More than 350 stakeholders are converging on Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to participate in the 2019 African Economic Conference (AEC), with this year’s focus on jobs, skills and capacity development for Africa’s youth. The three-day conference, from 2-4 December, brings together researchers, youth representatives, business leaders, policymakers and media representatives from Africa and around...

Kenya’s e-commerce platform Copia Global has raised $26 million to finance its expansion across the country but also in the East African sub-region. Monies were provided by five investors including Amsterdam-based Goodwell Investments which already pumped $2 million in the company in January this year. Copia Global, which begins operations in 2013 in Kenya, currently serves more than...

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), working with seven African exchanges, the African Development Bank and the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) hosted the African Exchange Linkage Project (AELP) Engagement Forum, designed to bolster investments into the continent. The joint initiative will facilitate cross-border trading and settlement of securities across participating...

Zimbabwe’s third-largest mobile operator by subscribers, Telecel Zimbabwe, has been taken to the High Court by Egyptian ARPU Telecommunications Services S.A.E Limited over a $749,900 debt. The plaintiff says the debt is the result of several unpaid invoices inherent in a partnership it signed with ARPU on August 1, 2016, for the provision of technical and infrastructure support enabling...

The African Development Bank presented the Lusophone Compact to the private sector in Guinea-Bissau last month, during an event at the national Economic Forum. The Lusophone Compact, a financing platform involving the African Development Bank, Portugal, and the six Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa (PALOPs), provides risk mitigation, investment products and technical assistance to...

South Africa's Global Africa integrated farm has entered into a $167.7 million public-private partnership (PPP) agreement with the Ivorian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as part of the Tiébissou Integrated Agricultural Program (PAIT). The partnership was inked on the sidelines of the Abidjan 2019 International Agricultural and Animal Resources Exhibition (SARA). This project...

Judi Wakhungu (pictured), the Kenyan Ambassador to France, signed a multilateral convention to end tax evasion by multinational companies. The document was signed during the 10th Anniversary Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes organized in Paris. According to the Ambassador, the signing of the convention demonstrates the national commitment of...

The government of Zimbabwe says it will not cut grain subsidies next year, as previously announced. According to a statement by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, this decision is to assist the most vulnerable populations in a context of economic crisis. “We cannot remove the subsidy. So I am restoring it so that the price of mealie-meal is also reduced [in 2020],” the President said, according...

The Comorian government will meet with several financial partners in Paris next month. The Indian Ocean archipelago seeks to mobilize €4.5 billion ($5 billion) in investments for several projects mainly in tourism and infrastructure sectors. The announcement was made on Tuesday by the Economy Minister Houmed Msaidie (pictured), during an interview with Bloomberg. The operation comes a few...

The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a €500 million (about $550 million) loan deal with the Egyptian public bank Banque Misr to strengthen support to SMEs operating in the country. During the first half this year, Banque Misr provided about EGP24 billion in aid for micro and small entrepreneurs; the support was only EGP11 billion the same period last year (+118%). The Egyptian...