The South African banking group which has branches in 10 African countries plans to offer advisory services to Chinese companies interested in investing in the continent, among other things. South African bank Absa Group will set up a representative office in Beijing to serve Chinese companies looking to expand their business to African markets, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday,...

OneWeb has finalized the deployment of its low-earth-orbit satellite constellation.  To ensure the distribution of its services in Africa, it is building partnerships with local actors.  Satellite operator OneWeb announced on Monday, May 15, a distribution agreement with integrated communications service provider iSAT Africa Ltd to provide broadband connectivity services in Central,...

The Kenyan health sector faces many challenges. To address some of those challenges and make the sector more inclusive, the government seeks cooperation with international partners.   South Korea will offer its vaccine and drug manufacturing expertise to strengthen Kenya's health sector. The information was disclosed by the Kenyan Ministry of Health in a release dated Thursday, May 11,...

The startup, which claims to have provided $1 billion in credit to about 3 million unbanked customers, is set to expand into South Africa and enter the electric motorcycle financing segment.  According to a report by Reuters on Monday, May 15, Kenyan financing platform M-Kopa successfully concluded a funding round, raising a total of $255 million in equity and loans. The funds...

The African Development Bank is set to roll out the first green finance facilities in two public financial institutions in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire as part of its ground-breaking African Green Bank initiative. The host institutions are La Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations du Bénin (CDC Benin) and the Ivorian National Investment Bank (BNI). As Africa’s premier development finance...

Traditional postal services face a looming challenge from the rapid advancement of digital technologies. To remain relevant in today's context, postal operators are undertaking efforts to modernize their services. To ensure the success of these modernization endeavors, they not only require effective methodologies but also need to enhance the skills of their workforce. The Universal Postal Union...

Zimbabwe has concluded a fourth Structured Dialogue Platform meeting on debt clearance with creditors and development partners. Government and development partners met Thursday 11 May, to review three draft policy reform matrices prepared by sector working groups on economic, governance and land tenure reforms. They also looked at compensation of former farm owners, and the resolution of...

Last January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $38.4 million assistance program for Guinea-Bissau under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF). This new disbursement should bolster donor confidence and further catalyze essential concessional financing. IMF’s executive board approved the immediate disbursement of about $3.2 million for Guinea-Bissau following the...

The points discussed are crucial for the proposed reform of the World Bank, but they only focus on U.S. priorities. Yet the World Bank's new role in Africa and its collaboration with other regional institutions deserve attention. A memo from the U.S. Congress highlighted "key" points to inform U.S. lawmakers’ debate on the World Bank’s proposed reforms. One of the key points discussed that...