Africa’s AI Ambition Has an Electricity Bill. Who Should Pay It?

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Africa Wants to Be an AI Economy. Who Pays for the Electricity to Power It?
We have learned to applaud the wrong number.
A minister stands beside an executive. A figure with nine zeros glows on the screen behind them. The photographs are taken. The headline almost writes itself: another billion-dollar technology investment is coming to Africa.
And perhaps we should applaud. Africa needs more data centres, more compute and more of the infrastructure that will allow our businesses and governments to participate seriously in the AI economy.
But I think we are focusing on the wrong electricity question.
The obvious conversation is already happening: AI needs enormous amounts of power, and Africa needs to generate more electricity if it wants to compete.
I am interested in the question underneath that one.
What if the electricity demand created by Africa’s AI boom is not merely another infrastructure cost to finance, but a new economic asset we can use?

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What Are Africa’s Stablecoin Users Trying to Tell Its Central Banks?

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Africa is moving from debating whether crypto should be regulated to deciding how it should be regulated.
That is broadly the right direction.
Ghana is bringing virtual assets formally inside the regulatory perimeter. South Africa is incorporating crypto assets into its broader capital-flow architecture. Nigeria has moved through restriction, enforcement and towards a more formal regulatory framework.
The reasons are obvious. Consumer losses matter. Money laundering matters. Tax matters. Capital flows matter. Financial stability matters.
But I think there is another question hiding underneath the regulatory conversation.
Millions of Africans are choosing stablecoins despite uncertain protection, fraud risk and regulatory ambiguity. What exactly are they trying to buy?
Because what if part of Africa’s stablecoin boom is not really demand for crypto at all?

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Ethel Cofie Moderates Stable Coin Roundtable with 4 Cental Banks Across Africa

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Two weeks ago, Ethel Cofie had the privilege of moderating a Central Banks’ Roundtable on stablecoins with senior representatives from four African central banks: Mr. Gallington Mawire, Deputy Director of Financial Markets at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe; Mr. Isaac Muhanga, Chief Operations Officer at the Bank of Zambia; Mr. Jimmy Apaa, Director of Financial Markets at the Bank of Uganda; and Dr. Yamungu Kayandabila, Deputy Governor for Economic and Financial Policies at the Bank of Tanzania.

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