The Ivorian government is investing CFA150.9 billion to boost the agricultural and farming sector amid the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was announced following a Presidential Council on the implementation of the economic social and humanitarian support plan initiated by the government to respond to the pandemic. On the vegetal production segment, the investment targets cotton (CFA5.5...

Last year, the Ivorian arm of Moroccan Attijariwafa Bank -Société ivoirienne de Banque- paid a total of CFA1.25 billion in salaries to its 10 highest-paid workers. This makes an average annual salary of CFA120 million for each of them, or 7.6% of the nearly CFA16.2 million of average annual salary for the other 830 employees. This figure does not include fees and other bonuses granted to the...

The South African branch of the Vodacom group has become a standalone company with a new Managing Director in the person of Balesh Sharma. According to a statement released on May 21 by Vodacom, the decision is aimed at enabling the now independent company to continue to play a central role in the supervision of all its operations in Africa. It is the outcome of a major restructuring of the...

The UK, which in January this year authorized the Chinese company Huawei to deploy 5G in the country, has just announced it will gradually terminate the agreement with the company by 2023. Under this measure, British operators now have three years to replace Huawei’s equipment with those of Nokia or Ericsson. This decision should please Donald Trump and the English nationalists, who welcome...

The Ivorian army announced on May 24 they have joined the Burkinabe forces in the fight against terrorism at their border regions. Kicked off on May 11, the Comoé operation -the first of its kind jointly conducted by the two nations- mobilized 1,000 Ivorian soldiers, according to the army’s statement. In total, eight terrorists have been killed and 38 others arrested (24 in Burkina Faso and...

Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) published a study on the way households in the countries are living amid this pandemic. The study shows that 34% of families in the country have no source of income, with more than 31% - 54.2% of the middle class and qualified craftsmen being in the situation. People who claim to have a source of income (38%) say the money is just enough to handle...

The government of Rwanda announced on May 21 the disbursement of $152 million to support the national airline -Rwandair- in this pandemic. Up by $17 million from the initial plan, this financing should enable the company to sustain its cash flow, which has sharply declined since the suspension of scheduled flights on 19 March due to travel restrictions. The crisis has forced the...

A recent survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that 54% of Chief Financial officers of companies operating in Africa expect a 10-50% decline in turnovers. In detail, 38% of people interviewed forecast a decline by 10 to 24.9% while the rest see between 25 and 50%. Of the CFOs interviewed, 86% say their companies are setting up a response plan that seeks to reduce spending and 60%...

Apollo Agriculture, a Kenyan technology company that has been working with farmers since 2016 to provide financing, a market for their products, advice, and farm inputs, has raised $6 million in Series A funding. The transaction was led by Anthemis Exponential Ventures and involved a group of foreign investors. The start-up co-founded by American Eli Pollak and Kenyan Benjamin Njenga will...

Development Partners International (DPI), through its third fund, made a $56 million investment in Société industrielle des conserves alimentaires (Sicam). The transaction represents the second commitment of African Development Partners III (ADP III) and the first in the Tunisian agribusiness sector. Created in 1969, Sicam, which is wholly controlled by the Tunisian conglomerate Groupe...