After another year of fast-paced innovation, media managers, experts and academics posed a few tough questions at this year’s Nordic AI in Media Summit (NAMS), hosted at the JP/Politikens former printing press. Both the ink-stained walls and the lyrics of Video Killed the Radio Star served as reminders that the news industry has survived previous rounds of technological changes. But Canadian AI expert Nikita Roy warned the audiences that survival is not a given: “Awareness is not immunity.”

The fourth edition of the summit, hosted in Copenhagen by the Nordic AI Journalism Network, shifted the focus from tools and experiments to some of the more fundamental issues AI is surfacing for the news industry. What will the news economy look like? What (and who) will be automated? What will journalism mean in the age of AI? Speakers and attendees agreed the jury is out for all of these questions. Or at least, no one has definitive answers for them yet.

NAMS is led by Olle Zachrison, head of news AI for BBC News, Kasper Lindskow and Sara Inkeri Vardar from JP/Politikens Media Group, and Agnes Stenbom Swedling from Schibsted, who until recently was a visiting fellow at the Reuters Institute.

The summit included keynote lectures by experts such as Ezra Eeman from NPO, Nikita Roy from Newsroom Robots and our senior research associate Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, now at the University of Copenhagen. There were also presentations of AI projects and tools from many organisations, and breakout sessions targeting specific issues, with most of the latter held under Chatham House rules.

If you couldn’t be in Copenhagen this week, here are five key takeaways from the summit, ranging from broad questions on how AI will change the future of journalism to more practical takeaways from newsrooms navigating these changes. You will soon be able to catch up with the conference programme in full here.

1. It’s time for a radical reimagining of the news economy

The impact of AI will bring a fundamental restructuring of both the supply and demand side of the news economy, said Shuwei Fang, a Shorenstein Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. As she explained in this powerful essay we published in March, she predicts four paradigm shifts: scarcity to abundance, a human audience to a machine audience, attention to intention, and artefacts to liquid content.

She believes these shifts will result in significant changes for the news ecosystem. For example, news production could shift from a “stock model,” where a news product is first produced and subsequently consumed by users, to a “flow model” where content is crafted at the moment of consumption specifically for a particular user.

Another shift could be news going from a B2C product to B2A2C (business to agent to consumer). Here, the “A” layer includes multiple agents with different needs in their own right, depending on their purpose.

The ecosystem emerging can produce answers to extremely niche, detailed questions addressing individuals’ needs, Fang said. While this presents opportunities, the distance that AI creates between audiences and news organisations could alienate publishers from important information about what audiences need from them.

Fang also predicted that the market for news could start to bifurcate between luxury and commodity, with extremes at either end and a hollowed-out middle. The luxury end would be defined by intangible qualities like brand identity and trust, with offerings like member communities and shared live experiences. The commodity end will be defined by infrastructure and integration.

There would be AI and human presence across both ends of the spectrum. The middle, where most news organisations sit today, would be dangerous ground, Fang said.

Despite the risks inherent to the scenarios she painted, Fang is not a pessimist. “The market for knowledge could get much bigger,” she said, with possible expansion both on the supply and demand side. Opportunities include lower production costs and the possibility to use AI to reach underserved audiences.

However, the value brought by AI may not be evenly distributed, and power could concentrate in a handful of players. For news organisations thinking about how to position themselves for the future, Fang heeded a warning: “Be suspicious of solutions that require the least amount of change.”

2. It’s also time to rethink what journalism is

If the news industry is to reorient itself in light of AI, it will need to redefine itself. “People don’t want news, as in facts, but they might want sensemaking,” said Florent Daudens, CEO and co-founder of Mizal AI, a startup offering production agents for media companies. This is why Substack is growing even as other forms of media struggle, he said.

Facts might not be a great bet in a news ecosystem increasingly mediated by AI either, Daudens said, as tech companies could get them by striking a deal with a single newswire.

This thought was echoed by Fang: there’s so much free information online such as research and press releases that AI companies could draw from, and that, for some, may be indistinguishable from journalism by news organisations.

Nikita Roy suggested we are at a turning point that, if missed, could spell disaster for the news industry. “We are in our Nokia and Kodak moment, where we are looking at a new product but thinking with the metrics of an old product,” she warned. Instead of worrying about how to recover lost web traffic and otherwise defend the status quo, we need to leave behind old assumptions.

AI is disrupting something more fundamental, Roy said: how information moves, how value is captured, what it means to be a media company.

This is a bigger shift than the one from print to digital, as then the role of the publisher remained largely the same. To Roy, publishers may be approaching this from a loss perspective, feeling their losses but not considering what they could gain.

Echoing Fang, she also asked those present to consider the people they could reach that it had not been possible to serve before. “We mistake the container for journalism,” she said, referring to an article, a podcast episode or a newsletter issue. And then she asked a fundamental question: “If you knew nothing about websites, but you knew people still needed verified information to navigate their lives, what would you build?”

A slide from Nikita Roy’s presentation. Image courtesy of NAMS.

3. Agents might be the future

Agents took centre stage at this year’s summit. In a future when many people navigate the web with their own personal agent, as David Caswell outlined in an essay we published last year, publishers’ relationships with audiences would be mediated through this middle layer.

Florent Daudens described how agents would surf the web on behalf of the humans they serve, visiting websites, extracting and repackaging information according to their person’s wants and needs. They may even be authorised to pay for news, in a sort of micropayment system as suggested by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a recent conversation with the Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson.

For news publishers, this would mean learning how to embed instructions for agents on their websites, instructing them on how to use their content, and working out how to serve information to agents in a way that would preserve the organisation’s tone and identity.

