The return home last June of Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo was seen as a major step toward completing the reconciliation process between Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo. However, expectations remain high, and many voices are calling for an official meeting between the two men. Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara will meet with his former rival Laurent Gbagbo (pictured) on July 27....

When we talk about vanilla most people imagine a delicious cake or ice cream. However, vanilla travels a long way before reaching its destination. For about 80% of the vanilla produced globally, this journey starts in the beautiful SAVA Region, of Madagascar where, for thousands of farmers, Vanilla means much more than a delicious dessert. They call Vanilla “green gold” because for many...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Italy’s Maire Tecnimont signed a $1.5 billion Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract three months ago for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery. The refinery is now certain to start delivering refined products by September 2022. According to Punch, the NNPC group’s public affairs division assured...

Three months after Finnish development bank Finnfund committed $26 million to ADP III, Denmark's IFU also announced an investment in the vehicle. The Danish development finance institution (IFU) has approved a $15 million investment in African Development Partners III (ADP III), a private equity fund that focuses on growth companies, primarily those serving the emerging middle class in...

Tunisia reported last July 6 a record daily number of 9,823 Covid-19 cases. Ten days after, the country hit a new record of 205 deaths in 24h and ended up being put on the red list by France. Amid this crisis, the end of which still seems far away, the Health Minister Faouzi Mehdi (pictured) got fired by Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. The announcement was made via an official government...

The World Bank announced an investment of $470 million to accelerate the development of the Lomé-Ouagadougou-Niamey road corridor. The grant, decided by the World Bank’s Board last July 15,  will be provided by the International Development Association (IDA) to improve the quality of transport and transit services along this 1,065 km corridor, which links the three capitals of Togo,...

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announced a three-year partnership with Portugal’s National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE - Associação Nacional de Jovens Empresários) to support Africa’s fashion apparel and textile manufacturing sector. The partnership is in line with Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) program launched last year to organize a series of...

Côte d'Ivoire will benefit from $300 million granted by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to develop its healthcare sector. The deal was inked last July 16. The funds will be disbursed under the IFC's Africa Medical Equipment Facility (AMEF). They will be used to support the development of private players in the Ivorian medical sector, in particular by financing small and...

While braving a global pandemic (COVID-19) in the middle of 2020, Zanzibar launched its vision 2050 – a document laying out the semi-autonomous archipelago’s ambitious goal of attaining high middle income status by the year 2050. The island plans to achieve this through building a diverse and resilient economy in three 10-year periods. The blue economy agenda is set to carry a majority of the...

Chaka, a Nigerian technology solutions company on a mission to enable every business and person in Africa to access borderless digital investment and wealth management opportunities, has today closed a $1.5 million pre-seed funding round. The round was led by Breyer Capital with participation from 4DX Ventures, Golden Palm Investments, Future Africa, Seedstars, and Musha Ventures. With the...