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When Africa’s internet breaks, this ship answers the call

As the Léon Thévenin eased into Cape Town port last month, Shuru Arendse was ready to rush home to his family. He had a month off and a laundry list...

© Photography by Jean François Boury © Orange Marine

Tyrone November (L) and Didier Towanou, both able seamen, wrangle a debris-covered segment of cable hauled in from the seabed.

AI and immigration uncertainty threaten Nigeria’s dreams of becoming an outsourcing hot spot

As Nigeria bets billions of dollars on becoming the next outsourcing superpower, it is grappling with how artificial intelligence and immigration policies are radically reshaping the industry.   The African nation...

© Tom Saater/The New York Times/Redux

Seni Sulyman, right, Andela's country director in Nigeria, and colleagues on a video call at the start-up's offices in Lagos, Nigeria, Sept. 29, 2017. "This is a platform for giving people who want to learn and succeed access and opportunity," says Seni Sulyman, a 32-year-old graduate of Harvard Business School, of the company. (Tom Saater/The New York Times)

Uber drivers in Kenya are ignoring the app and charging their own rates

30 August 2024 at 05:00
Charles has been an Uber driver in Nairobi for nearly five years. But the last couple of years have been hard, with stubbornly high gas prices eating into his earnings. In...

© Nichole Sobecki/VII/Redux

Uber driver Emmanuel Bitok prepares for the day in the home he shares with his girlfriend Winny (23) in Nairobi’s Mathare neighborhood, Kenya, on October 16, 2020. Previously a workshop manager for a furniture company, Emmanuel began driving for Uber three years ago. Emmanuel checks the Uber app as he waits for his first ride of the day.

Uber came to Kenya, a country of densely populated cities without efficient public transport systems, and aggressively signed up drivers while simultaneously increasing ridership by dropping prices and making taxis a more affordable option.
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