Egyptian sports betting platform Eksab has mobilized funding from the US venture fund 500 Startups to expand its business. The company intends to leverage the 2019 African Cup of Nations in Egypt, which starts June 21, to strengthen its position in the sports betting and entertainment games segment. Eksab says it has recorded more than 5 million of bets in a 2-year period. According to Sharif...

Gilbert Togbonon (photo), the Special Prosecutor of the Court of Anti-Economic Offences and Terrorism (CRIET) in Benin, called on mobile operators MTN and Moov last June 17 to end sale of pre-registered SIM cards. The sale of those cards, pre-registered with another person’s name, is not in accordance with the country’s regulatory principles, website cio-mag.com reports. Any offender to the...

The government of Mozambique expects ports to handle more than 50 million tons of goods by the end of 2019, above what was initially envisaged. According to the transport minister, Carlos Mesquita, who reported the information, the higher volume outlook is linked to programs thought by the State to upgrade port transport facilities and equipment. These include the acquisition of buses and...

The French Development Agency (AFD) will grant, through its ARIZ financing mechanism, a guarantee of R28 million ($1.8 million) to partially cover the operations carried out by the South African investment fund ASISA Enterprise and Supplier Development (ASISA ESD). ASISA ESD aims to conduct equity investments in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a high social and environmental...

Finance ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) countries gathered in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on June 17 to discuss ways to accelerate the creation of the single currency set to come out by 2020. Speaking during the meeting, the Ivorian minister of finance, Adama Koné (photo), admitted that many challenges remained to be met until the...

Rwanda will house the administrative secretariat of the African internet exchange points association. The latter, in partnership with the Internet Society, signed an agreement in that regard with the Rwanda Internet Community and Technology Alliance (RICTA).According to local media The New Times, the agreement follows the successful completion of a call for proposals aimed at helping the African...

Mubawab, a Morocco-based real estate advertiser 51%-owned by the Emirati group Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG), announces it has taken over African e-commerce giant Jumia’s subsidiay Jumia House Maghreb (present in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria). Amount of purchase is not disclosed.According to Jumia’s managers, this operation will enable the company to focus on its core activity;...

The government of Morocco is planning to sell 8% stake in Maroc Telecom. An operation that will earn the Treasury MAD8.87 billion ($920 million), according to a note issued June 15 by the country’s capital market regulator AMMC.First, a 6% stake of 52.74 million shares, at MAD127 ($13.2) each, will be sold en bloc to local institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and...

Norwegian Investment Fund -Norfund- and the Netherlands Development Finance Company -FMO- have entered an agreement that could win them interest in the capital of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI). Operation will be made through Arise BV, an investment firm owned by FMO, Norfund, and Rabobank. The 14.1% stake is held by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Let’s recall the...

In a statement issued June 14, the World Bank reported it has granted Tunisia two loans both worth $175 million to finance two projects in digital transformation and economy.   First project investment ($75 million) intends to improve access to financing for innovative start-ups and SMEs. It aligns with the government’s “Start-up Tunisia” program that aims to foster the...