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For anyone following the headlines about African fintechs over the last few years, it must have felt like a wild ridefrom buzzing highs to plunging lows, and everything in between. But beneath these surface narratives, a more interesting story is emerging. This will be the year the focus on African fintech shifts from valuations to delivering value, and the process is already underway.
Sustainable practices take center stage
Fintech funding in Africa dropped by 37% from 2022 to 2023. The downward trend persisted in 2024, with funding in the first half of 2024 falling from $864 million to $419 million, a 51% decrease versus the same period in 2023. This funding downturn has forced fintechs to reassess their models, moving away from growth-at-all-costs towards sustainable business practices that emphasize real-world solutions and long-term viability. Now, fintech companies must focus on building resilient, profitable businesses that can thrive without relying on constant infusions of venture funding.
Take Nigeria’s emerging direct debit solutions worth over $13 billion in 2023, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria. This isn’t a speculative bet on one of the many technology trends. Instead, these are practical innovations that help businesses in the country stabilize cash flow and simplify recurring payments for consumers. The focus on solving real problems rather than securing the next investment round signals a maturing ecosystemone that prioritizes longevity over hype.
Technology that matters
The shift isnt happening in a vacuum. African consumers are more selective than evertheyre not just mobile-first but mobile-native. They expect frictionless digital experiences comparable to global platforms, but with local relevance. This is forcing fintechs to focus on what truly works.
Artificial intelligence plays a role in this transformation, but not in the way many predicted. Fintechs are using AI to enhance fraud detection, automate compliance, and personalize financial servicespractical applications that build trust and drive adoption.
Similarly, blockchain is proving valuable beyond speculation. Instead of chasing volatile cryptocurrencies, fintechs are leveraging blockchain to improve cross-border payments, cutting costs, and speeding up remittances. With Africa receiving over $100 billion in annual remittances, these innovations have a direct, meaningful impact. When traditional transfer fees eat into crucial remittances, blockchain’s ability to reduce costs and increase speed isn’t just a technical achievement, it’s a tangible improvement in people’s lives.
The new success metrics
The combination of consumer-driven demand and practical innovation is reshaping how success is measured in African fintech. The next wave of investment won’t be driven by hype or viral success stories. Instead, investors are looking for sustainable growth and profitability over inflated valuations. They are looking for products that address fundamental pain points rather than trend-driven solutions as well as operational efficiency and strong regulatory compliance.
As we enter a new cycle where reality replaces hype, 2025 will mark a turning point for African fintech. The most successful companies wont be those chasing the biggest headlines but those solving simple, essential problems exceptionally well. This isnt the end but merely the beginning of a more mature, impactful, and enduring era. The revolution may be quieter than expected, but its impact will be deeper than ever imagined.
Olugbenga GB Agboola is founder and CEO of Flutterwave.
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
Im not one to jump on every shiny new tool just because its trending. Some tech tools, gadgets, and software have transformed my life for the better (like the Meta Quest), and some ventures did not fare so well (I will ignore Apple Watchs reminders to stand until the end of time).
But AI? Its different. AI isnt in the same league as the other tech you know and love. This is not just another tool, its a shift in how we think, create, and operate. At Quantious, weve dedicated the past few years to learning everything there is to know about AI, and weve embraced it not as a crutch, but as a catalyst.
As a longtime agency owner, I know the importance of finding ways for my team to work smarter, faster, and more creatively. So, heres why I encourage my employees to use AI every day.
1. AI allows us to be better creatives
We keep up with the newswe know some are saying that AI will kill creativity and make us dumber. At Quantious, we prefer to give our employees ownership to explore firsthand how AI tools can fuel fresh ways of thinking and offer new angles. Our designers leverage AI while prototyping, our copywriters lean on it to work through creative blocks, and our strategists use it to analyze massive amounts of data effortlessly.
Through experimentation and education on responsible AI practices, were seeing that AI isnt replacing our creative instincts, its sharpening them. Were breaking through limits, unlocking ideas we never considered, and pushing creative boundaries in our work like never before.