Key to this is keeping your data in order, which isn’t something many news organisations have prioritised until now. “Very few news organisations structure their data properly, and that’s a huge problem,” said consultant Madhav Chinnappa, until recently a visiting fellow at the Reuters Institute.

Roy described how this kind of future might work. In this new world, “you no longer need to be found, you need to be worth monitoring,” she said. Publishers would find themselves creating for two audiences: humans and agents. The latter wouldn’t only be the personal agents Daudens suggested, but also platform agents, newsroom agents, and even adversarial agents.

“By the time agents are reliable enough, it will be too late. We can’t wait and see. We need to experiment now, as much as we can,” Roy warned.

This might still seem far-fetched to some, but agents have already improved substantially over the last year, with the biggest impact on coding.

Agents also began playing a role in newsroom AI tools. Norwegian local media network Polaris Media Vest uses agentic as well as vibe coding for a range of journalistic tools and widgets, some of which non-coding reporters built, said Kaja Distad, head of editorial development.

In Schibsted, video experts taught an agent to work like them to develop a tool now used to convert any content from its subsidiary VG into a social-ready video. Football World Cup-focused chatbots developed by Swedish tabloid rivals Aftonbladet and Expressen both use agentic workflows. Danish publisher Bonnier’s new internal tool Flows allows journalists to set up their own agentic systems, combining research, extraction and planning, decision and writing. This tool is used, for example, to monitor, summarise and notify them of a story they may want to cover. In some ways, agents are already here.

4. Large legacy newsrooms send out nimble explorers

Characterised both as speedboats sailing ahead of a large ship and as light drones compared to heavy tanks, legacy newsrooms shared how they are using relatively small and fast-moving AI experiments to test out new ideas while protecting their core brand.

The military analogy was shared by Amalie Kestler, editor-in-chief of Politiken, the Danish newspaper in whose former printing press the meeting was held. Newsrooms can be run like tanks, heavy and slow with a centralised hierarchy, she explained. Or they can be run like drones, light and quick. The tank model has its place, but in some cases newsrooms should opt for the drone approach.

For Politiken, AI experimentation has expanded beyond data journalism and its multiuse tool Magna into the quick-paced vibe coding, leading to interactive widgets to encourage audiences to engage with news stories.

An eye-catching example was the “death machine”, which asks users to input information about their lifestyle and uses statistics to predict when they will die. At the same time, Politiken is also highlighting the human aspects to its journalism with video podcasts and live debates.

Gard Steiro, editor-in-chief and CEO of Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang (VG), built upon past NAMS presentations to make the case for moving on from experimentation to scaling. For him, this also means doubling down on the human touch that AI cannot replace in journalism. “There are people out there who need to be met at eye level and tell their stories, and rest assured that Sam Altman doesn’t give a damn about them,” he said.

Steiro also sees a great need for change to make the most of the opportunities afforded by AI. “If we don’t make an effort to change, the untapped potential will be so great that any startup will overtake us,” he said.

Legacy newsrooms are slow like large ships, so VG is sending out speedboats to test the waters. These include VG X, a new app-based news service that replaces articles with summarised information updated around the clock and managed almost entirely by AI, using a clustering algorithm to group together VG articles and videos into stories. As there is no CMS, editors can request changes directly in the product, akin to talking to it.

Another of these speedboats is VG Lab, an internal tool to quickly test ideas and get an assessment of whether VG could execute it, whether there’s a market for it, how much it would cost, and what similar offerings exist around the world. This is led by two people and a team of agents, and led to the creation of Norway’s fastest growing app last autumn, Steiro said.

Gard Steiro’s presentation. Image courtesy of NAMS.

5. What do audiences want?

An underlying motif pervaded the summit: the idea that AI could be used by publishers to get a better idea of what their audiences want and need through a new ability to ask direct questions.

Daudens mentioned this as an advantage of personal agents: by looking at what agents are seeking out from websites, publishers may figure out areas that require further reporting. Also by analysing how audiences use AI chatbots and the kinds of questions they ask, news organisations can know what kinds of stories they want more of.

In a panel discussion moderated by our researcher Felix Simon, the conversation turned to the importance of building relationships with the audience. “We can create as much journalism as we want, but if people don’t want to be sources, or don’t want to read us, there’s no point,” said Stine Thorsgaard Kjær, head of innovation and development at TV2 Østjylland.

There is a potential problem for journalists who use AI. In a closing keynote, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen asked a key question posed by the Reuters Institute’s survey data: audiences tend to be sceptical of AI in journalism.

It could be that journalists who want to use AI and be explicit about their use aren’t making a good case for this to the public, he suggested. If we want to both use AI and foster trust, there are many factors that contribute to trust that have very little if anything to do with technology. As our Trust in News Project found, it’s about brand, presentation, language, bias, factual accuracy.

“It remains really important that you, as a professional community of practice, continue to judge your own work by your own standards” when it comes to AI use, Nielsen said. But that’s only one leg of value and trust, and probably not the most important one. The second, he added, is a public test: the need to convince members of the public, “what is in it for us?”

Marina Adami writes articles on the future of journalism worldwide and occasionally works with the Reuters Institute’s research team. 

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Dr. Kiyonga has dedicated many years to public service with commitment, integrity, and professionalism. His vast experience in leadership, public administration, and governance makes him exceptionally qualified for this responsibility, and I am confident that he will continue to serve our country with distinction.

I also wish to express my appreciation to His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for this thoughtful appointment. The decision reflects wisdom and confidence in a leader whose record of service, patriotism, and dedication to national development speaks for itself.

As Dr. Kiyonga assumes his new duties, I wish him every success and God’s guidance in the execution of his responsibilities for the benefit of Uganda and its people.

