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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has signed an agreement with Ethiopia to launch its electronic world trade platform (eWTP). It’s the second African country after Rwanda to sign up to the eWTP, an e-commerce initiative aimed at making it easier for small and medium-sized companies to sell internationally.

The agreement was signed on Monday during a visit to Addis Ababa by Alibaba’s billionaire founder Jack Ma, who is making a high profile push for digital investment on the continent.

He is part of Beijing’s rapid emergence as a tech investor in Africa.

From e-commerce and smartphones, to music streaming and fintech, Chinese companies are shaping the digital business landscape.

In telecoms established players like ZTE and Huawei have been joined by the likes of Transsion, which has risen from obscurity in recent years to become Africa’s leading handset provider. It also runs Boomplay, the continent’s top music streaming service.

Chinese investors are also joining the booming start-up funding circuit, recently leading a $120 million funding round into Nigeria-based fintech company Opay. The firm is run by Chinese-owned, Norway-based Opera, whose web browser ranks second only to Google’s Chrome in terms of usage on the continent.

Others, like consumer electronics giant Xiaomi, are gearing up to expand on the continent.

Chinese investment is quickly going digital in Africa.

This report reflects the views of the author alone, not those of How we made it in Africa.

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Today’s picks

From the continent

Kenya’s central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate from 9% to 8.5%, the first cut in 16 months, to help boost credit and economic growth. This follows the scrapping of a rate cap introduced in 2016, which critics say has stifled private sector lending in East Africa’s biggest economy. More: Bloomberg

Cameroon’s main opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, has said his Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) party will boycott legislative elections scheduled for February 9, 2020, due to ongoing unrest in the country’s minority English-speaking regions. A government crackdown on a separatist movement in Cameroon’s anglophone regions has left thousands dead. More: Africanews

The global perspective

The US has recalled its ambassador to South Sudan, following a warning last week that Washington is reviewing its relations with the country following the failure to form a unity government in line with a peace deal signed in September 2018. A deadline for the unity government passed on November 12, raising fears about the prospects of ending a crippling five-year civil conflict. More: Anadolu Agency

The International Monetary Fund has warned that South Africa faces a prolonged period of weak growth, rising unemployment and growing credit rating risk unless the government accelerates the implementation of needed economic reforms. This comes amid waning confidence in a revival promised under president Cyril Ramaphosa, following years of stagnation under his predecessor Jacob Zuma. More: Reuters

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