2. AI keeps us at the top of our game
AI is only going to get more advanced, more complex, and more intelligent. By weaving AI into our daily processes now in ethical and responsible ways, were future-proofing our team and staying ahead of the curve.
AI literacy will soon be table stakes for business leaders and employees looking to stay at the top of their game. Were already bridging the gap between awareness and applied proficiency, a goal organizations must embrace to remain competitive.
Most importantly, were cultivating a workplace culture that thrives on change instead of fearing change. We prioritize ongoing training, fostering a culture where our teams feel empowered to experiment with AI, and excited to discuss tips, tricks, and findings. This isnt just a valuable mindset to haveits our edge.
That said, our team knows better than to fully rely on AI tools. Weve asked ChatGPT to pull trending news articles, to which it created fake URLs to nonexistent stories. Were not just using AI, were understanding its quirks, its limitations, and how its evolved over time.
3. AI supports remote (and hybrid) work
Quantious is fully remote, with employees worldwide, so staying aligned and organized is crucial to our success. We now generate advanced spreadsheet formulas in minutes to streamline our workflows, saving our teams countless hours. We get AI-generated meeting note summaries after internal meetings, a simple yet effective way to document our company procedures and keep everyone in the loop.
AI has made our remote work more productive, seamless, well-documented, and so much more. Weve crossed a thresholdAI has redefined teamwork, and theres no going back
There are endless AI tools that can help you do everything from managing tasks to improving your public speaking skills. Without taking the time to learn about these tools, youll never know what youre missing out on.
At the end of the day, AI is just another tool. How we use it is what counts most. Encouraging my team to explore AI is not about replacing talent or even working smarter, not harder (though Im not against the latter). Its about cultivating a positive workplace culture alongside a team full of curious, adaptable, and continuous learners. My team and I refuse to sit on the sidelines while the industry evolves. Instead, were here to shape how it grows.
Lisa Larson-Kelley is founder and CEO of Quantious.
Workers without college degrees have, for some time, faced declining opportunities in the workforce. However, new data signals that this may be changing, a sign that hiring managers are less focused on educational attainment and more focused on skills than they were in years past.
Thats according to new research from Opportunity@Work, a nonprofit focused on increasing career opportunities for workers who lack college degrees but are skilled through alternative routes,” aka “STARs.”
The research, which analyzed trends in so-called paper ceilings, finds that between the years of 2000 and 2020, 70% of newly created jobs often required a college degree.
However, over the past five years, STARs, or people who have attained a skillset without earning a college degree (for instance, via an apprenticeship or another route), started to regain up to 10% of those jobs, the research found.
In other words, while workers without degrees continue to see their share of good-paying jobs decline, the downward trend has at least slowed, which the report attributes to shifting habits in hiring.
This report shows what is possible when awareness and behavior change together: job postings are measurably more open to STARs than in the early 2000s, said Byron Auguste, CEO of Opportunity@Work, in a statement. If we want our country to grow togethernot apartamid transformative technological and economic changethe starting point is to value all skills. And if we value all skills, STARs will rise.”
New ways of thinking as college costs soar
This may be good news for job-seekers who don’t have college degrees or aren’t especially keen on earning one, perhaps due to upfront costs. The average cost of a four-year degree has more than doubled since 2000 and grows around 4% per year.
Meanwhile, additional research has shown an uptick in skills-based hiring and a decline in degree requirements. Between 2014 and 2023, there was a near-fourfold increase in the number of roles from which degree requirements were dropped, according to researchers from Harvard Business School and the Burning Glass Institute.
For the last 20 years, many employers’ practices appear to assume that having no college degree means you don’t have skills,” said Dr. Erica L. Groshen, senior economic advisor at Cornell U-ILR, a former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, and chair of the STARs Insights Advisory Panel, in a statement. “Today, Opportunity@Work provides further evidence to refute that narrative.”
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
For Generation Z, real estate is more than just settling downit’s about staying connected, empowered, and mobile. Born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, they are the first fully digital generation, raised on smartphones, cloud-based everything, and on-demand convenience.
Gen Zs influence on the housing market is rooted in their expectations. They bring a consumer mindset to renting that demands speed, simplicity, and personalization in a space that has traditionally been slow to modernize.
