UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (pictured) called for international action to combat the locust invasion in East Africa, during the 33rd Ordinary Summit of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU). The pests, which prevail in particular in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti represent a real threat to food security in the region with a...

Mobile Virtual Network Operator Promobile has officially kicked off operations in Senegal with the indicative 75. The operator is a sister company of Sirius Telecom SA owned by Senegalese businessman Mbackiyou Faye. This new operator is expected to help cut telecom tariffs and improve service quality. It is backed by the network of the mobile operator Free. According to Mbackiyou Faye, the...

Nigeria-based FinTech startup Aella Credit has mobilized $10 million from HQ Financial Group, a Singaporean private company specializing in blockchain financial investments, to finance its expansion across West Africa. Aella wants to develop new financial solutions and create a credit platform that will work with blockchain. “We are building a one-stop app for all transactions partnered...

Yesterday Feb 9, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa officially became the President of the African Union for 2020. He is replacing Egyptian Abdel Fattah al-Sissi who held the position last year. The handover ceremony was held during the 33rd Session of the African Union Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The newly elected AU Chairman said his tenure will focus on economic integration and...

On February 5, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) signed a partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to implement a 3-year program aiming at digitizing the country’s agricultural value chains. The agreement was initialed by Gaulbert Gbehounou, FAO Representative to the country and Clare Akamanzi, RDB’s CEO. Under this program, the two partners seek to improve agricultural...

Sub-Saharan Africa-focused private equity firm Africa Capitalworks has reached a deal to buy a minority interest for an undisclosed sum in the capital of Gaselia Industries, a Mali-based company specializing in the production of soft drinks and mineral water. “We are delighted to partner with Africa Capitalworks for the next phase of Gaselia's growth. The capital provided as well as the skills...

In an updated SIM card registration policy, the government of Nigeria has limited subscribers to 3 cards. This means none of the people living in the country can have more than three SIM cards registered to their name. As part of the new measure, the government has ordered the Nigerian Communications Commission -NCC- to make sure that the National Identity Number now becomes the prerequisite for...

The construction and rehabilitation of road infrastructures captured a total of $291 million in Egypt last year. According to the ministry of transport, an amount of EGP2.2 billion ($139 million) was invested in 26 projects to build a total of 524 km of roads. Another EGP2.4 billion ($152 million) was used to construct 7 bridges and an urban road, including the Adly Mansour road, four...

The Khalifa Fund has approved CFA6 billion (about $10 million) to support a Burkinabe government program that aims to create 50,000 youth-targeted jobs in the country. The financing deal was inked Feb 4 between the Fund’s Chairman, Hussain Jasim Al Nowais (pictured, left) and the Burkinabe Minister of youth, Salfo Tiemtoré. Authorities say the money will be used to create job...

Global Fire Power (GFP) has unveiled its 2020 Global Power index which ranks countries in the world based on their military forces. This year’s ranking assessed 138 nations, including 24 from Africa. GFP based its rating on five criteria namely, the number of serving military members, the naval force, fuel availability for military operations, the number of jet fighters, the defense budget,...