Egypt signs a deal with South Korean tech company Samsung to build an educational tablet plant in Beni Suef, over 100km south of Cairo. The agreement will see Samsung invest $30 million in the facility. Construction work is expected to last until March 2022 and tablet production will commence right after. According to the Egyptian ICT department, 1,000 local engineers will be trained in the...

Mauritania will benefit from a new disbursement of $23 granted by the International Monetary Fund following the completion of the sixth review under the extended credit facility arrangement with the country. Valued at $167 million for the period 2017-21, this agreement aims to help Mauritania meet its social and infrastructure needs while maintaining macroeconomic stability and...

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP) launched a joint tender to raise $266 million to provide food aid to refugees in East Africa. In a March 2 statement, the United Nations said the initiative aims to increase the food rations granted to more than 3 million people in East Africa. As a reminder, due to insufficient resources to meet refugee needs,...

Sudan has reached a military cooperation agreement with Egypt. Official sources said this document, signed yesterday, marks the collaboration of both countries in tackling the security issues they are facing. Initialed by Mohamed Farid, Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, and his Sudanese counterpart Muhammad Othman Al-Hussein in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, the deal endorses...

Inma Holding, a Tunisian investment vehicle that offers diversified financial instruments to support companies in a growth phase and financial restructuring, announces a strategic investment in the capital of the private primary and secondary education group "Les Ecoles idéales." The financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed but Inma traditionally invests at least TND5...

Côte d’Ivoire started on March 1st its vaccination campaign against the coronavirus pandemic. The information was reported in an official tweet by the government. The program follows the reception of the first batch of the vaccine as part of the WHO-led Covax initiative. On February 26, the United Nations announced the delivery of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Côte d’Ivoire,...

Crédit du Maroc (CDM), 78.7%-owned by French group Crédit Agricole, posted a net profit of MAD190 million in 2020, about €17.6 million. Compared to 2019, the figure is down 62.6%. In its financial reporting, the company attributes this underperformance to the support granted for the fight against Covid-19, and to the increase in the cost of risk, also related to the pandemic. "At the...

NetOne, the mobile branch of Zimbabwean incumbent telecom operator TelOne, has selected Chinese technology company Huawei to carry out the modernization of its telecom network. The operation, which is part of the strategic cooperation between the two countries, is financed up to $400,000 by China. This is phase 2 of NetOne's network modernization operation, which aims to improve broadband...

African Gold Acquisition Corp, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company, mobilized last February 26 a total of $360 million as part of an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. The company will use the resources to buy gold assets in Africa. It is the first SPAC focused on African mining assets. Rob Hersov, Founder and Chairman of African Gold Acquisition Corp, and heir to a family of miners in...

Kenya Space Agency plans to launch new nano-satellites into space in August 2021. The move was reported on February 25 by James Aruasa, President of KSA’s Board, during a high-level stakeholder forum held in Nairobi. The launch of the new mini-space equipment developed in local universities will take place in Kenya, at the Luigi Broglio Space Center located near Malindi, the southeastern part...