Now that Gen Z is the fastest-growing renter demographic in the U.S., their preferences are no longer optional. As they drive the rental market, theyre reshaping the rental experience and forcing the real estate industry to keep up or risk falling behind.
Renting over buying (for now)
Gen Z hasnt given up on the American dreamthey’re just facing a more challenging road to get there. A significant majority of Gen Z aspires to own a home one day, but wanting to buy and being able to buy are two different things.
With home prices at record highs and interest rates still elevated, affordability remains the single biggest barrier. In fact, 43% of prospective buyers said they considered purchasing a home in 2024 but ultimately decided against it due to cost.
Even so, some are finding creative ways to enter the market, like buying in more affordable areas, choosing smaller homes, entering into co-living situations, using the house-hacking strategy, or taking advantage of remote work to relocate.
Still, for the majority, renting is a necessity, and in many cases a preferred step along the journey. Renting provides flexibility while they build careers, save for a down payment, or explore new cities. Some have even embraced renting as their digital nomad lifestyle centers around travel, remote work, and life experimentation before settling down.
As a result, Gen Z is expected to continue driving the rental market and take over as the largest renter demographic by 2030. And as this cohort grows in influence, their expectations around technology, flexibility, and user experience are reshaping what it means to rent and how landlords and proptech should adapt to support their needs.
Digital natives tech expectations
One of the defining characteristics of Gen Z is that they integrate technology into nearly every aspect of their daily lives. They expect everything to be accessible through a smartphone, and that includes housing.
From browsing apartments to paying rent, Gen Z wants real estate experiences to be mobile-first, fast, and intuitive. Theyre used to personalized playlists, same-day delivery, and AI-powered customer support. Therefore, any rental process that involves paper forms or checks to pay rent feels outdated and not worth their time.
This demand for seamless digital experiences is pushing the real estate industryparticularly landlords, property managers, and proptech companiesto modernize. In their view, applying for housing should feel as smooth as ordering from Uber Eats. If it doesnt, theyll find another landlord who makes renting easier.
How proptech is evolving to keep up
To meet Gen Zs expectations, the rental ecosystem is undergoing a massive tech upgrade. Smart property management platforms are built for both sides of the rental process: Landlords get powerful tools to automate operations, while renters get clean, mobile interfaces that streamline everything from applications to rent payments to maintenance requests.
Features like online rent payments, tenant screening, digital leases, and real-time messaging are quickly becoming minimum requirements for an optimal renter experience. Some modern platforms go beyond basic functionality by offering renters tools that enhance convenience, transparency, and control.
To make paying rent easier, some platforms are adding more advanced features such as allowing tenants to split rent with roommates directly within the app to eliminate the need for separate payments or awkward money transfers.
Other examples include: enabling autopay or partial payments, which helps with budgeting and avoiding late fees; reporting on-time rent payments to all three credit bureaus to help young renters establish credit and boost their credit scores; storing lease documents for easy access; 24/7 reporting and tracking maintenance issues in real time; and in-app purchasing of renters insurance.
These tools give Gen Z more autonomy and visibility throughout their rental experience. And for landlords, it means fewer missed payments, faster communication, and higher retention. In short: If your tech stack isnt evolving, your rental business wont either.
What real estate investors should be doing right now
For landlords and real estate investors, Gen Zs influence is both a challenge and an opportunity. Heres how investors can stay ahead:
Adopt mobile-first property management tools If tenants cant apply, pay rent, or request repairs from their phone, youll lose high-quality applicants. Look for platforms that make the entire leasing cycle smooth for both parties.
Streamline tenant onboarding and communication Automated screening, digital leases, and in-app messaging are the new baseline. Gen Z renters expect the process to be as fast and efficient as anything else in their lives.
Create transparent, personalized experiences Gen Z values transparency and control. Give them access to payment histories, lease docs, and maintenance updates in real time. The more empowered they feel, the more likely they are to renew (meaning less turnover/vacancies).
Keep up with tech (or get left behind) Proptech isnt slowing down. The platforms that dominate tomorrow will be the ones that can continually respond to shifting consumer expectations. As an investor, staying agile and tech aware is part of the job.
