The Republic of Benin has signed a deal with the Japanese telecommunications equipment supplier NEC-XON for the dematerialization of its administrative services. The paper was inked between Aurélie Adam Soulé Zoumarou, Benin’s Minister of the Digital, and Johan Slabber, Director of Africa at NEC-XON. According to the government’s official, NEC-XON will support the State of Benin in...

RMB Corvest and Iron Bridge Capital, two private equity firms operating in South Africa, have invested an undisclosed amount in the capital of fast-food chain Roos Foods. The new resources will finance the food business’ long-term growth plans. Geoff Wilmot, a member of the RMB Corvest management team, says the company favors long-term partnerships to generate both stability and profit. RMB...

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, called all citizens to use the e-payment method for their transactions to help curb the spread of coronavirus across the country. Speaking to his fellows on March 14, the President announced that the country has recorded two new cases. Kenyatta asked telecom operators and banks to cut tariffs on e-payment operations to attract more users. Complying with this...

Breadfast, an Egyptian company that delivers fresh breakfast products, has raised funds from a consortium of investors to finance its expansion over the next three years. The company wants to launch its activity in the cities of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and Jeddah and Riyad in Saudi Arabia. This expansion project will be followed by the opening of Breadfast Now, a supermarket dedicated...

Sierra Leone will look to the African Development Bank to stimulate agribusiness development in the country with a focus on rice production, its president Maada Bio told a visiting delegation led by its president Akinwumi Adesina. Adesina began a two-day visit to Sierra Leone on Wednesday, during which he will hold meetings to discuss curbing malnutrition, creating skills and jobs for young...

The Making Finance Work for Africa Partnership (MFW4A) invites researchers and students enrolled in an academic institution to submit an essay on the African financial sector. The call for essays aims to foster a better understanding of the issues challenging financial sector development in Africa and to gather thoughts, opinions and innovative ideas on how to develop the sector. Topics selected...

Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi (pictured), on Sunday 15 March 2020, issued a resolution approving the financing agreement signed on 18 February 2019, between his country and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for the desert development project. The agreement will see Egypt obtain a loan of €53.2 million and a grant of €860,000 from IFAD. According...

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma (pictured), founder of Alibaba, announced on March 15 he will donate 20,000 testing kits and 100,000 face masks to each African country to help in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The donor said this during a meeting with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, stressing that the packages will be delivered to Addis Ababa, where Mr. Abiy will oversee their...

The Federal government of Nigeria will spend N150 billion ($405 million) sukuk issued by the Debt Management Office (DMO) to finance 44 road projects ongoing in the country. The information was reported by the Minister of public works, Abubakar Aliyu, on March 12 in Abuja during a symposium on the national policy and development. The official says the projects are part of a larger series of 500...

Sweden will deploy 150 new soldiers to Mali as part of the fight against terrorism, the Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde (pictured) announced today. The African country will also benefit from helicopters to help with the transport of troops. The new soldiers are to be deployed as part of Task Force Takuba, a body that will bring together special forces’ units from several European countries...