In a few days, 2020 will come to its inevitable finish. Under the Covid cloud that reigned supreme, normal went out the window and instead, we got social distancing, months of lockdowns, economic downfalls, political disarray and vast uncertainty. But not all was bad. Throughout the year, I encouraged those of you reading to stay positive, and try and find the interesting challenges among the hardships. And while the year was undoubtedly challenging, extraordinary people, advanced technologies, global innovation, and vast collaboration were the building blocks for some positive points. Here are a few great things that happened during 2020.

Greenhouse Gas Emission was…

Next week, on December 21, Tesla will be joining the S&P 500, debuting as one of the 5 largest components in the index with a market value of over $570 billion (!).

Elon Musk’s cleantech giant is best known for its electric car, but is actually a global renewable energy leader, manufacturing energy-saving batteries, and fully integrated home solar systems. …

In the past couple of weeks, we saw the “grand finale” of one of the most dramatic and thrilling election campaigns in history. The entire world followed every update coming from the United States, and only after several days full of tension and speculation, arrived the official announcement of Joe Biden’s victory, who would become the next president of the United States (unless Trump’s legal battles would change the outcome).

The announcement of Biden’s victory gave the signal to millions of his supporters, who went out to the streets of the US to celebrate. In business, there is one sector that can also celebrate the triumph: the renewable energy sector, which is expected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Biden’s election to the presidency. …

2020 is still not over, but can already be crowned as one of the most challenging years humanity has known in a long time. The spread of Covid-19 throughout the world, the prolonged lockdowns that followed it, the high numbers of patients and mortalities, the economic damage, all of these and more have hit almost every country around the globe, with disastrous effects that will stay with us for decades to come.

The virus may not differentiate between humans and countries, but the challenges that come with it certainly do. In the United States, Europe and East Asia, the results of successful vaccine trials developed by various companies have been celebrated in recent weeks, and the people are counting the minutes until FDA approval will be announced, allowing to distribute the vaccines and begin vast immunization. …

For many years, Africa has been home to many of the greatest development challenges on earth with hundreds of millions living in remote, underserved communities without home electricity, access to clean water, or proper medical service.

With undeveloped infrastructure, a rapidly growing population and the vast effects of Covid-19, many of these challenges are expected to remain, and even grow bigger in the coming decades.

The need for scalable and affordable solutions led to the continent adopting one of the most impactful sectors in the world: off-grid solar, with tens of millions of people, already connected and able to enjoy electricity at their home for the first time. …

The year 2020 has taught humanity many new lessons. We learned to re-evaluate the fields of technology, education, the public health sector, our political structure and governments, the cornerstones of the modern economy, and much more. But above all, a particularly significant lesson stands out: in our hyper-connected globe, even a small-scale local problem can affect the entire world.

The uniqueness of the Covid-19 pandemic is in its immediacy: it only took a couple of months from the time the reports of the mysterious virus began until it began spreading across continents.

Thus, just as a mysterious virus in China causes almost total paralysis of the entire world’s economy in only a few weeks, local problems can no longer be separated from their global impact. If we want to lead the world to a better future, we must address problems that may seem esoteric, unimportant, and local, even in the most remote places on Earth. …

Two weeks ago, the African entrepreneurship and innovation sector received a huge boost of encouragement when the American payments giant Stripe announced the acquisition of the Nigerian company Paystack for $200 million USD.

But the most important news was not the impressive amount, or the expression of confidence in the local technology: according to a press release announcing the acquisition, Stripe bought the company in order to “expand into the African market”.

While this sentence may seem insignificant next to a number like $ 200 million, it does tell an important story: a story of confidence not only in technology or the team, but in the local market. Stripe, one of the leading fin-tech players in the world, executed the deal because it believes in the economic potential of entering the emerging African market, and was willing to pay a lot of money for it. …

In over 2 decades of working across Africa, I pretty much heard all the warnings one may encounter about the risks and challenges of operating in the continent, with many experienced entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors saying that “the challenges often overcome the potential, making the effort unworthy”.

Those warnings were not completely made up. Everyone who has ever tried to lead a business in Africa knows how challenging everyday operations can be. …