After the 2020 trade agreement, London and Nairobi want to strengthen their private investments. On a three-day visit to the United Kingdom, President Uhuru Kenyatta validated the launch of the new Nairobi International Financial Center and secured a new investment of £132 million. British foreign secretary Dominic Raab (pictured, right) announced on July 27 his country will invest £132...

The Ivoire Hydro Energy (IHE) received €25 million financing from The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) - a public-private partnership that provides long-term debt on commercial terms to infrastructure projects in Africa - to build a 44MW hydro electric plant on the Bandama river, near a village in Singrobo, Côte d’Ivoire. The loan provided by the Private Infrastructure...

Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF), managed by Acumen Capital Partners, announced its final closing last month at $58 million. The impact fund is the world’s first equity fund designed to build an ecosystem of agribusinesses that improves farmers’ livelihoods and builds their resilience to climate change. Acumen has raised a total of $83.8 million across four funds, their...

Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday while inspecting the newly constructed 1.5km bridge on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon said the two-lane bridge will facilitate trade between both countries. According to reports from the News Agency of Nigeria, the construction of the project worth $35.9 billion started on April 28, 2017, and was...

Côte d’Ivoire jumped a step higher in the rating ladder to reach the “double B” category of the three biggest international rating agencies. Moody’s gave the country Ba3 while S&P and Fitch both gave it BB- with a stable outlook. Despite the sluggish global socio-economic climate, Côte d’Ivoire continues to enjoy a good reputation with international rating agencies. In a July 16...

Morocco is facing a new escalation in the number of Covid-19 cases. For the past eight months, things have worsened due to the Delta variant. The country reported last July 24 a daily number of 5,494 cases. According to the health department, this eight-month record brings the total number of infections to 575,162. On the same day, 23 deaths were recorded, bringing the total number of deaths to...

After raising nearly CFA2.58 billion on the BVMAC, the microfinance company "La Régionale" is making its debut on the financial market. On July 21, its shares were still trading at the same price as when they were first listed. Five days after its first session on the Central African Stock Exchange (BVMAC), "La Régionale" shares closed on 21 July at CFA42,000, the same as when they were first...

When coming to power in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari promised to make the fight against corruption a priority during his term. A year later, an initial whistleblower policy emerged, but it did not yield the expected results. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria has launched a mobile anti-corruption app called "The Eagle Eye". The instrument will allow Nigerians to...

Convergence Partners, a South African-based investment management firm has announced the initial close for Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF). The private equity investor’s third fund raised $120 million and aims to reach $250 million by the final close. Investors participating in this close include mainly American and European development financial institutions...

The Democratic Republic of Congo received last July 15, $1.5 billion from the IMF to support economic reforms over three years. This financing has paved the way for further support from other partners, including the US. The US government approved on July 20 a $1.6 billion financing to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Signed by Paul Sabatine, Representative of the US Agency for...