The bottom line
Gen Z is driving a new era of innovation in real estate where tech isnt an add-onits the foundation. Their lifestyl preferences, economic realities, and digital-first mindset are forcing the industry to evolve in real time.
For investors, landlords, and companies, its a roadmap for success. Those that embrace this shift early will be able to build stronger portfolios, attract long-term tenants, and thrive in the future rental marketplace.
Ryan Barone is cofounder and CEO of RentRedi.
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
The pandemic fully exposed global supply chains vulnerabilities and inefficiencies. While most brands were agile enough to shift strategies to address the uncertainties of the time, many prioritized speed and cost to meet the pressures of the moment, at the expense of long-term adaptability, resilience, and flexibility post-pandemic.
Today, new supply chain pressures like tariffs, trade wars, climate change, and geopolitical uncertainty serve as reminders that complexity and disruptionthe two words used to describe supply chain management in 2025 per Thomson Reuters’ global trade reporthave the potential to once again, impact business and life.
As brands and retailers analyze current risks across global operations, they ask: How did we get here again?
Create adaptive supply chains
A mid-pandemic EY survey found that enterprises were making plans to transform supply chain strategies to become more resilient, sustainable, and collaborative, leveraging technologies like AI, analytics, and automation. But did they?
The answer is both yes and no. Once the urgency of the pandemic disruptions cooled, consumer packaged goods and retail companies turned their attention back to revenue generation, workforce optimization, and production. There was certainly some investment in digital transformation. Still, Food Technologys Technology Trends Survey completed in 2024 found that about half of the food, beverage, and ingredient manufacturers surveyed were still in the planning stages, hoping to invest in AI (50%) and/or supply chain tracking systems (48%) as part of their 2025 digital transformation strategies.
The time to re-invest in digital transformation is now. Creating and maintaining a resilient operation that can weather costly disruptions and meet shifting consumer expectations requires an adaptive supply chain supported by modern technology. As proven during the pandemic, supply chain breakdowns can derail economies. Short-term changes can be a Band-Aid fix but do not support long-term resilience when the next crisis comes along. Conversely, collaborative supply chains with structural flexibility, end-to-end visibility, and advanced analytics can transform existential threats into manageable challenges and unlock fast, predictive decision-making capabilities, no matter the crisis.
As business leaders look ahead, here are the areas that will help organizations meet todays supply chain pressures, and better position companies for long-term adaptability and resilience.
Strategic alignment: Supply chains should be viewed as strategic assets foundational to decision making and performance optimization and can provide companies with a competitive advantage, not just as a target for cost-saving initiatives. Importantly, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach; upfront strategic alignment is critical.
For example, retail behemoths Amazon and Costco set the gold standard with their supply chain strategies but have distinctive approaches supporting their unique business goals. While Amazon optimizes for endless selection, convenience, and speed, Costco focuses on delivering value through scale, simplification, and operational efficiencytwo different approaches that achieve the same end goal: strong growth and loyal, happy customers. It’s critical for businesses to first align on what they’re trying to accomplish and what their strategic differentiators are and then set a supply chain strategy.
Data foundation: Given the complexity of our global marketplace, supply chain visibility and advanced analytics are foundational elements of effective supply chain management strategies. Though many companies currently collect extensive data, it’s not immediately actionable. A yogurt brand, for example, might manufacture its product in the U.S. but rely on ingredients imported from different countries. Especially with looming tariffs, brands need insight into their products bill of materials to determine where each ingredient is sourced and access to clean, real-time, granular data to help them quickly understand the potential impact of tariffs on their operations.
A fresh fruit brand could be navigating a food safety incident and need to quickly locate the affected inventory to determine where impacted batches were distributed. Companies must gather, collate, and normalize data from various inputs across their supply chains to inform quick decision making when needed.
