indaba

Billboard is changing its chart math again. Starting in mid-January, streams will count for more when calculating album sales. The main shift gives more chart influence to people using free, ad-supported streaming tiers. The new formula reduces the number of streams needed to equal one album...

Margo Price just inked a deal with Warner Chappell Music. The singer-songwriter signed a global publishing agreement with the company's Nashville branch. Her frequent creative partner Jeremy Ivey also got an administration deal there. Price's latest album, Hard Headed Woman, scored two Grammy...

Dude in Zimbabwe tried to fake his way into nursing school. Jonathan Mukwena, a twenty-year-old from Chiredzi, got slapped with a 350 dollar fine. He will go to jail for three months if he does not pay. A Bulawayo magistrate named Beverly Madzikatire hit him with the penalties for fraud and...

A Zimbabwean businesswoman and author has published a memoir about her life since divorcing five years ago. Theodora Madzinga-Chinembiri's book details her experience after a nineteen-year marriage ended. The 46-year-old mother of four says she wrote it to push society, especially religious...

Vodafone Oman just rolled out a new loyalty scheme called Wafi. It skips the usual points system to give customers instant rewards. The program works directly inside the existing My Vodafone app, offering deals from partner brands in categories like food and shopping. A company exec said the...

Nigeria's push for digital control is focusing on keeping data inside the country. Recent outages on global platforms have shown the risks of relying on foreign servers, which can break financial systems and weaken security. Storing data abroad leaves institutions exposed to outside policies...

Airtel Money users in Kenya can now pay for Showmax subscriptions directly through their mobile wallets. The partnership lets customers sign up for or renew any of the streaming service's plans, including its entertainment and Premier League packages, using their phone balance. The move makes...

Chad is hosting a regional meeting focused on internet backbone mapping and digital money services. The four-day workshop, organized by the local telecom regulator ARCEP Chad alongside a Central African regulatory body and a UN agency, brings together officials and operators from multiple...

A Zambian government tech unit is starting a program to spread digital skills training across different ministries. Their institute brought in thirteen officials from departments like defense, justice, and finance for an orientation. The goal is to make these officers instructors who can manage...

Zambian tech leaders told a room of executives that adopting AI is a national necessity, comparing it to basic infrastructure like power. The briefing by the Ministry of Technology and Science, run with a firm called Pranary, pushed for enterprise-level AI deployment next year. Minister Felix...

Service issues in Abuja are being blamed on a diesel shortage. The telecom regulator NCC says supply problems from a fuel suppliers group have hit a key infrastructure company, IHS Nigeria. That company provides power to many Airtel and MTN cell towers, causing outages. The commission states it...

A new forecast says the UAE needs to add over a million workers by 2030. That's a massive jump of more than twelve percent, which is way higher than expected growth in places like the US or UK. The demand is being pushed by general economic expansion and a big need for tech roles. Sectors like...

An Egyptian fintech firm called MNZL just got a unique double approval from the country's financial regulators. They secured the first fully digital mortgage license and a digital consumer finance license. This lets them offer loans backed by things like houses or cars through a completely...

The Southern African regional group SADC picked Zambia to serve as its next interim chair. This happened after Madagascar stepped down from the rotational leadership due to its own political crisis. The group held an emergency online summit to address the situation. Former Malawian president...

ZANU-PF is framing next year as a period for decisive action, pointing to claimed economic gains and total political control. Party spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa laid out this stance, crediting President Mnangagwa's leadership and party cohesion for recent achievements. Economically, the...

A top official from the Democratic Republic of Congo says African nations need to band together to address the worsening crisis in the eastern part of his country. Minister Floribert Anzuluni Isilokovetshi delivered that message in Harare after meeting with President Mnangagwa. He was sent as a...

Bulawayo's December calendar is stacked with events. The month started with a party headlined by musician Bagga and a chill Sunday session from DJ Bryce Klasiq. South African artist Sun-El Musician played a show, while gospel fans had a live recording event. The festive switch gets flipped with...

Zimbabwe marks Unity Day each December to remember the 1987 peace deal between rival political groups Zanu and Zapu. That agreement, led by Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, ended a violent post-independence conflict. The day now coincides with a major government outreach effort addressing that...

A Zimbabwean official just took home a top award at the big amateur boxing world championships in Dubai. Steven Masiyambumbi won the title of best referee and judge for the entire men's tournament. This is a major deal in that world, basically saying he was the most consistent and fair official...

Zimbabwe's tourism is looking up for the holidays. Operators are seeing solid advance bookings, with resorts around 70 percent full already. The country got a boost from a recent Forbes ranking, calling it the world's best place to visit. Official numbers show over 1.6 million international...