Yeah, I've also been thinking that some kind of news platform that focused on all of the quiet, slow events would be really cool.
The problem is it would be hard for many readers to want to engage with it long term.
While Our World in Data doesn't frame it in this light, I think it's something great that helps display otherwise typically ignored data and should continue to get more attention.
Another note on the struggle to industrialise in Africa is this paper (2023) - suggesting that manufacturing firms fail to scale due to lack of labour specialisation which appears to be driven by demand for more personalised goods. In other words, the goods demanded hinder economies of scale and talent leveraging. I haven't read the whole paper and I'm not sure why Africa (Uganda was the country studied) in particular is different, but it seems interesting.