Cross-functional collaboration: In resilient supply chains, partners at each stage share information to optimize the flow of goods. Starting with the planning stage, accurate demand and supply forecasts allow procurement to source the correct quantities of production inputs from suppliers. It also helps identify which suppliers meet the company’s quality standards and consistently deliver on time so that manufacturing can maintain efficient production schedules. Accurate information on warehouse capacity and logistics resources is needed to ensure on-time delivery. Adaptive supply chains require cross-functional collaboration and real-time data sharing between and throughout organizations so that companies can identify potential issues in advance, such as low inventory or production bottlenecks, and act quickly to avoid disruptions.
Cultural commitment: McKinsey data found that only one-quarter of supply chain survey respondents observed regular reporting on supply chain risks at the board level. Resiliency is a muscle that requires regular exercise, not something companies should only pay attention to when crises emerge. Supply chain transformation must be an ongoing change management imperative across the organization and at the highest levels, with strategies and plans regularly revisited and updated. By identifying early warning signals sooner, companies can make decisions faster and revise strategy and plans to mitigate the impacts of future crises.
Supply chain disruptions are rarely predictable. The best approach for companies to stay ahead of future disruptions is creating a foundation that allows for agility in daily operations and for significant events, such as tariffs, which require fast decision making. By creating systems and processes that facilitate end-to-end visibility and collaboration, business leaders can focus on supply chain agility now, so we are ready for the next crisis when it occurs.
Are Traasdahl is founder and CEO of Crisp.
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
In a world with a constant information deluge and a labyrinth of disinformation to continually navigate through, people are exhausted.
What is true? Who is honest? Who and what can I believe? Who can I trust to lead in a way where I know they understand what I need? Will anyone do what is best for me?
It is no wonder that people are frustrated with those in chargeeverywhere. Politicians, media personalities, business leaders. Our leaders are often out-of-touch elites, or worse, reckless liars. By and large, leaders seem self-interested rather than keeping the needs of those they serve at heart.
Compound this with a sound bite society where click bait reigns supreme and memes are a surrogate for journalism, but without the research, context, or analysis. No one can tell person from bot on social media anymore. And peoples worst behaviors lead to the highest monetization on those platforms. Its no wonder people are fed up.
Desperate for authenticity
All of this is resulting in anger from older generations and disillusionment among younger ones, causing both apathy and a lack of motivation to work toward something better, as it all feels hopeless. But emerging generations futures are threatened as they inherit the fallout from generations of selfish, inauthentic leadership, and are left with only dire economic prospects, unsteady liberties, and a planet literally on fire. Adding insult to injury, they are now asked to try to survive it all and to fix it themselves when leaders havent been or arent interested in doing so themselves.
Amid all of this, people are desperate for leaders who are authentic. Leaders who face the hard truths. Leaders who understand the reality of the people they serve. And most importantly, leaders who deliver results for the actual humans they are leading.
People are drawn to leaders who get it and who tell it like it is regardless of whether their intentions are altruistic or nefarious, evidence that authenticity is what people crave most right now.
What makes an authentic leader?
So what are some key elements seen in authentic leaders?
Give a damn about those you lead. Genuinely. Deeply reflect on your intentions. If you dont actually care, your people will know it.
Understand that leadership is a responsibility. A privilege given to a few. A great leader is a servant.
Listen to those you lead to hear things spoken and unspoken. Build structures to make sure you have eyes and ears everywhere to get to your teams truths and feelings.
Understand that others rely on you and that you can do nothing without a team of engaged, productive individuals.
Admit when you are wrong or when you dont know things. Everyone else will know anyway and not admitting it just looks foolish and stubborn.
Overcommunicate to ensure your team knows your intentions, your actions, your decision making. Speak candidly, openly, and transparently. Trust is built on understanding.
Make the best, well-informed decisions considering the needs of everyone. Deliver.
Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.
This all feels so obvious. So why is it so rare?
Because it takes far more work and sacrifice than not doing it. First, it all takes time, and sometimes money, which I believe many leaders feel is wasted on this soft capital. And it requires competencies that are not often valued, and sometimes demonized, in our strong-man leader archetype.
Listening requires EMPATHY.
Collecting feedback requires HUMILITY.
Open communication requires THOUGHTFULNESS.
Making the best, well-informed decisions requires INTEGRITY.
Admitting mistakes and learning from them requires VULNERABILITY.
Transparency empowers others to act and therefore requires TRUST.
