In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the joy spurred by the adoption on November 11, 2018, in Geneva, Switzerland of a coalition agreement by the seven main opposition leaders for a common candidate for the upcoming presidential elections of December 23, 2018, quickly turned south. Indeed, on November 12, 2018, Félix Tshisekedi, president of Union for Democracy and Social Progress,...

The use of blended finance as a tool to address risk perceptions and crowd in private investment to develop Africa and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals is on the rise, delegates at the recently concluded inaugural Africa Investment Forum agreed. Many global investors are still reluctant to invest in the African continent, a major reason why the African Development Bank established the...

Conscious of the economic opportunities in the ICT sector in terms of employment but also for innovative products and services that create wealth, Nigeria has decided to make the sector an economic driver. Yemi Osinbajo (photo), the deputy prime minister revealed that Nigeria sought $500 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for its Tech Innovation Fund.   Talking about the...

Moroccans can now use their mobile phones to send or receive money and pay for services. The project being elaborated since 2017 and led by the central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) and the telecom regulator is now a reality. According to the central bank, the new service baptized "m-wallet", will facilitate access to banking services for the underbanked and unbanked. In its 2017 report on...

The South African minister of interior Malusi Gigaba (photo), who declared in October 2018 that he was the victim of blackmail attempts following the theft of a sextape involving him, resigned from office, the South African presidency announced in a statement published on November 13, 2018. The same source confirms that his resignation was accepted by president Cyril Ramaphosa. In his...

The administrative board of Saham Assurance Maroc, listed on Casablanca Stock Exchange, has decided to anticipate the refund of MAD800 million of debts which should normally be paid in two equal tranches, in 2022 and in 2023. This loan was granted by the Moroccan Insurance Solidarity Fund to finance the recovery of  Es Saada Assurance, Saham Assurance Maroc informs.   To finance this...

By the period which ended September 2018, the total value of the transactions conducted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange by foreign investors was NGN991.18 billion ($2.7 billion). This represents a 26.5% increase on Year on Year performance. It is also more important than the 16.4% rise in the value of transaction by local investors. However, this dynamism hides the fact that most of those foreign...

Burkinabe cashew processor Anatrans has welcomed social impact investor Oikocredit as a new shareholder, in a transaction that saw Dutch headquartered Oikocredit make a €2 million investment in Anatrans. Anatrans is one of Burkina Faso’s leading cashew processors. It sources nuts from the local community and supplies fair trade, organic and conventional cashews to international markets....

On November 12, 2018, Uganda signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft. Via this MoU, the American tech company will help set a conducive environment for Uganda’s IT development and socio-economic development ultimately. "We are committed to provide technical support to the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance in equipping the government innovation hubs with the...

For the first nine months of 2018, Société Ivoirienne de Banque (SIB), subsidiary of the Moroccan banking group Attijariwafa Bank declared XOF16.3 billion of net profit, a strong performance supported by a 13.5% increase of its net banking product.   Though this net profit is a record for the bank, it represents a slight 1.1% progression far from the 10.2% average annual growth rate...