2027 Facts & Figures: AFRICA

Dakar, SENEGAL, is becoming a center for fashion. Known for its colorful flowing garments called boubous, the city is home to Dakar Fashion Week—one of Africa’s oldest fashion events. Local designers are making their mark globally, including Sarah Diouf, whose label Tongoro counts Beyoncé among its fans. Chanel, the first luxury brand to stage a fashion show in sub-Saharan Africa, chose Dakar for that milestone in 2022. “Africa is having its moment,” Diouf told Condé Nast Traveler, “and our traditional pieces are being integrated into fashion everywhere.”

^{Source: Condé Nast Traveler; Africa Fashion Tour}

A start-up in TANZANIA is helping children read at night with a simple solution: backpacks equipped with lights and solar-powered batteries. The company’s founder, Innocent James, once studied by kerosene lamp himself and wanted to make it easier for children to read safely in a country where fewer than half of households have electricity. His firm has grown from a small local project into a thriving business, selling thousands of solar-powered backpacks across Africa. They bring safe, affordable light to students after sunset.

^{Source: CNN}

More than 100 Benin Bronzes are set to be returned to NIGERIA, after the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom agreed to repatriate the objects seized by British forces during the 1897 sacking of Benin City. The artifacts—crafted from bronze, brass, and ivory—include sculptures and commemorative royal heads. Seventeen pieces will remain on loan in Cambridge for three years. Repatriating the art is aiding “the restoration of the pride and dignity” of the Nigerian people, says Olugbile Holloway, director general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments.

^Source: BBC

The Sahara Desert covers 90 percent of LIBYA, one of the driest countries on Earth. To ensure a reliable source of freshwater, Libya must tap reserves beneath the sand. In 1991, it built the Great Man-Made River, the world’s biggest underground irrigation pipeline. It remains the largest reliable source of flowing water in Libya.

^{Source: National Geographic}