Results for your employees are your own ACCOUNTABILITY.
And while my hope is that leaders will be driven to be authentic because they truly give a damn about people around them, I know that many leaders care most about the business value of their decisions.
Whats at stake?
What is the cost of lacking authenticity?
LOST PRODUCTIVITY due to low employee trust and engagement.
LOST MOMENTUM due to turnover and attrition.
LOST GROWTH due to shallow candidate pipelines as employees seek out authentic leaders.
LOST EFFICIENCY due to not developing team members to deliver and respond.
LOST FAITH in our social contract, the most expensive of them all.
Regardless of the motivations, authentic leaders are in demand and ultimately, the only leaders who will achieve success with the current workforces state of mind.
Investing in this soft capital will pay dividends, financially and socially. And frankly, none of us, individually or collectively, can afford not to.
Julee Brooks is CEO of Woodcraft Rangers.
The tech industry is often cautious about tying layoffs to performance, even if it might play a role in who gets dismissed during widespread job cuts. But this year has signaled a noticeable shift in how some of the biggest players in tech approach layoffs: Earlier this year, Meta cut more than 3,000 employees in a move that the company framed as non-regrettable attrition. The number of Amazon employees on performance improvement plans reportedly surged in recent years, leading up to layoffsand Microsoft has allegedly cut thousands of employees who were classified as “low performers.”
Now Microsoft is giving low performers the option to accept a payout and leave the company rather than being placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP), according to a new Business Insider report.
Separation agreement or a PIP
An internal email obtained by Business Insider outlined Microsoft’s new performance management system, which the company’s chief people officer described as having “clear expectations and a timeline for improvement.” For those who want to forgo performance management, Microsoft is reportedly offering a separation agreement that would be the equivalent of 16 weeks of pay. (Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment and also declined to comment in response to Business Insider’s inquiries.)
Any Microsoft employees who are eligible for a buyout reportedly have five days to accept the offer; if they opt to get on a performance improvement plan instead, they forfeit the option to voluntarily resign and receive a payout at a later time. A previous Business Insider report also claimed that Microsoft is now barring low performers who leave the company or get terminated over performance issues from rejoining for at least two years.
Shifting strategies for low performers
Microsoft’s new strategy for managing low performers is not unheard of in the tech industry. Amazon uses a program called Pivot that presents similar options to employees who are deemed low performers, and Meta reportedly also employs a “block list” of former employees who should not be hired back by the company.
But navigating performance-based layoffs can be tricky: At Meta, some employees who were affected by the recent job cuts claimed they had received high ratings on their performance reviews and expressed frustration over the fact that they were publicly characterized as low performers. (Meta did not comment on all such claims, but in response to one report, a company spokesperson said: “Simply because someone had a history of meeting or exceeding expectations, does not mean they continue to consistently meet the bar.”) It’s possible that some of these employees were impacted to meet the 5% quota Meta reportedly set for layoffs across departments, in spite of their performance reviews.
Even otherwise, experts say relying solely on performance ratings to determine layoffs can put certain employees at a disadvantage, given the potential bias that is baked into the process. There is also quite a bit of variability across managers and departments, and in some cases employees may not have been performance-managed properly. At a moment when many tech companies are already facing employee dissent and low morale over culture issuesincluding strict return-to-office mandatesresorting to performance-based layoffs could also engender further mistrust.
Rare cosmic events can feel like being smiled down upon from up above. However, on the morning of April 25, an actual smiley face will appear in the skykind of.
Venus, Saturn, and the moon will align in a pattern called a triple conjunction. Given the moon will be in its crescent form, the lineup will resemble a smiley face, but only for a short time on Friday morning.
“Venus is higher above the eastern horizon with Saturn lower, and a thin, crescent moon a bit lower and a little farther north,” Brenda Culbertson, NASA solar system ambassador, told Kansas TV station KSNT. “The thin, crescent moon looks like a smile. To some people, the triangle of bright objects may appear as a smiley face.“
But that’s not all: Near the smiley face, two more planets, Mercury and Neptune, could also become visible to sky-watchers, in a rare alignment that’s been dubbed a “planet parade.”