Justice (rtd) Richard Okumu-Wengi

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For decades, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) across Africa has largely revolved around donations, charity drives, and short-term community interventions. While these initiatives remain important, they rarely create long-term systemic transformation. Increasingly, the future of impactful corporate responsibility lies in sustainable investments that develop people, strengthen institutions, and shape future economies.

This is why the Equity Leaders Program (ELP), an initiative under Equity Group Foundation, stands out as one of the most compelling models of modern CSR on the continent. At its core, the Equity Leaders Program is not simply a scholarship initiative. It is a deliberate investment in human capital, leadership development, and socio-economic transformation.

By identifying academically exceptional students from across Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the program is intentionally building a pipeline of future African leaders equipped with the skills, exposure, and networks required to compete globally while transforming their communities locally.

In Uganda alone, Equity Bank recently commissioned 100 scholars into the fifth cohort of the program, bringing the total number of scholars supported to 512 since the initiative launched in the country in 2022. At the same event, the bank celebrated the graduation of 81 scholars from the maiden cohort who completed studies in disciplines ranging from Engineering and Statistics to Law and Technology.

What makes ELP fundamentally different from traditional CSR models is its long-term, ecosystem-driven approach. Instead of offering temporary support, the initiative provides scholars with mentorship, leadership development, paid internships, career coaching, networking opportunities, and university counselling support that extends throughout their academic journey.

The internship component alone is a powerful example of shared value creation. Scholars undergo a 3–6 month paid internship within Equity Bank branches and departments, gaining practical workplace exposure, professional discipline, and hands-on experience early in their careers. This simultaneously allows the institution to identify, nurture, and build relationships with highly talented young professionals who may later contribute to the workforce and broader economy.

For businesses, this is where CSR becomes strategic rather than symbolic. Companies investing in youth empowerment are not merely supporting communities; they are investing in future talent, future innovators, future consumers, and future leaders.

The program’s results are already measurable. Across the region, ELP scholars have secured admissions to some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including Harvard University, New York University, University of Waterloo, University of Delhi, Moscow Aviation Institute, universities in China, and Frankfurt University, all through fully funded scholarships and global university pathways facilitated under the program.

This global exposure matters immensely for Africa’s future. Many scholars return with international networks, technical expertise, leadership capabilities, and a broader worldview that directly contributes to local industries and institutions. In effect, the program is strengthening Africa’s future leadership and innovation ecosystem.

Importantly, the Equity Leaders Program also demonstrates the power of inclusive CSR. Scholars are selected from districts across Uganda and the wider region, ensuring that opportunities extend beyond traditional urban centres and elite schools. This creates social mobility, bridges opportunity gaps, and gives talented young people from underserved communities access to life-changing opportunities.

Modern stakeholders increasingly expect companies to demonstrate authentic and measurable social impact. Consumers, employees, investors, and regulators are no longer impressed by visibility-driven CSR campaigns with little long-term value. Programs like ELP resonate because their outcomes are tangible, transformational, and deeply human.

As Equity Bank Uganda Managing Director Gift Shoko recently noted during the commissioning ceremony, the program is “not only supporting academic excellence but also nurturing leaders who will drive innovation, integrity, and sustainable growth for Uganda.” That statement captures the broader significance of the initiative: this is not charity; it is nation-building.

The program’s success also highlights a broader lesson for corporate Africa: meaningful CSR requires ecosystem thinking. Financial support alone is not enough. Young people require mentorship, coaching, workplace exposure, leadership development, emotional intelligence, and access to professional networks if they are to successfully transition into leadership and economic participation.

Africa possesses one of the youngest populations in the world. This demographic reality presents either one of the continent’s greatest risks or its greatest opportunity, depending on how institutions respond. Companies that intentionally invest in education, leadership, innovation, and employability will play a defining role in shaping Africa’s future competitiveness.

The Equity Leaders Program proves that corporate responsibility can move beyond philanthropy and become a strategic driver of sustainable development, economic inclusion, and leadership transformation. If more corporate organizations adopted this approach, CSR would no longer be viewed as a compliance obligation or public relations exercise. It would become what it was always meant to be: a long-term investment in shared prosperity, institutional growth, and the future of society itself.

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Every year on May 22, the world commemorates the United Nations International Day for Biological Diversity, a moment dedicated to raising awareness about the accelerating loss of species and ecosystems across the planet.

The day serves as a global call to action, reminding humanity that protecting biodiversity is not simply an environmental concern, but a necessity for food security, clean water, public health, and climate stability.

This year’s theme, “Acting locally for global impact,” underscores a powerful reality: ambitious global conservation frameworks such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework will only succeed if they are implemented at the grassroots level. Lasting environmental change is not forged in conference halls alone; it is achieved in communities where people actively restore and protect the ecosystems around them.

For the last 27 years, the Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) has embodied this principle. By channeling international climate finance directly to Ugandan smallholder farmers, the organization has demonstrated that empowering local communities remains one of the most effective pathways to protecting biodiversity while improving livelihoods.

At the heart of this effort is ECOTRUST’s Trees for Global Benefits (TGB) program, which operationalizes the core message of this year’s biodiversity theme. By aggregating thousands of small-scale restoration efforts undertaken by individual households, the program transforms localized action into measurable landscape-level impact.

Through its performance-based payment model, conservation financing has been decentralized, enabling rural families to directly benefit from restoring degraded ecosystems while strengthening household incomes.

