It seems that in Senegal, the integration of renewables in the energy mix is going very well, driven by solar mostly. Djiby Ndiaye (picture), managing director of the national renewable energies agency (ANER), has indeed recently disclosed that starting from March 2018, a project to build a 150MW solar plant would be initiated in the country. This infrastructure is to partially begin operations...

“The Zambian government is failing to protect the rights of rural residents displaced by large commercial farms in Serenje district,” Human Rights Watch said in a report released on October 25, 2017. The report is entitled “Forced to Leave: Commercial Farming and Displacement in Zambia”. “Some commercial farmers have acquired thousands of hectares of land while ignoring legal...

In Algeria, three public lending institutions, namely the Banque de l’agriculture et du développement Rural (BADR), the Caisse Nationale d’Epargne et de Prévoyance (CNEP) and the Banque de Développement Local (BDL) will start offering Islamic finance services before the end of the year.  Being Sharia-compliant, these services will be interest-free.  By deciding to enter the...

Asamoah Gyan (picture), the captain of the Ghanaian senior football team, has secured a license to launch an airlines named Baby Jet, which happens to be his rapper’s pseudo. Speaking at the aviation fair in Accra yesterday, President Nana Akufo-Addo said that Gyan “is working feverishly to establish an airline obviously called, Baby Jet Airline”. “I want to call on other Ghanaians both...

Zimbabwean public mobile operator NetOne, subsidiary of TelOne, has launched its new mobile money service, on October 25, 2017. Named OneMoney, this service is a substitute to OneWallet wich failed due to some shortcomings. According to the operator, this new service will not only be better than the previous one but also come with inherent innovations. During the launch ceremony for the new...

Mining firm Volt Resources has appointed the investment bank Exotix Capital to arrange a bond issuance, in order to raise $30 million for its Bunyu graphite project, in Tanzania. The operation’s proceeds will be used to finance the first phase of development of this project which is to enter production in 2018. “We are happy to be working on such an important project with Volt to...

Uganda’s coffee sector recorded quite good results during the 2017/18 season ended last September. Indeed, the country’s coffee exports over the period rose by 39.4% to 4.3 million bags, valued at $545 million, thus 67% more than during the previous season. This achievement is to be attributed to the many planting campaigns initiated by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and...

IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, believes that if nothing is done about climate change, there will be disastrous consequences. "As I've said before, if we don't do anything about climate change now, in 50 years' time we will be toasted, roasted and grilled," she said last Tuesday, at a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "Decisions are needed at this...

During the 2017/2018 peanut season opening on December 1st, one kilogram of the crop will be sold at CFA210. This was disclosed recently by the inter-ministerial council for the season’s preparation, following a meeting that regrouped all the actors of the sector (State institutions, financial institutions, oil makers and farmers’ and rural associations).  This price is the same as that...

Just like its neighbor Algeria, Tunisia seems also to have fully committed its efforts to clean up the management of its land sector. In that regard, the State has recovered 20,113 hectares of State domains which were illegally occupied since 2011.  “These domains were squatted since the incident of January 14, 2011. The Béja governorate was the one to recover the most lands (3,115 ha)...