Africa-focused investment fund manager Development Partners International (DPI) announced it has closed its third African fund -African Development Partners III (ADP 3) at $1.15 billion. This amount is well above the $800 million it was hoping to raise. In addition to the $900 million in commitments, an additional $250 million will be provided as co-investment capital. ADP 3...

The relations between France and Mali seem to be in turmoil since the announcement of the end of Operation Barkhane. On September 25, the Malian Prime Minister, Choguel Maïga, accused Paris of abandoning the country amid growing terrorism. In an interview with France Inter radio, French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured) talked about the tumultuous relations between his country and Mali. "I...

Burkina Faso continues to suffer increasing jihadist attacks despite countermeasures. An army detachment based in the village of Yirgou was attacked on Monday, October 4 by terrorists. The news was reported in a statement by the Defense Ministry. The official death toll was 14 soldiers killed and seven wounded. Many of the attackers were also neutralized. According to a local radio station, the...

The global air traffic has started a gradual post pandemic recovery. The volume of cargo transported by African airlines grew by 33.9% between August 2019 and August 2021, while the global demand for cargo traffic (measured in ton-kilometers) increased by 7.7% between the two periods. The figures are provided by the International Air Transport Association (Iata). The comparison is made to August...

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced telecom operators to expand their data capacities. But only a few people, mainly in urban areas, have benefited from this reform. According to the Global System Operators' Association (GSMA), the mobile Internet penetration rate was 28% in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 compared to a mobile penetration rate of 46%. The association attributes this gap to the high cost...

Côte d'Ivoire has been building its 7,000 km long national optical fiber network since 2012. Nearly 5,000 km have already been deployed. The Kaydan group wants to partake in the country’s digital transformation. The Ivorian group Kaydan is planning to invest in the optical fiber segment in Côte d'Ivoire. During a meeting, last September 28, with the Minister of Digital Economy, Roger Adom,...

Sub-Saharan Africa has shown mixed resilience to the energy crisis ongoing since the beginning of 2021. The situation has escalated, further worrying analysts. Denominated in the US dollar, the major indexes representing the SSA stock markets posted a positive annual performance at the end of September 2021. This suggests potential gains for investors at the end of the year. Zambia’s stock...

The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (pictured) was sworn in today October 4 for a second term. For the next five years, the PM will have to address many political, security, and economic challenges. One of them is the conflict in Tigray where thousands of people have been pushed into famine. The battle continues between government forces and the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF),...

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists sparked a global debate with its “Pandora Papers” leak that exposes the secret wealth of political leaders worldwide. Forty-three of the names in the document are Africans; 10 Nigerians, 9 Angolans and the others come from Morocco, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Chad, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. The Kenyan...

The 6th edition of Bolloré Group's solidarity race, Marathon Day, was held this year from 23 to 30 September in a hybrid digital-physical format. Employees from all over the world came together with the same objective: to cover as many kilometers as possible by walking, running, cycling or dancing. In the end, 12,267 participants from 91 countries took up the challenge from all over the world,...