Here’s everything to know about the packed celestial event.
When can I see the triple conjunction smiley face?
Sky-watchers will need to wake extra early on Friday to catch the smirk in action. The event will take place at around 5:30 a.m. EDT, and smile down at the early morning risers for about an hour.
“If you look toward the eastern horizon about an hour before sunrise, youll see the old crescent moon rising,” according to EarthSky. “Its just two days from reaching new moon phase, so it will be about 8% lit. You might also see the dark part of the moon gently glowing with earthshine, which is light reflected from Earth.”
Are the smiley face and planet parade worth all the fuss?
The smiley face won’t be perfectly configured, therefore, you’ll have to use your imagination just a bit, EarthSky says. The smiley face will be tilted on its side, with one eye (Venus) brighter than the other.
But how often do the planets smile down at us? The alignment is extremely rareand given it will be viewable all over the world, the event may feel a bit like a celestial call for unity.
Mercury and Neptune will be nearby, but the brightness of the triple conjunction will mean they’ll be tough to spot.
What’s the next event for sky-watchers?
If you can’t make it out of bed earlyeven for a glimpse at a cosmic grinthis spring will bring lots of other special celestial happenings. In early May, the Eta Aquarids meteor shower will reach its peak.
NASA says that will be a smile-worthy sight, too. “Fast meteors can leave glowing ‘trains’ [incandescent bits of debris in the wake of the meteor] which last for several seconds to minutes,” the agency shared. “About 50 meteors can be seen per hour during the peak of the Eta Aquarids.”
It was only a matter of time: The official Trump store has just released a Trump 2028 hat, and it proves that the Presidents comments about running an unconstitutional third term were not an empty threat.
The new hat appeared online today on President Trumps merch store. It retails for $50 and comes in classic MAGA red and white, with some added stars in a large sans serif font that takes up nearly the entire front face of the hat. The hat is yet another example of how Trump uses merch to walk an ultra fine line between joke and reality, leveraging products to both provoke his political opponents and normalize his dodgy behavior.
By this point, Trump’s merch strategy has worked to desensitize many Americans to his more extreme commentsbut if Trumps past merch is anything to go by, its clear that while his messaging may seem lighthearted, it would be a mistake to take the Trump 2028 hat lightly.
[Screenshot: Trump Store]
Why Trump merch matters
Merch has always been a crucial mode of messaging for Trump. In 2016, the bright red Make America Great Again trucker hat was practically unavoidable. According to a report from Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner, the hats were pulling in up to $80,000 a day during the campaign. But when the red MAGA hat first debuted in 2015, no one was taking it seriously.
As Fast Company has previously reported, the New York Times style section disregarded it as an ironic summer accessory in September 2015. When the Trump campaign revealed that it had spent $3.2 million on the hats, Esquire wrote that they may well go down as the Trump campaigns only lasting contribution to the political history of the Republic.
Today, though, it would be difficult to find anyone who would argue that the MAGA hat is merely ironic. Its become a universally recognized symbol of Trumps ideologya form of public resistance for some, and, for many others, a propaganda-laden shorthand for intolerance.
Since 2016, Trumps merch strategy has become a bit more layered, but no less on the nose. His store has expanded with dozens of hat options, including one recent iteration which read, Trump was right about everything. During the 2024 campaign, he turned a visit to a McDonalds into a T-shirt. The merch even when meta, when a surrealist hat design featured a tiny image of a MAGA hat printed onto another hat.
And, in December of this year, Trump also turned the suit that he wore during his mugshot (taken before he was found guilty on 34 felony counts) into purchasable NFTs, as well as a $25 mug and $36 shirt. He further glorified the mugshot on rally posters and even in his official presidential portrait, which now hangs in the White House.
Products like the surrealist hat-on-a-hat might seem like offhand jokes, but Trumps merch strategy is clearly also a powerful political tool. The endless stream of products keeps Trumps message front and center both IRL and online. And, by merch-ifying moments like Trumps mugshot, his campaign reframes, and even legitimizes potentially damaging moments to followers while desensitizing everyone else.
