Gambia has signed with the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) a loan agreement valued at $45 million. This will support several of the country’s operations including heavy fuel import by the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC), the country’s power utility. “The loan financing falls under the framework agreement signed with the Gambia in May 2017, for a three years...

The fourth edition of the SME & Banking Africa Forum will be held in Kigali, Rwanda. Organized in partnership with SFI / IFC, AfricSearch, OCP Group, ESPartners and Afreximbank among others. Exclusively dedicated to the financing of African SMEs, the SME & BANKING Africa Forum enables African companies to access financing through banks, investment funds, guarantee funds, foundations and Business...

The French billionaire Vincent Bolloré (picture) plans to retire on February 17, 2022, date at which the Bolloré Group will be celebrating two centuries. Before trusting the “empire” to his offspring, the man who keeps resisting politics, regulators, minority shareholders, uses Vivendi, where he holds a 21% stake, to absorb major broadcasting, communication and video games firms of Italy...

The Balama project, Mozambique, will produce its first graphite concentrates at the end of October, said last Tuesday mining firm Syrah Resources. It noted that the first saleable flake product are expected in the second half of November. Truly, the project is 98% complete and commissioning of the front-end plant is done. As for the flotation unit, it should soon be commissioned and will be...

In Benin, data users will soon enjoy a better internet connectivity as the government, under its action plan (PAG), has launched on October 17, a project to develop telecom and ICT infrastructures (PDI2T). This was disclosed by Rafiatou Monrou (picture), the minister of digital economy and communication. Initiated 12 months ago, the project will boost telecom operators’ access to data...

Developing the Kalongwe copper and cobalt project in DR Congo will require an initial funding of $53.12 million. This is according to the definitive feasibility study (DFS) released by the firm owning the mine, Nzuri Copper, on its website.  The DFS indicates that the project will have a net pre-tax value of $116 million for an internal pre-tax profit rate of 71%. The mine should...

The Ugandan government revealed that it plans to borrow $287 million from Exim Bank China to boost its power supply. “As government we are in final discussion with the bank to ensure that the funds are secured to finance rural electrification programme in the country,” said David Bahati (picture), minister of finance. These funds should help provide power to 287 communities,...

Mobile operator Alpha Telecom, which holds the third license of Mali, has finally launched its activities on October 16, 2017. Initial test calls were made successfully and commercial operations are to begin next December. According to the firm’s managing director, Dimitri Ouedraogo cited by studiotamani, the network can receive up to five million users. Its installation required close to...

Egypt’s trade deficit has slumped by 37% ($12.23bn) over the first eight months of 2017, down to $20.1 billion, from $32.4 billion in 2016, over the same period. This was disclosed by the Egyptian minister of external trade, Tarek Kabil (picture), in a statement released last Thursday. This situation mainly results from a 15% increase in non-oil exports. These stood at $15...

Tunisie Telecom has a new chief executive officer in the name of Mohamed Fadel Kraïem (picture). Formerly the firm’s deputy managing director, he was appointed at this new position last month but officially took office on October 17, 2017, during a board meeting of the public company. He replaces Nizar Bouguila who had held the position since August 2015. In addition the change in the...