The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced a $1.1 billion lending programme to help women entrepreneurs on the continent.  EIB Vice President, Ambroise Fayolle (photo), also revealed that the bank has signed three further agreements to boost sustainable development on the continent.  But the major deal is what the EIB has dubbed SheInvest. The EIB expects the gender-lending...

The African Development Bank, Credit Suisse AG, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited and Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) signed a $600 million syndicated receivables-backed term loan on Tuesday, to boost cocoa productivity in Ghana - the world’s second-largest cocoa producer. Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the President of the African Development Bank...

Africa has the potential to expand the continental economy fourfold, with energy demands expanding by only 50 percent, according to a new report. The International Energy Agency (IEA) unveiled its report on the first day of the second African Investment Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa. Africa Energy Outlook 2019 found that the continent’s future energy prospects look bright, but only if...

The suspension of fifty-three fund managers by Ghana’s Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has put about 70,000 investors at risk of losing a total of 8 billion cedis (about $1.4 billion). The regulator explained that the suspended managers pumped the money into unprofitable investments. For the time being, the coverage and guarantees provided by the government cover bankruptcy risk of...

On November 12, Power Africa and Africa50 signed a memorandum of understanding for a new partnership focused on attracting power sector financing and developing innovative public private partnership models in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa50 will be the nineteenth development partner to join the Power Africa initiative.  This new partnership between Power Africa and Africa50 provides a...

The Africa Investment Forum is making phenomenal progress in attracting interest from all over the world since launching at the Sandton Convention Centre last year. The value of boardroom transactions which will be negotiated this year will be considerably higher compared to $43bn in 2018.  A hundred and nine countries are represented at this year’s conference, 61 of which are not...

The 2019 Africa Investment Forum opened on Monday living up to its promise to move from commitment to action.A $500 million equity deal presented by the Africa Infrastructure Investment Fund last year, to speed up investments in agriculture, and a $175 million equity transaction from the Africa Guarantee Fund for investors to support Small and Medium Size Enterprises, are among the...

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) granted $32.9 million to Mauritania for the construction of the Néma-Nbeiguit Lahwach road. The related agreement was signed on November 8, in Nouakchott between the Minister of Economy and Industry, Sheikh El Kebir Moulay Taher, and the Deputy Director of Operations within the fund, Merwane Abdallah El Ghanem. According to the...

Tizeti, a Nigerian startup that provides solar-powered wireless internet, announced it is launching its first 4G Long Term Evolution network in the country. The company said the move aligns with its ambition to increase access to broadband internet across Nigeria. “Access to affordable and reliable unlimited internet connectivity has been an intractable problem for a lot of Nigerian businesses...

American e-commerce company Amazon announced it is establishing a unit of its cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services, in Kenya next year. The company said it is seeking to offer businesses the full range of Internet benefits, including computer, networking and cybersecurity services. Following a meeting with the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, on November 8, 2019, Teresa Carlson, AWS Vice...