Paris-based fintech FairMoney announced it has raised a total of $11 million from a co-investment operation led by venture capital company Flourish Ventures. The operation was also backed by seed investors French Newfund, Austrian Speedinvest and French Le Studio VC.The funds raised will be used to strengthen the engineering team at FairMoney. “Our vision is to build a holistic financial...

Meeting in the September 11 Council of Ministers, the Burkinabe government adopted a decree terminating the Communication Infrastructure Strengthening Support Project (PARICOM).Authorities said since the program was launched in 2014, it is still lagging and no steering committee or management bodies have been set up. Also, in 2017, PARICOM was replaced by the BKF/021 project co-funded by the...

Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTC) doubled its capacity on the Spacecom’s AMOS-7 communication satellite. With this measure, BTC gets a backhaul and various long-distance communication services to improve rural connectivity.The company could now provide enhanced broadband Internet to businesses outside big cities and roll out Wi-Fi hotspot services all over the country....

The government of Burkina Faso continues to face growing attacks and social unrest. In Ouagadougou, the capital, the Kwame Nkrumah street is being less and less frequented, even on weekends. Despite the presence of security forces, people still fear going down this road.“Since the latest attack happened, people fear to come here,” said a man working at a drinking spot. Hotels around the area...

South Sudan borrowed $600 million from China to pay public servants salary over the six months to come, South Sudan News Agency informed.A few months ago, let’s recall, several South Sudanese MPs decided to boycott the 2019-2020 budget presentation ceremony, saying they will not do so until all salary arrears are paid.Despite its large oil reserves, South Sudan, which has been independent...

Oly Ilunga (pictured), the former minister of health in DR Congo, was arrested on September 14. He is accused of misappropriating $4.3 million dedicated to fighting Ebola in the country. Police said the 59-year old Ilunga tried to flee to neighboring Congo to evade legal proceedings against him. On August 27, he was heard as part of a preliminary investigation into the embezzlement case and...

Algerian interim President, Abdelkader Bensalah (pictured), announced on Sunday the country’s first post- Bouteflika presidential elections will be held next December 12.“I decided, based on my constitutional prerogatives, that the date of the presidential election will be Thursday, December 12,” the leader said during a TV address to the nation. He also said an independent committee, led...

Member countries of the Economic Community of West African States -ECOWAS- will commit a billion dollars to fight terrorism in the region, over the five years to come. This was one of the major highlights of the Heads of State’s summit held September 14 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.In addition to countries threatened within the region, the 2020-24 program will also focus on Mauritania and Chad....

G5 Sahel heads of state at a Summit on Friday in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, gave strong support to Desert to Power, an Africa Development Bank-led initiative. The summit, "Harnessing solar energy for the socio-economic development of the G5 Sahel countries" came on the heels of a high-level technical meeting attended by the region’s energy ministers, and development partners including the...

The African Development Bank, rated Aaa/AAA/AAA (Moody’s/S&P/Fitch, all stable), has launched and priced a US$ 2 billion 3-year Global Benchmark bond due 16 September 2022, its first US$ benchmark of the year. Launched on September 11, the bond issue is the Bank’s second Global Benchmark of 2019, following a EUR 1 billion 10-year priced in March 2019. With this transaction, the Bank has now...