In its November 2020 report, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) draws a direct correlation between the high rate of road deaths in countries and the weak regulation of used vehicles. Last year, road accidents officially killed 1,060 people in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso wants to clean up its road transport sector. The Minister of Transport, Urban Mobility and Road Safety Vincent...

South African MTN pursues its ambition to boost connectivity across its main market. The company has partnered with Nokia to upgrade its telecom network towards 5G. Leveraging the Finnish group's 5G and cloud-native IMS infrastructure, MTN South Africa aims to expand its Voice over Broadband, Voice over WiFi, and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services, offering users faster and more reliable...

The Ivorian government has ordered an investigation into the military aircraft crash that recently happened in Tehini region, near the border with Burkina Faso. The MI 24 chopper, which disappeared during the night of September 9 to 10 while on a reconnaissance mission, was finally found with all 5 occupants dead. As a reminder, the Tèhini-Togolokaye route was the scene of a "complex attack" on...

In 2019, mobile technologies and services generated 9% of GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa ($155 billion). The figure could increase further with higher broadband penetration. In its Mobile Economy 2021 report, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) estimates that 3G technology will account for 58% of mobile networks in SSA by 2025, compared to only 28% for 4G. In 2020, 3G...

The conflict in the Tillaberi region of Niger has escalated in recent years with mass killings forcing people to flee and children to leave school. Amnesty international painted a grim picture of the worrying situation for children in a new report entitled 'I Have Nothing Left Except Myself': The Worsening Impact on Children of Conflict in the Tillabéri Region of Niger. The document found that...

Bolloré Transport & Logistics has acquired 5,000Sq.m warehousing space at the Nairobi Gate Industrial Park in Nairobi to accommodate it’s expanding Supply Chain activities. The highly flexible ultra-modern warehouse allows Bolloré Transport & Logistics to accommodate the expanding requirements of its Contract Logistics clientele from the FMCG and Beverage industries. Located on Nairobi’s...

Fintech is increasingly gaining ground in the private equity sector. Over the first nine months of 2021, African fintech companies raised $1.44 billion; an amount higher than the overall amount raised over the past 10 years. From 2011 to 2020, the companies mobilized $1.06 billion. The $1.44 billion does not even include the 23 undisclosed transactions made over the period. In...

With 52,293 cases recorded as of Wednesday, September 8, Côte d'Ivoire experienced a peak in covid-19 infections in August 2021. Authorities attribute this spate of infections to the failure to comply with safety measures that led to a particularly virulent third wave. To contain this new wave of infections, the government announced its aim to vaccinate all persons "deemed most at risk" of...

The Millennium Challenge Corporation is one of Africa’s main financing partners, especially in the electricity sector. However, fund beneficiaries are required to meet a number of conditions before obtaining the resources. Senegal has just completed the necessary reforms to obtain a 5-year $550 million financing from the United States’ primary development fund -the Millennium Challenge...

Six months after joining US investor Y Combinator's mentoring and coaching program, Nigerian fintech Prospa has secured support from venture capital firms and investors, for pre-seed funding. Prospa, a Nigerian fintech that provides micro and small businesses with financial services and business management tools, has raised $3.8 million in pre-seed funding. The company co-founded in 2019 by...