At the end of H1 2018 financial year, which ended last December 31, the Botswana grocer Choppies Enterprises Ltd announced it has recorded a 22% turnover increase to 5.8 billion pula ($590 million) and 33% EBITDA increase. According to the company, this performance was mainly achieved thanks to the dynamism of operations on the South African market. In fact, revenues from the...

The Lagos State government (Nigeria) concluded an agreement with the British company Low Energy Designs for the installation of 10, 000 streetlights over 300 km. The project estimated at $6.9 million also includes the establishment of an intelligent control system for facilities’ telecontrol as well as a hybrid energy storage system. The company will use LED lights from Phoenix...

In a statement published on April 26, 2018, the mining company West African Resources announced that Burkina Faso has validated the environmental and social impact assessment of Sanbrado mining project. According to the company, this approval is a key milestone for the project’s development. It also indicated that the assessment is completed and population can now resettle. “Completion...

In South Africa, the mistrust of pork consumers resulting from the listeria epidemic has already led to a financial loss of R1 billion ($81 million), Paul Makube, a senior agricultural economist at First National Bank (FNB), told Reuters. According to the manager, the price of pork products fell by 36% since the beginning of 2018. “Pork farmers have now had to redirect the pigs for...

Lucara Diamond announced yesterday April 26 it has recovered a new white diamond of 327 carats from its Karowe mine in Botswana. This gem is the eighth of more than 100 carats recovered at the mine this year and comes after the recovery of a 472 carat light brown diamond. The company indicated that it would hold an Exceptional Stone Tender (EST) next June to sell the 327 and...

Telecommunications company Airtel Seychelles has commemorated its 20 years of existence in the country with the unveiling of its state-of-the-art network modernisation technology and the launch of I-DEAL, its new post-paid plans. These were revealed during a ceremony held at its headquarters in Providence yesterday to celebrate Airtel’s 20years since joining the local telecom industry in...

German power producer Siemens is considering expanding to Burkina Faso. This was revealed by André Bouffioux, MD of the Siemens’ Belgian subsidiary (charged to develop the company’s activities in West Africa) during a visit with the Burkinabe president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. “We discussed how Siemens could help Burkina Faso develop in electricity supply and efficiency in the...

Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), Mozambique’s national oil company plans to raise $2 billion this year to refinance two oil development projects operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (USA) and Italian Eni SpA (Italy). This was announced by Omar Mitha, the CEO of ENH. During an interview with Bloomberg, the official indicated that ENH should begin a roadshow next month in...

Jean-Marc Anga (photo), Managing Director of the International cocoa organization (ICCO), calls all the operators in that sector for a better cooperation to be effective in fostering the sector’s sustainability. “Whatever we’ve been doing all these years doesn’t seem to work. This is not sustainability as we envisaged it,” the official said. Although action plans have been...

Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) sees Africa as a region with various opportunities to develop and grow activities in the sugar sector. This was stated by Enrico Biancheri, trade manager of Biosey, world’s second-largest sugar and ethanol producer, controlled by LDC.  According to the manager, the company plans to export sugar to Africa, where the competition is still low. Mr. Biancheri...