Khaled Talhouni (pictured), former director of the sub-Saharan Africa-focused venture capital firm Wamda Capital, has resigned from his position to focus on his plans to set up an investment fund called Nuwa Capital. The newly formed entity aims to raise $100 million in commitments from investors. Saudi-based Al Faisaliah group, which is active in the food and beverage, electronics,...

Provisional estimates by the Ivorian Ministry of Tourism show that the sector contributed about 7.3% to the country's GDP in 2019, against 6.25% in 2018. Figures were reported by the Minister of Tourism Siandou Fofana (pictured), on February 17, during a press briefing on the launch of the first UNWTO forum on tourism investment in Africa, which Abidjan will host from 20 to 22 February 2020. The...

The Director of Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research at the African Development Bank, Dr Hanan Morsy, has been named one of Egypt’s 50 most influential women. Dr Hala El Said, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, gave the award on 5 February in a ceremony organized under auspices of the Egyptian Prime Minister.  “I am honored to be named among the...

The Ethiopian government adopted, on Monday 17 February 2020, a draft amending the finance law allowing an increase by 27.9 billion birrs (about $870 million) in the state budget for the current fiscal year (2019-20). Of the additional amount, up to 18 billion birrs (about $563 million) will go for the implementation of the country's economic reform program while 2 billion birrs...

Liwwa, a fintech that provides small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with short-term online loans of up to $100,000, has secured a $6 million equity investment led by Dutch development finance institution FMO. The latter participated in the fundraising through the FMO Ventures Program, an initiative that aims to make direct equity investments in innovative and start-up companies,...

Manufacturing activity in Zimbabwe will fall to 27% in 2020 from 36% in 2019, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Tafadzwa Bandama. This is the finding of the CZI’s 2019 Manufacturing Sector Survey. According to this survey, this situation is largely due to the currency problem faced by 88% of companies, of which 53% obtain less than 10%...

The Kigali green city project will receive €9.6 million from the German development agency KfW. The project will be launched in Kinyinya, a town located in the district of Gasabo. It will cover a total of 620 ha and includes 1,749 housing units that will be built over 18 ha.  The facilities will be powered by renewable resources such as solar energy. They will be connected to a...

US tech giant Google announced it has ditched its Google Station program aiming at providing free Wi-Fi services in isolated areas in South Africa. The announcement came three months after the project was launched in November 2019 in Cape Town.  Currently, the initiative covers 125 locations across Langa, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Delft, Elsies River, and Philippi.  Google says the...

The 44th General Assembly of the Federation of African National Insurance Companies (FANAF) opens today February 17, 2020, in Libreville, Gabon against the backdrop of multiple exchanges on the digitalization of the insurance sector.  Digital transformation is a great opportunity to modernize the insurance sector in Africa where nearly 600 million people now use mobile phones. However, the...

France-based DPD group which specializes in the delivery of parcels has participated in a $1.4 million Series A fundraising by Bosta, an Egyptian startup that operates in the same activity sector.  The operation was led by Fawry which has already invested in Bosta. The terms of this transaction were not disclosed. For DPD Group, which also operates in Egypt, building a local...