Media sources report that the French and Malian presidents will meet on December 20 in Bamako. This will be an opportunity for the two leaders to seek ways to ease tensions between their countries. Since Colonel Assimi Goïta (pictured) came to power, Paris has repeatedly expressed doubts about the Malian government's willingness to transfer power to civilian hands. French authorities strongly...

Opening up Africa’s borders to travel will drive investment and an economic rebound, according to the authors of the 2021 Africa Visa Openness Index. Published yearly since 2016, the Index measures African countries’ openness to travellers from elsewhere on the continent. This year’s edition found that the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic substantially impacted free movement. “In this new...

Cement producers listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange are expected to end 2021 on a positive note with their net results up 30.1% compared to last year. The good performance is driven by the dynamics in the country’s real estate and construction sectors, which led to higher demand for cement in the local market. This is good news after a particularly gloomy year marked by the Covid-19 and...

Dr. Abe Manase Lori is haunted by the memory of a 45-year-old patient who succumbed to Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic in South Sudan. “This was a time when we ran out of resources…It was unfortunate. We lost him,” said the 34-year-old doctor, who works at the Dr. John Garang Infectious Disease Unit in Juba, the country’s capital. Since April of last year, conditions have...

The government of Ghana has launched the construction of a National Aquaculture center. The foundation stone was laid on December 10 by Mavis Hawa Koomson (pictured), Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, at Amrahia Estate in the Greater Accra Region. Valued at $ 9.8 million, this project, which also includes a commercial fish farm, is scheduled to last 24 months. Under this...

Investment firm PanAfrican Capital Holdings Limited has approved $1 million to support digital businesses in Africa through The Catalyst initiative. According to altafrica.com, which reported the news on December 13, the Lagos-based investor targets companies with compelling market opportunities for the project. “The Catalyst Project has been set up to facilitate and finance the delivery...

Guinea-Bissau initiated many reforms that were expected to earn it an IMF-led economic program. After two satisfactory reviews, the country has finally reached a staff-level deal with the institution. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it has completed a satisfactory mission for the second review of a staff-monitored program with Guinea Bissau. “The review aimed at assessing the...

After securing $7.5 million in funding earlier this year, Nigerian Edtech uLesson raised additional resources to support its expansion. Nigerian educational technology company uLesson recently announced it has raised $15 million in Series B funding. The two-year-old firm calls the deal “the largest disclosed investment in an African edtech startup” to date. The startup, which has...

A $210 million loan approved by the African Development Bank’s Board of Directors on Monday could impact the lives of millions of people in Africa’s most populous country. The loan will co-finance Phase 1 of the Nigeria Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone Program. The program will help to unlock Nigeria’s agriculture sector potential. It will promote industrialization through the...

In 2018, the DRC signed an agreement with DP World to build a deep seaport. With the agreement having expired, new agreements were signed between the Emirati company and Kinshasa. DR Congo’s government reached a deal with Dubai-based multinational logistics company DP World for the construction of a deepwater port at Banana. The related documents were signed last December 11 by the...