Trump’s plan to hard-launch a potential third term
Trump has been talking about running for a third term for months, initially by floating the idea as what seemed like a joke.
At a speech before the Congressional Institute in January, the President said, I think Im not allowed to run again. Im not sure. Am I allowed to run again, Mike [Johnson]? I better not get you involved in that argument.
Since then, hes repeatedly doubled down on the idea. In late March, Trump told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker that a lot of people wanted him to serve a third term, and that there were methods to skirt around the two-term limit established in the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution. He even added that he was not joking about the idea, for good measure.
Per the 22nd Amendment, no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twiceand its unclear to experts what methods Trump has in mind to get around the unambiguous limit.
But what is clear, based on the Presidents new merch launch, is that hes now outfitting his own followers in his campaign for an illegal third term. And if theres anything we shouldve learned from Trumps past merch strategy, its that we need to take him at his hat.
The past few days in the stock market have been so wilda plunge on Monday, a sharp pivot upward on Tuesday, a rise with lots of oscillations on Wednesdaythat a record set by the Dow Jones Industrial Average on last weeks final day of trading has been largely overlooked. Thats unfortunate, because theres a lot to be learned from that record about how financial markets work.
Im referring to the record loss inflicted on the Dow last Thursday by the three-digit share price drop of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), the large healthcare and insurance company. (Thursday was the last day of trading last week because the market was closed for Good Friday.)
That price declinea whopping $130.93 a share, about a 22% dropcost the DJIA 805 points.
Thats the biggest daily Dow decline ever caused by a single stock, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. The DJIA dropped 527 points that day, with UnitedHealth responsible for the entire loss. Had UnitedHealth just stayed even, the Dow would have been up close to 300 points.
How could a single stock inflict that much damage on the ever-popular Dow, the pioneering market metric that was created in 1896 by financial reporters Charles Dow and Edward Jones?
Its because the DJIA is an average based on the share prices of its 30 component stocks. Unlike most stock market indexes, this one is not based on its components market values. So a dollar change in the share price of any Dow componentbe it UnitedHealth or Apple, which has about 15 times as many shares outstanding as UnitedHealth doeshas the same impact on the Dow as a change in any other component.
The Dow Divisor, the market metric used to calculate the value of the DJIA, means that every dollar change in any one Dow component these days moves the DJIA about 6.15 points.
Even with its huge drop last week, UnitedHealth is still the second-highest-priced stock in the Dow, behind only Goldman Sachs. So the DJIA is still vulnerable to another sickening day for UnitedHealth shareholders. Or, for optimists, a sharp UnitedHealth rise could set off a sharp Dow rise.
The Dow is based on share prices because when Dow and Jones created it back in the day and it had only 12 stocks, the only metric available for them to use was share price. Companies market valueswhich are used to calculate modern metrics like the Standard & Poors 500 Index, the Nasdaq Composite, and the FT Wilshire 5000 Indexwerent available 129 years ago.
The day before UnitedHealths sickening plunge last week, the companys weight in the Dow was 9.1%, but its weight in the S&P was only 1.2%, according to Silverblatt. By the end of the day Thursday, its weight had fallen to 7.3% of the Dow and 0.9% of the S&P.
If you do the math, you’ll see that if you had $10,000 in a Dow index fund when the market opened last Thursday, UnitedHealthcares plunging price would have cost you about $207. By contrast, if you had $10,000 in an S&P 500 index fund, your UnitedHealth loss was about $27.
Thats an example of why about $9 trillion was indexed to the S&P in 2023 (the most recent date for which data is available), according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, but only about $76 billion was indexed to the Dow.
Please keep all of this in mind when people mistakenly refer to the DJIA asthe market. Sure, the Dow is a long-standing, venerable metric. But despite the massive exposure that Dow changes get each day, it is not the whole stock market.
For that matter, neither is the S&P 500, which was launched in 1957 and is used by many investors and institutions as a performance benchmark. But as we can see from UnitedHealths disproportionate market impact on the DJIA relative to its S&P impact, the S&P measures a lot more of the market than the Dow does. Which makes it a far more useful and accurate metric. And that, as they say, is the bottom line.