To date, more than 51,000 households across 26 districts in Uganda have benefited from the initiative. By integrating indigenous trees into family farming systems, participating farmers have restored over 34,000 hectares of land, creating a growing woodland network projected to sequester approximately 7.518 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Yet biodiversity protection cannot be sustained without socioeconomic resilience. Communities struggling with poverty, food insecurity, and water scarcity are unlikely to prioritize conservation unless environmental protection is directly linked to economic opportunity.

Recognizing this reality, ECOTRUST supports communities to establish sustainable enterprises such as beekeeping and shea nut production, allowing households to generate reliable incomes while conserving fragile ecosystems.

These interventions provide tangible evidence of how local action delivers global environmental outcomes.

In the Murchison-Semliki landscape, for example, ECOTRUST works with private landowners to restore fragmented forest corridors, reconnecting isolated habitats and securing migratory pathways for endangered chimpanzees while reducing human-wildlife conflict along agricultural frontiers.

Further north, the organization’s newly launched Transformative Approach to Sustainable Landscapes and Livelihoods (TASLL) project is extending this community-centered conservation model into the climate-vulnerable Agoro-Agu region.

Supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the initiative seeks to conserve 65,000 hectares of natural forest through the planting of six million mixed native trees. Importantly, the project integrates marginalized groups within the Palabek Refugee Settlement, ensuring that biodiversity conservation also advances social inclusion and community resilience.

To sustain and scale these efforts, ECOTRUST is also helping reshape environmental markets beyond traditional carbon financing.

During this year’s Uganda Water and Environment Week, the organization unveiled its Nature Credit Solutions framework, an innovative model designed to reward communities for safeguarding watersheds, restoring ecosystems, and developing nature-positive enterprises such as sustainable wild beekeeping.

ECOTRUST’s 27-year journey offers an important lesson for governments, financiers, conservation actors, and development partners alike: when local communities are trusted, empowered, and economically included in environmental stewardship, the benefits extend far beyond national borders.

Ultimately, global biodiversity restoration will not be achieved through policy declarations alone. It will be secured through millions of localized actions led by communities whose daily lives remain deeply connected to the health of nature itself.

Dr. Diana Nalwanga is the Head of Biodiversity at the Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST)

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The death of genocide mastermind Félicien Kabuga in The Hague has brought a dramatic and symbolic end to one of the longest-running manhunts in modern international criminal justice.

The United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) confirmed on Friday that Kabuga died while hospitalized in The Hague, where he had been under UN detention following his arrest in France in 2020 after more than two decades on the run.

In a statement issued from Arusha and The Hague, the UN tribunal said Dutch authorities had commenced standard investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death, while Mechanism President Judge Graciela Gatti Santana ordered a full inquiry led by Judge Alphons Orie.

Kabuga, a wealthy Rwandan businessman once regarded as one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, had been charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement to genocide and crimes against humanity linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Prosecutors accused him of financing extremist militias, facilitating hate propaganda and supplying resources used during the massacres that killed more than 800,000 people in approximately 100 days.

For decades, Kabuga’s name occupied a near-mythical place in international justice circles.

An arrest warrant was first issued by the former International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), but Kabuga managed to evade capture across several countries for over 25 years before French authorities arrested him near Paris in May 2020.

His capture was hailed globally as a breakthrough moment for accountability over the Rwanda genocide — particularly because many believed age and time might permanently shield senior suspects from prosecution.

Yet the legal process that followed revealed the growing challenges confronting international war crimes tribunals.

Kabuga’s trial formally began in September 2022, but proceedings soon became overshadowed by concerns about his health and mental fitness. In 2023, judges indefinitely stayed the case after finding he was no longer fit to stand trial because of severe cognitive decline.

At the time of his death, he remained in detention while awaiting provisional release to a country willing to receive him.

That unresolved status leaves behind a deeply complicated legacy.

For survivors of the genocide, Kabuga’s death may represent the final disappearance of one of the men they viewed as central to organizing and enabling the killings. But it also means one of the most anticipated genocide trials of recent decades will never reach a verdict.

The development therefore carries implications far beyond Rwanda.

Kabuga’s case had increasingly become a measure of whether international justice institutions established after the atrocities of the 1990s could still deliver meaningful accountability decades later. Instead, his death before judgment highlights a recurring dilemma: justice mechanisms often move more slowly than history itself.

The case also revives broader questions about the effectiveness and future of international criminal tribunals.

Supporters argue that Kabuga’s eventual arrest demonstrated that genocide suspects can never fully escape accountability, regardless of how much time passes. Critics, however, contend that delayed prosecutions risk depriving victims of closure while consuming enormous institutional resources.

For Rwanda, the symbolism is especially powerful. The genocide remains the defining event in the country’s modern political identity, shaping everything from governance and national reconciliation to regional security policy and diplomatic relations across Africa and beyond.

Kabuga’s alleged role was particularly significant because prosecutors portrayed him not as a battlefield commander, but as part of the financial and ideological machinery that enabled mass violence. His prosecution was expected to deepen historical understanding of how economic elites, media structures and political networks helped fuel genocide.

Now, that judicial process ends without a final courtroom reckoning.

Still, Kabuga’s death is unlikely to diminish the historical consensus surrounding the atrocities of 1994 or the global legal precedents established in their aftermath.

The institutions created after Rwanda and the Balkans transformed international law, expanding the principle that individuals — including financiers, propagandists and political actors — can be held personally accountable for crimes against humanity and genocide.

Even so, the conclusion of Kabuga’s case without a verdict may reinforce calls for faster, more adaptive systems of international justice capable of handling aging suspects and prolonged conflicts more effectively.

More than three decades after the genocide, the world is once again reminded that while history can pursue fugitives for decades, time itself often remains the ultimate adversary of justice.

