In Nigeria, floods caused by heavy rains have washed away nearly 450,000 ha of rice in the state of Kebbi, the country’s first rice production basin. The area destroyed is equivalent to 2 tons of the grain, or a quarter of the total production expected for the 2020-21 campaign. According to Mohammed Sahabi, the state chairman of the rice farmers association of Nigeria, the state of Kebbi would...

With the launch of two new villages, 23 villages currently in operation and more than 10,000 people connected, WeLight has established itself as a key player in rural electrification in Madagascar and is asserting its ambitions for the economic development of landlocked areas through access to energy. Despite the health situation and the logistical constraints it causes in Madagascar, WeLight...

Banks listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (Kenya's financial market) posted a strong stock market performance for the 30 days ending August 31, 2020. The Co-operative Bank, Equity Group, ABSA, and Kenya Commercial Bank posted an increase of 13.3%, 12.6%, 10.6%, and 7.6%, respectively. Overall, bank stocks pulled the Nairobi Stock Exchange upward over the period under review. This result,...

The World Bank approved on September 3 the disbursement of $75 million to help Madagascar mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The money will help shut the country’s budget gap, which was widened by the increase in health expenditures and the drop in revenue. Part of the resources will also support the implementation of reforms aiming at bettering the efficiency and...

The disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic on global value chains and its impact on African businesses is already evident. As factories close their doors and border closures and travel restrictions interrupt supply chains, the workers - the most vulnerable and lowest paid people in the fashion supply chain – have been left to feel the worst effects. Building more resilient value chains through...

Old Mutual, the leading insurance group in Africa by turnover, has estimated at nearly 2.8 billion rand ($168.2 million) the value of losses it recorded in the first half of 2020, due to covid-19. This negative impact was mainly observed in the life insurance segment, as the group set aside 1.3 billion rand in provisions for some of its clients. The company also reported unrealized gains of 698...

Uganda could lose up to $2 billion in tourism revenues this year, the tourism minister Godfrey Ssuubi Kiwanda reported. The minister said the envisaged losses are the result of the transport restrictions implemented around the world to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Uganda, which depends heavily on European, American, Japanese, Chinese, and Indian tourists to attract foreign currency,...

Rwanda's Ministry of ICT and Innovation launched a call for tenders to select a company that will implement a smart waste management system in the city of Kigali. The winning bidder will be announced in December. The $100,000 project will include smart garbage cans and smart waste stations. According to the secretariat of Smart Africa, which assists Rwanda in the implementation of the...

Unilever announced an investment of $1.2 billion to cut fossil fuels from all of its cleaning brands. The move aligns with the company’s ambition to become more environment-friendly and reduce its carbon footprint. Through a series of chemical reactions, the carbon elements in the oil are transformed into chemicals capable of removing oil stains from clothes. The migration to greener...

The Zanzibar Information Communication Technology Infrastructure Agency (ZICTIA) has signed a capacity service contract with ZanLink Internet Services. The documents were initialed on September 1, 2020, by Shukuru Awadhi Suleiman, ZICTIA's chief executive officer, and Sanjay Raja (pictured), ZanLink's chief executive officer. According to Sanjay Raja, through this one-year renewable contract,...