In 2023, I started tracking an interesting pattern in Cabo Verde. The government committed to digitising 62% of public services by 2026. Then it went further: it started actively marketing its homegrown e-government platforms to neighbouring African countries as affordable, battle-tested solutions for their own digital transformation needs. A small island nation was building its digital infrastructure — and planning to export it. Here is what followed: → Airport management co

When I talk to UK CEOs about expanding into Lusophone Africa, many of them get immediately anxious about Angola's regulatory complexity or Mozambique's scale of operation. My response: start with Cabo Verde. Not because Cabo Verde is the biggest opportunity. But because it is the most accessible gateway into the PALOP world — and gateways compound. Here is why Cabo Verde works as a first step: Political stability. Cabo Verde has had peaceful democratic transitions for decades

This is not a small detail. Upper-middle-income status is the category that includes countries like Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and China. Cabo Verde — a small Atlantic archipelago of half a million people — just crossed that threshold. The World Bank elevated it in July 2025. What got it there: → GDP growth of 7.3% in 2024 — one of the highest rates in West Africa → Inflation at 1% — its lowest level in recent history → Public debt declining from 144% of GDP in 2021 to 107

Mozambique shares borders with Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and South Africa. All Anglophone or at least English-operating business environments. Mozambique operates in Portuguese. This single fact eliminates most of your competition before the race even begins. UK companies default to South Africa as their African base because it is familiar, English-speaking, well-connected, business-friendly by reputation. South Africa then becomes the lens through which they try to