Safaricom has officially launched its commercial operations in Ethiopia. The company's offering includes voice, data, and SMS. It will soon launch mobile money services. Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia (STE) wants to provide mobile financial services via its M-Pesa mobile money platform in Ethiopia in addition to cell phone services. To this end, the operator received approval from the...

Despite external pressures, Rwanda is expected to record robust economic growth this year. However, climate change and inflation, which reached 15.9 percent in August, are risks that Kigali is trying to mitigate. Rwanda has secured a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new economic program, the institution announced on Thursday, October 6.   The...

Unsurprisingly, the Central African central bank, BEAC, increased its key rates. The hike seems more like a follow-through choice than an appropriate solution to the inflationary challenges faced by CEMAC countries. The BEAC, the central bank of the six CEMAC states, recently raised its key rates that influence commercial banks’ ability to grant loans. For instance, its main refinancing rate,...

ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (ARISE IIP), a developer and operator of world-class industrial ecosystems across Africa, is proud to announce the signing of a framework agreement for the development of the industrial zones of Pointe-Noire and Oyo. The construction of these two zones is scheduled to begin by the end of the year. Once operational, they will contribute to the...

Drug stock-outs and shortage of medical equipment in health facilities in Rwanda are becoming a thing of the past, thanks to an innovation that is addressing procurement constraints. Viebeg Technologies, a venture capital-backed Health Tech company, is helping to expand access to affordable health care in Central and East Africa by aiding healthcare facilities in procuring supplies in real-time....

The substantial amount of capital that was put on hold during the pandemic along with fresh capital raised by fund managers in 2021 contributed significantly to this strong deal activity. Private investment funds (private equity, venture capital, private debt, infrastructure, and real estate funds) invested US$4.7 billion in Africa in 338 deals in the first half of 2022, against US$2.4...

According to Ivorian authorities, less than 10% of companies with Ivorian majority ownership are in the top 500 in the country. The country is therefore undertaking actions to enhance the value of local firms for effective implementation of its development strategy, Vision 2030.  Côte d’Ivoire recently launched PEPITE, an economic program to boost innovation and transform businesses. The...

South Africa is the largest cloud market in Africa.  The rainbow nation is home to the facilities of some of the biggest companies in the industry, including Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Huawei, Acronis, and now Google. U.S. tech giant Google announced on Wednesday, Oct. 5, the launch of its first African cloud region in South Africa to provide cloud computing services to businesses. In South...

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a $15 million trade finance line of credit and $10 million transaction guarantee for FSDH Merchant Bank in Nigeria. FSDH will use the line of credit to provide loans to local enterprises in Nigeria.  The $25 million package will help to reduce the trade finance gap in Nigeria by making financial...

Of the 39 Sub-Saharan African countries eligible for International Development Association (IDA) financing, Rwanda, Cape Verde, and Kenya have the best Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) score,  according to a report recently released by the World Bank.  On October 3, 2022, the World Bank published the latest issue of its CPIA Africa report. The report assesses the...