Air Côte d’Ivoire announced a fundraising campaign to mobilise $111.5 million for the second half of 2018. The resource will be used to complete the acquisition of 5 additional aircrafts. According to the tender notice published on its website, the company targets private banks and financial institutions with experience in aircraft acquisition financing. For the operation, Air Côte...

The Mutual Guarantee Risk/Credit Fund for Youth, a special Algerian fund that encourages banks to take risks by financing youth-run microenterprises, has compensated some banking institutions that have granted credit to youths with up to DA25 billion ($217.9 million). According to Samira Djaide, director of the National Agency for Youth Employment Support (ANSEJ) which gives this information,...

In Kenya, tea exports to Pakistan generated about KSh3.7 billion ($36.5 million) in January 2018. Compared to the volume exported during the same period last year, this represents a decrease by 50%. According to the Kenyan tea directorate, this downward trend is attributable to the stricter sanitary standards imposed by Pakistan. In particular, they included the obligation, for exporters, to...

Late 2017, the activities of Gabon’s alcoholic and soft beverages decreased. According to figures from Société des brasseries du Gabon (Sobraga) and Sovingab, the sector’s overall output fell by 6.3% to 2.7 million hectoliters against 2.8 million hectoliters in 2016, due to weak demand in local market. During this period, the country produced 1.6 million hectoliters of beer and...

In Moroccan rural areas, only 1% of the women own farmland. This was revealed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s study on gender mainstreaming in agricultural and rural sectors, published on March 6, 2018, in Rabat. “Official activities rates don’t take into account women’s informal activities (7.5% in rural zones), yet public policies and training and mentoring...

The Ivorian and African football legend Didier Drogba is back in the spotlight but this time in the framework of the banking services digitalization in Africa. On March 14, 2018, he will be officially presented as the ambassador of the digitized retail banking services of Standard Chartered Bank. The former star of Olympique de Marseille and Chelsea will lend his voice and image rights to a...

The Kazakh debt-ridden company, Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), plans once again to sell its copper project Frontier in DRC, despite a drop to $400 million in the project’s estimated value. This was revealed to Bloomberg by some banking sources. The company had already tried to sell the project in 2014.  However, it failed due to a global slowdown and drop in commodities...

Dominique Renaud, the French ambassador to Gabon, wishes Gabon and Veolia could get over the verbal escalation. In this vein, he met Gabon’s Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet, on March 7, 2018. According to French authorities, only a “constructive and peaceful” dialogue can foster “fruitful partnerships” with business communities and let them support Gabon in...

Mali has launched a rural electrification project worth CFA10 billion (over $18.9 million) for Macina Cercle residents. The project, launched by Malick Alhousseini (photo), the water and energy minister, will connect a total of 24 villages in the area. It has two main objectives: build two solar power plants in Sarro and Saye and strengthen the capacities of Malian agency for the...

Côte d’Ivoire plans to disburse about CFA3, 750 billion ($7.09 billion) in the coming five years, to develop its infrastructures.  The funding falls in line with an infrastructures investment plan and should allow the country to build new projects to boost its strong and growing economy.  According to information relayed by RFI, this plan should help develop road and motorway...