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Michael Wakabi

The easiest answer in African aviation today may not be immune to hidden risk.

As airlines across the continent struggle with grounded aircraft, delayed spare parts, engine shortages, and fragile maintenance systems, many fleet planners are arriving at what appears to be the obvious conclusion: lean harder into Boeing.

The argument is simple enough. Boeing already commands roughly 70 percent of Africa’s commercial aircraft market. Its installed base is large. Engineers are familiar with its systems. Pilots are easier to source. Lessors are more comfortable financing it. Spare parts networks are deeper. Maintenance ecosystems emerge faster around scale.

On paper, it sounds like common sense. If Africa’s biggest aviation problem is weak support infrastructure, then surely concentrating around the largest existing platform is the safest route.

That logic mistakes convenience for resilience. What Africa needs is not deeper dependence on a single manufacturer, but deliberate fleet diversification. As recent events have demonstrated, concentration can easily become exposure.

This is not an argument against Boeing. It is an argument against dependence. And in aviation, overdependence can turn one manufacturer’s problem into a continental crisis.

This is not even a uniquely African problem. From Kenya Airways and Uganda Airlines to Air Tanzania and Ethiopian Airlines, airlines across the continent have felt the consequences of global supply chain fragility. Beyond Africa, reliability challenges involving Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney powerplants have shown how quickly propulsion bottlenecks can ripple across global fleets.

That a carrier with the scale and technical depth of Ethiopian Airlines can feel that pressure should reinforce the need for greater margin within fleet strategy.

The propulsion systems market itself has also become dangerously concentrated. The growing Airbus A350 fleet, for example, depends heavily on a narrow engine supply ecosystem, effectively reducing competition and leaving operators exposed to the vulnerabilities of a single supplier chain. If a major technical issue were to arise beyond routine advisories, the implications for operators would be severe.

This is precisely why Africa should resist the temptation to simply “buy more Boeing.”

The issue is not that Boeing is the problem. The issue is that dependence is.

When too much strategic capacity sits inside one OEM ecosystem, a certification issue, labour strike, production bottleneck, regulatory crisis, or safety event at that manufacturer can trigger cascading disruption across the continent.

One catastrophic event should not have the power to paralyse African aviation at scale. Yet that is exactly the risk concentration creates.

There is another danger too—one that receives less attention, but may be even more costly over time. When dependence grows, competition dies.

The assumption that Boeing scale automatically creates efficiency ignores how monopolistic dominance shifts bargaining power. Airlines become price takers rather than strategic customers. Pricing hardens. Support responsiveness weakens. Localisation promises become optional rather than necessary.

Africa already sits low in the global priority queue behind North America, Europe, the Gulf, and Asia. If the continent voluntarily narrows its options further, it surrenders competition, one of the few negotiating tools it has.

A strong Airbus presence matters. So does stronger support for ATR, Embraer, and other aircraft types suited to African markets. Diversity at scale is not fragmentation. It is leverage.

Without it, Africa becomes a customer to be sold to, not a market to be built with.

There is often resistance to this argument because fleet diversification appears inefficient. Multiple aircraft types mean more training requirements, more maintenance complexity, and less standardisation. For airlines already operating on thin margins, simplicity is understandably attractive.

But over the long term, diversification is not inefficiency. It is strategic insurance.

No serious energy system depends on one fuel source. No financial system depends on one lender. Aviation should not depend on one manufacturer.

A diversified fleet spreads operational risk. It protects airlines from grounding shocks. It reduces vulnerability to OEM bottlenecks. It creates competitive pressure among manufacturers. It gives airlines options when the global supply chain breaks.

The objective should not be fleet simplicity at all costs. It should be survivability.

And this is where the conversation must move beyond aircraft choice itself.

Airspace Africa, in a recent article, correctly argued that Africa is not buying aircraft it cannot afford. It is buying aircraft it cannot sustain. That diagnosis is right.

But the answer is not choosing the biggest OEM. It is forcing every OEM to localise support.

Fleet acquisition should no longer be treated as a procurement exercise. It should be treated as industrial policy.

Small narrow bodies such as the Embraer’s E190 series are key to increase intra-African connectivity

Every major aircraft order should come tied to enforceable commitments: regional MRO facilities, local spare parts inventory, certified technical training academies, engine maintenance partnerships, engineering support, and real transfer of technical capability.

Aircraft should not arrive alone. They should arrive with systems.

If manufacturers want African scale, they must build African roots—not just sales offices.

Airbus opening a customer support centre in Johannesburg is a step in the right direction. Boeing should be expected to do the same at greater depth. Engine makers should be held to the same standard. Lessors and financiers too.

Governments must also stop treating aircraft deliveries as political trophies and start seeing aviation as industrial infrastructure.

China’s aviation strategy offers an important lesson here. Fleet planning was never treated simply as airline procurement—it was embedded within a broader national industrial strategy that included MRO capability, technical training, supply chains, financing structures, and eventually indigenous manufacturing ambition.

Africa must think in similarly strategic terms. Tax incentives, financing guarantees, bilateral agreements, and public-private partnerships should all be used to ensure that aircraft procurement leaves behind maintenance ecosystems, engineering jobs, and technical sovereignty.

Ethiopian did not become Africa’s strongest carrier because it flies Boeing aircraft. It succeeded because it built training depth, MRO capability, technical redundancy, and institutional discipline.

Africa’s next aviation mistake would be choosing convenience over resilience. Buying more Boeing may feel like the easiest answer. It may even work in the short term.

But the continent has already seen what happens when supply chains fail, engines disappear, and grounded aircraft become balance-sheet disasters.

The answer is not to concentrate more risk. It is to distribute it intelligently.

