Dakar-based private equity firm M&A Capital and Open-Si, a Beninese technology company, announce the launch of the first alternative financing platform for SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa, through their M&A Fintech joint venture. The platform operates under a reserved factoring model. It has been set up in partnership with large banks and decision makers. According to the initiators,...

On March 19, 2018, the 19th land and poverty conference was launched at the headquarters of World Bank in Washington-DC. Placed under the theme “Land Governance in an Interconnected World”, the aim of this conference which should end on March 23,  is to “present the latest research and practice on the diversity of reforms, interventions, and innovations in the land...

Canada will send some of its soldiers to join the rank of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA). This was announced yesterday March 19, by the Canadian defense minister Harjit Sajjan (photo).   According to a statement from the official, this deployment which marks Canada’s return in peacekeeping missions in Africa, would be followed by logistical support. Thus, six...

The US private equity firm, Milost Global, plans to invest up to $1 billion in the Nigerian Unity Bank Plc which struggles to fund its recapitalization plan. According to Bloomberg, Milost offered to invest $700 million in equity and $300 million in five-year bonds that can be converted into shares in the Nigerian bank. Therefore, through a first equity investment,...

African Development Bank (AfDB)’s executive board approved a $30 million loan for Rwandan government. According to a statement from the bank, the grant is to support the implementation of Rwanda Innovation Fund. The resource will be used to set an investment vehicle focused on financing SMEs in technology and to develop the capacity of the country’s entrepreneurial and...

Zambia revised the figure it declared for its copper production in 2017. Indeed, while the Zambian central bank announced last month a copper output of 786, 731 tons, the State indicated that this figure reached 800, 000 tons (small-scale producers’ output included). “We actually hit 800,000 tons last year and we anticipate with certainty that we are going to reach a million tons or more...

In South Africa, the avocado output could record a new performance in 2018. Indeed, according to latest data from the South African Avocado Growers’ Association (SAAGA), the fruit output is set to increase to 125, 000 tons in 2018, from 117, 000 tons in 2017 (+8, 000 tons) thanks to growing local and international demand. This figure remains above the five-year average (118, 000 tons) in...

In Tunisia, revenues from date exports reached TND402.4 million ($168 million) on March 15, 2018, for the 2017-18 season. The information was given yesterday March 19, by the minister of agriculture, water resources, and fishery.  This represents an increase by 22.2% compared to the revenues by the same period during the previous season. The country achieved this feat thanks to an increase...

On Monday 19, 2018, Iamgold announced that it had launched the hybrid plant of Essakane (15 MW) on March 16, which should supply its gold mine in the same region. Many officials such as Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the Minister of Mines and Energy, members of the Government and local communities’ representatives were present for the launching ceremony. The construction of this...

In Morocco, the National Union of Small-scale Farmers and Forest Professionals denounces the risks faced by populations of Tamtatoucht (South-Eastern side) in the framework of the Toudgha “tourist port” project. In an open letter titled “Collective land grabbing and theft of public property in Morocco”, they expressed their feelings to the Secretary-General of the European...