The government of Burkina Faso is benefiting from CFA10 billion ($16 million) from the African Development Bank to speed up the Rural Clean Water and Sanitation Program (PEPA-MR). The agreement was signed February 21 between the Burkinabe Minister of Economy, Lassané Kaboré, and the AfDB Country Manager in Burkina Faso, Pascal Yembiliné (pictured). Under this initiative, the government...

While the Gni congratulates the chocolate makers and the chocolate industry for their will to support Ivorian farmers, the Group of Ivorian traders (Gni), Ivorian grinders and shippers call for help and launche a distress call to all chocolate makers, such as Lindt, Mars, Mondelez, Meiji co, Ferrero, Nestle, Blommer, Hershey, Ezaki Glico, Arcor, Pladis, Kellogg’s, Storck, Orion, United...

Econet Global Limited, a telco owned by Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiyiwa, has ambitions to get a telecom license in Ethiopia. “Econet, through a number of its subsidiaries, is actively developing interests in Ethiopia,” a company spokesman told Bloomberg. “Given that there is a competitive process on new licenses, it would not be appropriate at this stage to discuss our own...

Venture capital firm Paper Plane Ventures sold the shares it held in bitcoin cash wallet startup Centbee to Dutch Two Hop Ventures for an undisclosed amount. Centbee enables customers to make purchases in supermarkets and pay the bill via mobile phone using a cryptographic system (Bitcoin SV). Co-founded in 2017 by Lorien Gamaroff and Angus Brown, the company also carries out international money...

Mobile operator 9mobile is stepping to win back the millions of subscribers who left its network when it faced problems operating under the Etisalat brand in 2017. Stéphane Beuvelet, the company’s Managing Director, announced an investment of $220 million to extend its 4G network in Lagos, Abuja, Aba, Nasarawa, and twelve other Nigerian cities. The network upgrade investment aims at...

The Tanzanian government plans to bring mining shares in GDP to 10% over the next five years, from 3.5% currently. The plan was unveiled by PM Kassim Majaliwa (pictured) during a mining investment conference held on February 23 in Dar es Salaam. Majaliwa says the government plans to reach its goal through the implementation of new reforms and the acquisition of a certificate of origin for tin,...

Social Investment Managers & Advisors (SIMA), a fund management and investment consulting firm which operates in Kenya, Pakistan, Switzerland, and the United States, mobilized $90 million via its Sima Fund 1 that focuses on solar energy projects. The resources will be allocated to companies that design and distribute solar solutions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The fundraising saw...

Optical fiber Internet provider Liquid Telecom officially launched its broadband service in Juba, South Sudan, on February 20. The announcement was made by Strive Masiyiwa, CEO of Econet Global, the parent company of Liquid Telecom. This marks the end of work which started since 1st July 2019 on a deal signed with the South Sudanese government. Phase 1 of the project involved the deployment of...

Economic growth in Nigeria reached 2.27% last year, up from 1.91% in 2018, according to a report published this week by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Data shows that the country’s GDP grew by 2.55% YoY in the fourth quarter last year, the highest quarterly performance since the 2016 economic recession caused by the decline in oil prices. NBS says the oil activity saw a recovery last...

Every year, the government of Uganda loses at least USh30 billion (more than $8 million) in the illicit trade of cigarettes. In an interview with Bloomberg, Mathu Kiunjuri, MD of British American Tobacco’s local arm (BAT Uganda), said today that one in five cigarettes in the country is counterfeit, whereas 10 years ago only one in ten was, which shows how alarming the situation is....