Fleet diversification—paired with aggressive localisation of maintenance, technical support, and industrial capability—is the only serious long-term strategy.

But fleet diversification without labour mobility and geopolitical awareness would still leave Africa exposed.

Diversification cannot simply mean buying different aircraft from different manufacturers. It must also mean distributing operational capacity intelligently across the continent, with a clear understanding of geopolitical risk, technical concentration, and labour realities.

Africa’s aviation support system today is unevenly distributed. A handful of countries—most notably Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, and to a growing extent Rwanda—carry a disproportionate share of the continent’s MRO capability, technical training infrastructure, and certified engineering talent. Large parts of the continent still depend heavily on external maintenance support or on ferrying aircraft long distances for technical work.

That concentration creates another form of vulnerability.

If geopolitical instability, regulatory disruptions, currency crises, or bilateral tensions affect one of these hubs, the impact can spread far beyond national borders. Fleet diversification therefore must also be geographic diversification.

Africa needs multiple centres of technical excellence, not a single dominant node. This requires intentional policy support. Governments cannot leave this entirely to market forces because aviation infrastructure is too strategic and too capital-intensive to emerge organically at the speed the continent requires.

The uneven distribution and scarcity of technical talent make labour mobility just as important as aircraft choice. Engineers, technicians, instructors, inspectors, and licensed maintenance personnel must be able to move across borders with far less friction than they currently face. Visa barriers, licensing incompatibilities, slow work permit systems, and fragmented regulatory frameworks all weaken the continent’s ability to build a truly integrated aviation ecosystem.

An aircraft grounded in West Africa should not wait unnecessarily because the right certified engineer is trapped behind administrative barriers in East or Southern Africa.

This is precisely why the conversation must be embedded within the broader pursuit of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM).

Too often, SAATM is discussed mainly through the lens of passenger rights, market access, and airline competition. But its real long-term success depends just as much on the invisible infrastructure behind the flights: maintenance, certification, training, technical labour, and cross-border operational cooperation.

A single market for aircraft movement without a single framework for technical support is incomplete. SAATM should therefore evolve beyond traffic rights and become a platform for aviation industrial integration.

That means harmonising licensing standards, accelerating mutual recognition of technical qualifications, supporting regional MRO hubs, and enabling free movement of aviation professionals across the continent.

Aircraft diversity without talent mobility creates fragmentation. Talent mobility without technical infrastructure creates dependency. Both must move together. Africa’s aviation future will be secured by building a continent where aircraft, skills, and support systems can move with equal efficiency.

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As Uganda approaches the long-anticipated milestone of first oil, it does so at a moment of profound contradiction in the global energy narrative. On one hand, the world is accelerating toward a low-carbon future, with growing consensus around the need to scale renewable energy.

On the other, recent geopolitical shocks—including tensions in the Middle East—have once again exposed the fragility of global energy systems and the enduring centrality of oil to economic stability.

If the global economy were truly ready to transition at pace, this would have been the moment. Instead, what we have witnessed is a sharp reminder: oil remains deeply embedded in the architecture of global growth. It is within this context that Uganda’s energy journey must be understood.

A balanced path in a polarised debate

In the years leading up to first oil, Uganda’s ambitions have faced strong resistance from sections of the international community, particularly around investments such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Critics have argued for an accelerated pivot away from fossil fuels.

These concerns are not without merit. Climate change is real, urgent, and demands decisive global action. However, the pathway to a low-carbon future is neither linear nor uniform. For emerging economies—especially in Africa—the transition must be pragmatic, sequenced, and inclusive.

At Stanbic Bank Uganda and by extension Standard Bank Group, our position has been consistent: support a just and patient energy transition—one that invests in the future of renewables while recognising the present-day role of fossil fuels in unlocking growth, industrialisation, and energy access. Uganda’s first oil is not a contradiction of the energy transition. It is part of it.

From resource extraction to economic transformation

The true measure of Uganda’s oil and gas sector will not be the number of barrels produced, but the extent to which it catalyses structural transformation across the economy.

At Stanbic, our commitment to projects such as EACOP is anchored in our purpose: “Uganda is our home, we drive her growth.” This is not merely about financing infrastructure—it is about enabling a broader ecosystem of value creation.

Through the establishment of a dedicated Oil and Gas Department, we have built the institutional capability required to support a complex and highly regulated sector. More importantly, we are working to ensure that the economic benefits of oil extend beyond extraction.

“A nation’s resources belong to its people. The opportunity before us is to ensure that the oil dollar circulates within our economy—creating enterprises, jobs, and enduring prosperity.”

Building local capacity for lasting impact

Local content remains central to this ambition. Through the Stanbic Business Incubator Limited (SBIL), in partnership with the African Development Bank, more than 200 Ugandan enterprises have attained internationally recognised ISO certification.

This is a critical step in transforming local firms from peripheral participants into competitive suppliers within the oil and gas value chain. This is how resource wealth becomes national wealth.

There is no doubt that oil presents a significant economic opportunity. The International Monetary Fund projects that Uganda’s GDP growth could rise sharply with the onset of production.

Yet history offers clear lessons: without strong institutions and prudent financial management, resource wealth can introduce volatility.

Stanbic’s role therefore extends beyond capital provision. We provide risk management, transactional banking, and advisory solutions designed to help both public and private sector players navigate price fluctuations, manage foreign exchange exposure, and build long-term resilience.

Our platinum sponsorship of the annual Oil & Gas Convention—organised by the Uganda Chamber of Energy and Minerals in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and the Uganda National Oil Company—reflects our belief that sustained dialogue is essential to sector maturity.

