Barthi Airtel announced that Qatar Investment Authority invested $200 million for new stakes in its African subsidiary Airtel Africa. “We are excited to welcome Qatar Investment Authority as a long-term strategic equity partner… This transaction will not involve any sale of shares by existing shareholders”, declared Airtel Africa, which is present in fifteen Sub Saharan countries. In...

Atiku Abubakar (photo) is planning to set a $25 billion fund once elected in Nigeria, Bloomberg reported this week. According to the presidential candidate’s statement, this fund will mainly support private investments. He also indicated that he would use part of the fund to reform the sector and increase the portion of infrastructures to 50% of the GDP by 2025. Former vice-president of...

The virtual Mobile network operator Serius Telecoms Africa, owned by the businessman Mbackiyou Faye, officially launched its activities on January 31, 2019.   The telecom firm was awarded its operating license in June 2017 after the public call for applications launched on April 12, 2017, by the telecommunications regulator. Nine firms submitted their application for this license that was...

Vodafone Ghana does not intend to list part of its shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) as the government required before the allocation of a 4G license. The telecom firm, which obtained its license in December 2018 with $30 million investment, estimates that it already meets the government’s requirements about the ownership of part of a firm’s share by Ghanaians. Yolanda Cuba,...

The African Development Bank - Civil Society Committee held its first statutory meeting at the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan on 15-16 January, 2019. The committee is an advisory group set up by the Bank to strengthen links and collaboration with civil society in Africa, and is composed of 11 civil society organisations with proven expertise in at least one of the Bank's five major development...

Shoprite Holdings started the trading day of January 30, 2019, with the highest loss it ever recorded on the Johannesburg stock exchange since 1999 (-17%). Later on, it gradually recovered.   The market reacted negatively to a release published by the holding announcing a decrease of its net income per share by 19%-29%. This counter-performance of the net income per share is due to two...

During the French president Emmanuel Macron’s visit on January 28-29, 2019 in Egypt, the two countries signed four cooperation agreements in the IT sector. The first agreement signed by Egypt’s IT minister Amr Talaat (photo, on the right side), and the French minister of finance Agnès Pannier-Runacher (photo, on the left) is to boost growth and entrepreneurship of tech startups. Thanks to...

Angola is planning to come back on the international debt market after a 3-year support agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Reuters reported on January 29, 2019, citing the state treasurer Vera Daves (photo). “We are ready to come back on the international debt market because we recently requested the market”, she said.   In May 2018, Angola issued a...

In Gambia, the IT sector generated 900 million dalasis ($18.1 million) in tax revenues in 2018, the communication and IT minister Ebrima Sillah (photo) revealed. According to the minister, with this volume, the IT sector is one of the largest tax revenues generator in the country and, this demonstrates the potentials of this sector in terms of business and wealth opportunities.   Last week,...

Currently, only 13% of Sierra Leonne’s population has access to internet. Bakarr Tarawally (photo), communication manager of the country’s ICT ministry and member of the Internet society Sierra Leone (ISOC-SL), bemoaned the fact on January 25, 2019, during a meeting of the ISOC-SL. According to the official, this is due to the lack of investments in the private sectors. This undermines the...