Vodafone Ghana should offer its 4G services in April 2019. Indeed, according to Citi Business News, the operator is finalising the integration of this mobile technology into its network. Once completed, it will be able to join MTN  on the mobile high-speed internet.   MTN acquired the 4G licence in 2015 for $67.5 million. Vodafone, which should be a fierce competitor,...

Playfair Capital, a London-based venture capital, announces the close of its second fund Playfair Capital Fund II at $32 million. The venture capital wants to invest in promising tech companies in the UK and in Africa within three to five years. Playfair Capital indicates that to date, it invested more than €20 million in 54 technology companies in 11 countries in the world. “The...

Last week, Steward Bank launched a WhatsApp banking platform in Zimbabwe. The platform baptised “Sosholoza” is the result of a partnership between Facebook and the bank. It is a virtual assistant that helps the user during their whole banking journey. Thanks to it, the user can buy airtime, make mobile money, ZIPIT, and ZimSwitch transactions. The user can also make operations via local...

Liberia has received a $50 million loan from ECOWAS’ Bank of Investment and Development. This loan should serve as partial financing for the construction of a 50 km road linking Sasstown (in the east) to Klowein (South-East). This road project is aimed at strengthening the infrastructure development policy adopted by the country’s president George Weah since he took office in December...

To relaunch its social housing programme, Côte d’Ivoire has decided to bring in international operators able to build thousands of houses yearly. This was announced by the minister of urbanism Bruno Nabagné Koné (photo). "The government will hire international operators with proven financial and technical ability to build 10,000 to 20,000 houses yearly," the minister indicated during a...

Cöte d’Ivoire will soon launch a renovation programme for precarious neighbourhoods in Abidjan, Bruno Nabagné Koné (photo), minister of urbanisation, indicates. This programme whose cost has not been revealed yet should start with a pilot. "We will launch the pilot project for the development of restructured neighbourhoods in Abidjan (projet pilote d’Aménagement des Quartiers...

NamPower, Namibian national electricity firm, has decided to diversify its operations to contribute to the population's wellbeing. In that regard, the state-owned firm is going into the internet segment using its backbone initially conceived to monitor the power grid. Kauna Ndilula, president of NamPower’s administrative board, indicates that this move into the internet segment is necessary...

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) is currently elaborating a single, common payment system, BRICS Pay. This payment system will facilitate financial transactions between member countries.   The member countries explain that BRICS Pay will not duplicate local payment systems but connects them in a special cloud platform. On this platform, credit and debit cards of...

The World Bank will provide $730.93 million to Benin, Kochikpa Olodo, operations analyst at the World Bank, indicated in an interview with Xinhua last week. The official indicates that apart from the $730.93 million, a $300 thousand trust fund will also be established in the coming five years to fund twelve projects in three key areas. These sectors are structural transformation...

In its analytical note published on March 8, 2019, Fitch Ratings once again insisted on the quality and level of equity of banks operating in Morocco.   The rating agency estimated that the average of 10% assigned to bad debts in the country is far from the truth and that a careful analysis would reveal a higher average. According to Fitch Ratings, the risks are bigger for banks in an...