senior Technology Reporter Loni Prinsloo and reporter Rivaldo Jantjies, on how Starlink has been growing across Africa, why South Africa is so important to the company, and how likely it is that rules could change.
Read our latest reporting on Starlink and South Africa here, and for more stories from the region subscribe to the Next Africa newsletter here
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Global conflicts from the Middle East to Ukraine are reshaping how investors assess risk — and challenging perceptions about Africa.

On today’s Next Africa podcast, Tiwa Adebayo, in for Jennifer Zabasajja, speaks with Zain Latif, founder of TLG Capital, about why he believes the continent is increasingly being seen as a more resilient investment destination. He explains why sectors with steady, defensive returns are drawing interest even as global volatility rises. Plus, Emerging Markets reporter Ray Ndlovu discusses why Africa is starting to look more attractive to investors.

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Lesotho’s abundant water has become one of the kingdom’s most strategic revenue streams. Its landmark deal to provide water for neighboring South Africa underscores the growing importance of water diplomacy across a continent increasingly strained by scarcity.
In this episode of the Next Africa Podcast, Jennifer Zabasajja speaks with Bloomberg’s Andre-Pierre du Plessis about Lesotho’s push to modernize its four-decade-old water agreement for the 21st century, and then speaks with Olivier Cogels, Professor Emeritus of UCLouvain, and advisor to governments across Africa and Asia, to explore how water-sharing deals can adapt to mounting pressure from climate change and rising demand.

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