Benin’s cotton production should regress during the 2015/2016 season. According to the minister of agriculture, this season will produce only 324,000 tons (-18%) as a result of poor weather conditions which led to the reducing of acreage (306,000 ha this season against 400,000 ha the previous year). According to Ecobank, the drop in output arises as Benin’s cotton industry faces various...

Côte d’Ivoire’s Fonds de Développementy Hévéa (FDH) just committed to participate in establishing 11,500 ha of rubber plantations in the country. The fund aims to support this industry which is currently facing the fall in prices of the commodity. “2,500 ha will be established through social subventions and 4,000 ha through communities as part of a project to support the agricultural...

Out of the six rivers polluted by illegal gold mining in the Manica province, Central Mozambique, four, namely the Chimeza, Lucite, Nhancuarara, and Zambuzi rivers have been treated.   Treatment of the Pungoe and the Revue, the two remaining rivers, is ongoing. For many months these rivers have been polluted by mercury and sodium borate which are used to purify gold mined at Mavonde,...

Brand South Africa, South Africa’s official marketing and reputation management agency just welcomed a new chief marketing officer, Linda Sangaret. After working for a few years in Paris as a diplomat, she later made her way through the communication world. Before landing at Brand South AFrica, Linda Sangaret spent ten years in France as South African Tourism’s Country Manager. She was in...

Investment fund founded by billionaire Ibrahim Mo and focused on providing long-term growth capital to African businesses, Satya Capital, sold its 63.4% stake in Hygeai Nigeria Ltd, Nigeria’s leading private healthcare company, for $66.8 million. Satya Capital who acquired the shares in the firm’s capital in 2009 for $18 million therefore exits with a juicy profit of $47.8...

In Zimbabwe, the prices of petrol continue to increase regardless of the decline in the international market. The price of petrol in September 2015, was close to $1, 40 while that of diesel was $1, 20. The Government had commanded fuel suppliers to reduce the price of petrol by 7cents and diesel by 5 cents which mean that the lowest price for petrol and diesel should be $1,28...

Eni on Monday announced that it has commenced production from the Mpungi field in the West Hub Development Project, within Block 15/06 of the Angolan Deep Offshore. The West Hub Development Project covers the development of the Sangos, Cinguvu, Mpungi, Mpungi North, Ochigufu and Vandumbu fields in a water depth between 1,000 to 1,500 meters. These wells are organized and linked to the N’Goma...

In Sudan, the Southern Sudanese Government has called on Khartoum to reduce the Sudanese oil transportation facilities agreement, due to the declining prices of crude oil in the global market. Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, disclosed that a request was submitted to its Government to this effect. “Oil prices have dropped. They are no longer like in the past. We have to see...

The Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Farouk Ahmed, has disclosed the reason behind the sharing of 78 % of the 3.1 million metric tonnes of petrol import allocation for Q1 to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). According to him, the allocation was due to the failure of some oil marketers to meet preceding import allocation...

Top Employer Institute, the independent Netherlands-based organism which awards excellence certifications to firms worldwide based on the working conditions of employees and human resources management policies, just released its list of top employers in Africa for 2016. This list certifies eight international organisations as top employers in Africa for 2016.  These include pharmaceutical...