In a release published on November 9, 2018, Catalyst Principal Partners, a Kenyan private equity firm announced the close of its second fund to $155 million. Catalyst Fund II received the support of bot hits local pension fund and international investors, according to the communiqué.  80% of those investors took part in the fundraising of  Catalyst Fund I. Catalyst Fund II will...

CowTribe, a Ghanaian startup which sells vaccines and offers animal health services to breeders and farmers, received a financial support of $300,000 from Draper Richards Kaplan, an American foundation which funds early stage and high impact companies in the continent. Apart from the financial support, Draper will assist the company, founded in 2016 by Awin Peter, in its management and the...

In Belgium for the third edition of Semaine de L’Afrique organized by the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Burkina Faso’s president Roch Marc Christian Kabore announced, for the second time, his will to be a candidate to his own succession in 2020. "I have the right for two terms, I will thus be a candidate and citizens will decide,"...

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited (EWZL), subsidiary of Econet Wireless, wishes to acquire stakes in  Liquid Telecommunications Holdings Limited, another subsidiary of Econet Wireless. In a circular sent to its shareholders, the company suggests the purchase be done via shares exchange. The telecom company offers to exchange the 51% stake, valued at $135 million, it has in Data Control...

The six Portuguese - Speaking African Countries (Angola, Cabo-Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome & Principe), signed on November 6, 2018, an agreement for the implementation of $5 billion worth projects to boost growth. This was revealed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in a statement published on the sidelines of the Africa Investment Forum held in...

The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) has acquired an equity stake in the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, formerly known as PTA. BADEA CEO Sidi Ould Tah (photo) and TDB president Admassu Tadesse ratified the agreement on 8 November 2018, on the second day of the Africa Investment Forum held in Johannesburg, South Africa. "This is a historic milestone...

The first of its kind transaction-based investment Forum in Africa, on Friday unveiled the conclusions of the boardroom sessions at the heart of the Forum, which brought together over 1,000 participants from government, the private sector, development finance institutions, commercial banks, and institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds. The Forum focused on...

Tunisia’s trade deficit grew by 21% on a year on year basis during the first ten months of 2018 to reach TND15.98 billion ($5.52 billion) against TND11.5 billion during the same period in 2017, according to figures published on November 8, 2018, by the national institute for statistics.   Between January 1 and October 30, 2018, the country’s exports reached TND33.2 billion against...

AOM Invest Spa, an Algerian company specialized in research, development, and exploitation of tourism projects, received the approval of the Algerian financial market regulator for its listing on Algiers Stock Exchange. The regulator will organize the operation, namely, list AOM Invest Spa’s stocks on the SMEs market of this exchange. Once completed, AOM would be the first ever company to...

The mobile telephony operator Safaricom announced on November 6, 2018, the launch of M-Pesa Global, to boost its mobile money service M-Pesa’s presence on the international market. Thanks to this service, money can directly be sent from anywhere around the world to M-Pesa clients in Kenya. In the same vein, M-Pesa clients can send money to people in the world in different ways including but...