As the industry transitions from planning to execution, collaboration between government, investors, and local enterprises will be critical in ensuring that Uganda fully realises the promise of first oil.

Beyond first oil

Energy independence is not an endpoint—it is a foundation. Uganda’s first oil should be viewed not as a departure from the future, but as a bridge to it. Revenues generated today can—and must—be reinvested into renewable energy, infrastructure, and human capital to power the next phase of growth.

The global energy transition will take time. And until it is fully realised, oil will remain a central pillar of economic activity.

Uganda is stepping into that reality with clarity and conviction. At Stanbic Bank, we are proud to stand alongside the nation—not only financing its energy future but helping to shape it. We are not just banking the oil. We are banking on Uganda.

The author is Chief Executive at Stanbic Bank Uganda, a member of the Standard Bank Group.

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For many women, banking is more than opening an account or taking a loan. It is about accessing financial services that understand their realities, support their ambitions, and respond to the responsibilities they carry every day. This is why customer experience has become a critical factor in enabling financial institutions to better serve women and support their participation in the economy.

Women interact with financial services differently depending on their stage in life, profession, and responsibilities. Financial institutions must therefore design solutions that respond to these diverse realities.

A young professional woman, for example, may focus on loans to support education or career growth. A single mother might prioritize flexible loans, savings plans, or healthcare support for her children. A lactating mother visiting a bank may value a private space to breastfeed comfortably, while an expectant mother may prefer quick service to avoid standing for long periods.

Women entrepreneurs—market vendors, micro-entrepreneurs, or small business owners—often need a trusted person who can explain financial products in simple, relatable terms. Many rely on their businesses to support their families and appreciate having someone they can contact for guidance on loan repayments or business challenges.

At the same time, women with demanding careers often prefer fast, reliable digital services. Limited time makes convenient, efficient banking platforms essential, allowing them to complete transactions quickly and confidently. Understanding these varying needs helps financial institutions create services that are accessible, respectful, and genuinely helpful.

Despite progress, many women still face barriers to financial inclusion. Limited financial literacy remains a major challenge, particularly for women in the informal sector. Without clear information about financial products, they struggle to fully leverage available services.

Another obstacle is collateral requirements. Cultural norms often restrict women from inheriting property such as land, which is typically needed for loans. Mobility can also be a barrier for women without easy access to transport to reach financial institutions.

Customer experience teams can help address these challenges in several ways. Financial education, delivered in simple language and, where possible, in local languages, equips women to understand and use financial services effectively. Community workshops and discussions focused on women’s financial empowerment also make a difference.

Equity Bank Uganda, for instance, runs initiatives such as Equi-Mama, designed to support women entrepreneurs and mothers with tailored financial solutions. Platforms like the Abakyala Ku Ntiiko event allow women to share experiences, learn from one another, and gain practical knowledge that strengthens their businesses.

Empathy is central to good customer service. Staff must be trained to treat every customer with dignity, fairness, and respect. Engaging women in product development through surveys, feedback sessions, and focus groups ensures financial products truly respond to their needs. Institutions should also pay attention to women who may require additional support, including expectant mothers, elderly women, or mothers with young children. When customers feel understood, trust in financial institutions grows.

Creating a positive and inclusive customer experience encourages women to participate confidently in the financial system. Supported women are more likely to save, invest, and grow their businesses, strengthening their financial independence while contributing to the growth of families, communities, and national economies. Women entrepreneurs, in particular, play a key role in sustaining households and creating opportunities for others.

As we celebrate Women’s Month, it is vital to recognize the role women play in shaping the future. Every financial decision, whether small or large, contributes to building stronger communities and more inclusive economies. Women should continue investing in themselves, supporting one another, and pursuing their goals with confidence. Their contributions today lay the foundation for a stronger, more equitable future for all.

Jael Christine Wawulira is the Head of Customer Experience at Equity Bank Uganda

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Members of the White House Faith Office during a prayer in the Oval Office. At the centre: Donald Trump. In red at his side: his spiritual advisor, Paula White-Cain.

Donald Trump is often labelled a fascist, and for good reason. However, the religious justifications for the war in Iran, his delusions of grandeur, and his fixations suggest that his true role models are far more ancient.

Consider this quote: “In the name of Jesus, we command that all satanic pregnancies miscarry.”

These words were spoken by Paula White-Cain, the “spiritual advisor” to the current US President. She also heads Donald Trump’s White House Faith Office. White is one of numerous evangelical entrepreneurs who, under the guise of religiosity, not only spread absolute insanity but also amass great wealth through their own churches and television shows. –

Donald Trump discovered his current faith advisor on television: he watched her show and hired her. White’s predecessor is currently imprisoned for the sexual abuse of a twelve-year-old. White positioned herself early on, declaring publicly in 2017 that Trump had been “raised up by God,” adding: “It is God who raises up a king.”

At the Heart of the Priestly Circle

White also appears in a clip that circulated through social media last week. In it, Trump sits at his desk in the Oval Office, surrounded by 18 men and two women—all “pastors.” Most are touching one another; hands raised in blessing.

Trump is the centre of this priestly cluster. Seemingly entranced by his own anointed status, he sits with closed eyes and folded hands. Blessing hands rest on his shoulders and back, including, of course, those of Paula White. As the only person in a room full of dark suits wearing a red blazer, she is impossible to miss.

The Concept of Divine Right

The “Divine Right of Kings” is a historical concept often associated with the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly the era of Absolutism. It suggested that a ruler’s authority was derived directly from a higher power rather than from the will of the people or earthly institutions. Louis XIV of France, known as the “Sun King,” was a primary proponent of this ideology, which placed the monarch above the jurisdiction of ordinary courts.

