TOKYO -- Japan is encouraging its companies to work with African startups, hoping to raise its profile on a continent often called the global economy's "last frontier" and offer a counterweight to Chinese influence there.
The Tokyo International Conference on African Development, a triennial event led by the Japanese government, opens on Wednesday amid two big trends: a shift toward private-sector investment from official development assistance, and advances in digital and financial technology that are bringing consumers without bank accounts and formal addresses within reach of companies.
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