British International Investment intends to tap £7 billion ($9.45 billion) held by insurers, pension and sovereign wealth funds as co-investment into various projects globally over the next five years. In total, the UK’s development finance institution will invest £15 billion over that period, according to Chief Executive Officer Leslie Maasdorp . BII will provide £8 billion of the amount, with th...
British International Investment intends to tap £7 billion ($9.45 billion) held by insurers, pension and sovereign wealth funds as co-investment into various projects globally over the next five years. In total, the UK’s development finance institution will invest £15 billion over that period, according to Chief Executive Officer Leslie Maasdorp . BII will provide £8 billion of the amount, with the remainder coming from pooled domestic savings, he said in an interview. About 60% of the planned outlay will be in Africa primarily targeting infrastructure, financial services, climate change and sustainability-linked businesses. The continent’s insurers, pensions and sovereign funds are estimated to hold $4 trillion of assets. “The single biggest metric that will define the next five years for BII and development finance more generally is the mobilization of domestic capital,” Maasdorp said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “One of the key areas of funding that we are now working on is to mobilize and crowd-in more domestic pools of capital.” Currently, the bulk of available capital in Africa is allocated to government securities, with assets under management in capital markets seen nearly tripling to $7 trillion by 2040, according to financial markets development agency FSD Africa . UK Development Arm Aims to Invest £15 Billion Over Five Years Global Shocks Seen Spurring African Pivot to Domestic Capital African Assets Under Management Seen at $7 Trillion by 2040 On an average annual basis, BII’s rate of return on investments is about 5%. BII is investing in energy, which it expects will be the most important contributor to transformation on the continent. About 80% of the people who live without electricity globally reside in Africa, Maasdorp said. The agency has a 70% equity stake in power projects developer Globeleq and wholly owns transmission company Gridworks Development Partners LLP . “Without power, the African continent will not develop and really reach its full...
Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar discusses the drugmaker's Wegovy obesity pill which fueled sales in the first quarter. Novo is "very optimistic" on the medication despite competition from Eli Lilly, Doustdar tells Bloomberg Television, and the firm doesn't anticipate any price reductions. (Source: Bloomberg)
Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar discusses the drugmaker's Wegovy obesity pill which fueled sales in the first quarter. Novo is "very optimistic" on the medication despite competition from Eli Lilly, Doustdar tells Bloomberg Television, and the firm doesn't anticipate any price reductions. (Source: Bloomberg)
A giant orange disc settled into the waters off Rongcheng in eastern China’s Shandong province, marking the deployment of what Chinese researchers describe as the world’s first-of-a-kind intelligent ocean-observation buoy. It abandons a mooring architecture that has dominated Western marine engineering since World War II. The six-metre-wide (19.7 feet) platform has completed sea trials and officia...
A giant orange disc settled into the waters off Rongcheng in eastern China’s Shandong province, marking the deployment of what Chinese researchers describe as the world’s first-of-a-kind intelligent ocean-observation buoy. It abandons a mooring architecture that has dominated Western marine engineering since World War II. The six-metre-wide (19.7 feet) platform has completed sea trials and officially joined the Yellow Sea observation network, enabling continuous, real-time monitoring across the...
Vibe Check, a free and anonymous alternative to AI, talks teens through consent, boundaries and apologies Val Odiembo volunteers at her former high school a few times a month, teaching teens about consent and healthy relationships. Now a sophomore at Rhode Island College, 19-year-old Odiembo isn’t much older than the students she’s teaching – which she thinks makes it easier for the high schoolers...
Vibe Check, a free and anonymous alternative to AI, talks teens through consent, boundaries and apologies Val Odiembo volunteers at her former high school a few times a month, teaching teens about consent and healthy relationships. Now a sophomore at Rhode Island College, 19-year-old Odiembo isn’t much older than the students she’s teaching – which she thinks makes it easier for the high schoolers to come to her with their questions. But she knows she isn’t the only source they’re consulting. “A lot of them confide in AI,” she said. A recent UK study found that one in 10 young adults has consulted AI for sexual health information, and a 2025 Pew Research Center report showed that one in five teens have had a romantic relationship with a chatbot . Continue reading...
The head honcho thinks splurging nearly $10 on a beverage during a cost-of-living crisis is fine for a ‘special experience’. It’s time to offer my own valuable advice I don’t mean to vent, but what is up with Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol’s obscenely large compensation package? Niccol, who joined the company in 2024, is one of the best-paid executives in the US, raking in $96m (£70m) in just his firs...
The head honcho thinks splurging nearly $10 on a beverage during a cost-of-living crisis is fine for a ‘special experience’. It’s time to offer my own valuable advice I don’t mean to vent, but what is up with Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol’s obscenely large compensation package? Niccol, who joined the company in 2024, is one of the best-paid executives in the US, raking in $96m (£70m) in just his first four months on the job . The man makes 6,666 times more than the company’s typical employee, according to a 2025 Executive Paywatch report . He also regularly commutes to work via private jet. Can’t expect a strategic genius to live next to the office like the rest of the hoi polloi. Still, while he might be good at flogging drinks, Niccol apparently has trouble reading a room. As the cost of living surges , and the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 , the CEO is getting roasted for calling a $9 coffee “ a really affordable premium experience ”. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Niccol noted that the K-shaped economy, in which higher-income households are thriving and splurging while the bottom half struggles, isn’t really affecting business . Continue reading...
With most major European cities well-served by trains and buses, bringing US transit up to par would cost $4.6tn The only train station in Houston , the US ’s fourth-largest city and one of the fastest-growing conurbations in the country, is a diminished, morose sight. Intercity trains arrive at this squat, shed-like Amtrak building, which cringes in the shadows of roaring highways, just three tim...
With most major European cities well-served by trains and buses, bringing US transit up to par would cost $4.6tn The only train station in Houston , the US ’s fourth-largest city and one of the fastest-growing conurbations in the country, is a diminished, morose sight. Intercity trains arrive at this squat, shed-like Amtrak building, which cringes in the shadows of roaring highways, just three times a week. That such a meager train station could ostensibly serve a metropolitan area of about 7 million people is a stark symbol of how the sprawling, car-dominated US has fallen behind cities around the world where people can rely on extensive, high-quality public transport to get around. Continue reading...