Observers of modern American politics have noted certain parallels in contemporary rhetoric. The idea that a leader is beyond the reach of “earthly jurisdiction” or that executive power should be absolute mirrors these historical precedents.

Mercantilism and Modern Trade

Parallels also extend to economic policy. Under Louis XIV, France practiced mercantilism, a system designed to increase national wealth by maximizing exports and minimizing imports through high tariffs. The current emphasis on protectionist trade policies and significant import duties reflects a similar approach to national economic management.

The Evolution of the “Court”

In absolute monarchies, the ruler was surrounded by a loyal court of nobility who provided both financial support and public flattery. In a modern democratic context, some argue that a new form of “neo-feudalism” is emerging, where high-net-worth individuals and influential supporters fill a similar role, funding political movements and reinforcing the leader’s standing.

Historical Context and the Constitution

The authors of the United States Constitution were deeply familiar with the excesses of absolute power in Europe. A central goal of the American experiment was to create a system of checks and balances to ensure that such uncontrolled rule would be impossible. The success of this framework remains a subject of intense scrutiny during pivotal election cycles.

This article has been adapted from Der Spiegel

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By Juliet Muheirwe, Head of Human Resources, Equity Bank Uganda

In today’s evolving workplace, building an inclusive environment is no longer optional—it is essential for sustainable growth, innovation, and social progress. At Equity Bank Uganda, inclusion is not simply a policy statement but a deliberate strategy embedded across recruitment, leadership development, employee wellness, and career advancement.

Each March, as the world commemorates International Women’s Day, organizations are reminded of the importance of empowering women both socially and economically. At Equity Bank Uganda, this moment provides an opportunity to reflect on how intentional workplace practices can unlock women’s potential and, in doing so, transform communities.

Creating an inclusive workplace begins with equitable systems. At Equity Bank, the recruitment process is designed to ensure there is no discrimination based on gender. Talent is recognized for what it is—talent—regardless of who it comes from.

This approach has helped the bank maintain a workforce that is close to gender parity. Yet achieving balance in numbers is only the first step. The real progress lies in creating pathways for growth, leadership, and influence.

Women are encouraged to take up space, share ideas, and actively participate in shaping the future of the organization. Providing such opportunities ensures that women are not only represented but also empowered to contribute meaningfully.

Over the past five years, the bank has implemented targeted programs aimed at strengthening women’s leadership within the organization.

One notable initiative is the Girls for Girls mentorship program, which has seen more than 100 staff members participate. Through this initiative, women receive mentorship, professional guidance, and leadership exposure that prepares them for more senior roles.

The results have been encouraging. More than 30 women from middle management have transitioned into senior leadership positions, while others have taken on expanded responsibilities across the organization.

Progress is also visible at the executive level. In 2019, only three women served on the bank’s Executive Committee (EXCO). Today, gender representation at that level has reached parity.

This transformation demonstrates how deliberate leadership development programs can reshape organizational structures and create pathways for women to lead.

True empowerment, however, requires supporting employees not only professionally but also personally.

Over the years, the bank has introduced several workplace policies aimed at improving the well-being of working mothers. For instance, mothers are entitled to 60 days of maternity leave, which can be combined with 21 days of annual leave to provide additional time to bond with their newborns.

Upon returning to work, mothers are granted two hours within the eight-hour workday to attend to their babies. The workplace also provides dedicated nursing rooms where mothers can breastfeed or express milk in privacy and comfort.

These provisions enable women to meet professional responsibilities while continuing to nurture their children during those critical early months.

Complementing these initiatives is a strengthened medical scheme that ensures mothers and their newborns have access to quality healthcare services during and after childbirth.

Such policies demonstrate that supporting women at work is not only about representation but about building systems that allow them to thrive.

An inclusive workplace benefits both employees and organizations. At Equity Bank, these policies have contributed to high retention rates among female staff, increased recruitment of women, and the steady progression of women into senior management roles.

The organization is also revitalizing employee engagement platforms such as women’s and men’s clubs to equip staff with the skills, tools, and networks needed to grow professionally and personally.

When employees feel supported and valued, they are more productive, more innovative, and more committed to organizational goals.

For organizations seeking to build inclusive workplaces, intentional action is key. Recruitment processes must eliminate bias and provide equal opportunities for both men and women.

Companies should also analyze internal data to identify gaps and design targeted interventions. Mentorship initiatives, leadership training, and professional development opportunities should be widely accessible while also addressing the unique challenges different groups may face.

Equally important is paying attention to broader societal trends that affect employees. Issues such as mental health, workplace stress, and burnout have become increasingly prevalent and require thoughtful responses.

Employers that respond proactively to these realities are better positioned to build resilient and productive workforces.

For young women stepping into professional environments, the journey requires clarity, resilience, and continuous learning.

Understanding your strengths, abilities, and purpose is a crucial first step. Aligning personal goals with professional ambitions helps create a meaningful career path.

Mentorship is equally important. Finding a mentor in a field you admire can provide valuable guidance, insight, and encouragement during moments of uncertainty.

Maintaining balance is just as critical. In a fast-changing world, flexibility and openness to new opportunities are essential for growth.

Above all, young professionals should value themselves, nurture their well-being, and embrace the journey of personal and professional development.

Empowering women in the workplace goes beyond individual success. It creates ripple effects across families, communities, and economies.

When women are supported to grow, lead, and thrive, organizations become stronger and societies more equitable.

At Equity Bank Uganda, the philosophy is simple but powerful: when you invest in people, you transform lives. And when women are given the opportunity to lead, the impact reaches far beyond the workplace.

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