Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund initially has $36 million of committed capital; Support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) through investment in financial institutions; Better access to financing, creation of employment and income generation for MSME in Africa.

Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund (VCHF) has reached its first closing with committed capital of $36 million. The fund is targeting high developmental impact, including job creation and income generation through SMEs and micro...

ENGIE Equatorial has announced that the Lolwe hybrid solar 600 kWp mini-grid, with integrated productive hub and e-mobility, has been inaugurated on Lolwe Island, Uganda, in the presence of Uganda’s Minister of Energy Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa.

This joint project between ENGIE Energy Access and Equatorial Power Ltd. is the most advanced mini-grid on the African continent. It is the result of a strong African-European alliance and is a real game-changer for the energy...

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has approved two new standards that will guide quality and safety requirements for hermetic bags for the storage of grains.

Through the new standards, KEBS has addressed the use of hermetic storage for woven polypropylene bags and rigid plastic silos for the storage of dried food commodities, derived products and seeds without the use of pesticides as a preservative in storage. Hermetic bags are air-tight bags that prevent air/water from getting  into the cereals stored in...

Coca-Cola Africa Operating Unit (“AOU”) and its bottling partners announced the launch of JAMII, the new Africa-focused sustainability platform. The platform houses the Company’s existing and new sustainability initiatives.

Through this signature platform, Coca-Cola hopes to attract like-minded partners to help accelerate on-the-ground impact of its initiatives. The new platform will build and expand on the past accomplishments in three areas; water stewardship, the economic empowerment of women and youth and waste...

Ababacar Diaw, currently Deputy CEO of Allianz Africa Services and Regional Head of Protection and Resilience at Allianz Africa has been nominated as CEO of Allianz Ghana Non-Life, effective January 17th 2022, subject to necessary approvals. He succeeds Darlington Munhuwani who will pursue other opportunities outside the Allianz Group.

Ababacar joined Allianz in 2011 as the Head of Controlling for Allianz Senegal Assurances. He was previously member of the Executive Committee of NSIA Senegal (Insurance & Bank) where he held the position of Head of Controlling and...

Nigeria “indefinitely suspended” Twitter‘s operations in the country on June 4 last year after the company deleted President Buhari’s controversial tweet. 

The country accused Twitter of using its micro-blogging platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence. Seven months later, the country has now lifted the Twitter ban...

Agricultural investment and advisory partner, Grosso Foods B.V., has transitioned into Grosso. Africa, a Tanzania based distributor with a hands-on focus on distribution of conservation agriculture equipment and smart farming solutions.

The rebrand highlights the company’s growth and strategic expansion plans with an unveiling of a new website redesign to reinforce its growing business model. ''Our new name represents where the company is going, shows continued...

Lipa Later, one of it’s kind buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company operating in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria, has raised $12 million from a consortium of investors.

The funding, which is  a mix of equity and debt, will help Lipa Later expand within its current markets (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda) and into new markets such as Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania. It will also allow Lipa Later to provide its Buy-Now-Pay-Later services to its substantial current pipeline of consumers supporting Lipa’s exclusive partnerships with...

Information and insights company TransUnion Africa has announced the appointment of Morris Maina as chief executive officer (CEO) of the company’s rapidly-growing Kenyan operation.

Maina will be responsible for growing the company’s increasingly broad range of fraud and risk solutions, leveraging its global expertise for the benefit of the local market. TransUnion helps Kenyan businesses to form trusted relationships and make more informed decisions, and...

International cash payments platform Pipit Global and Cellulant have extended their partnership agreement to now include eighteen countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The partnership will see the companies providing both B2B and B2C payments services to existing and emergent financial institutions, eCommerce merchants, billers and billing platforms, mobile money providers and eWallets, digital financial service providers, and their customers. Despite the...

Ghanaian health tech startup mPharma has raised $35 million in a Series D round led by Citigroup Inc.

Other investors that participated in the round include AM Fund, a venture capital firm founded by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen, Unbound, a growth investment firm founded by Shravin Mittal, managing director Bharti Global Limited (Bharti family investment arm), and Lux Capital, a New York City-based VC firm investing in science and technology ventures, were among the investors in the round. Northstar, Social...

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a grant to Nigeria’s Daybreak Power Solutions, a subsidiary of African renewable energy company Daystar Power Group, for a feasibility study to help optimize clean energy supply to business entities in the country.

Daybreak Power Solutions selected Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) to carry out the study. ''USTDA has long worked with our partners in Nigeria to help expand energy access and advance climate resilience,'' said...

Allianz Africa announced the appointment of Abderrahim Dbich as CEO of Allianz Maroc, effective January 1st, 2022. He succeeds Joerg Weber, who will take on new responsibilities in the Allianz group.

Abderrahim was formerly Deputy CEO of AXA Assurance Maroc and member of the FMSAR Executive Committee (National federation of insurance and reinsurance). He drove the local strategy and the technical activities of AXA Assurance Morocco for more than 12 years and contributed to the launch of its...

FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi), the investing arm of FSD Africa, has announced a £3 million investment into IMFact, an expanding fintech company that uses supply chain financing to provide working capital to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

As a “pooled receivables” factoring business, IMFact purchases bulk invoices from MSMEs for a mix of upfront cash and deferred payments. This gives the sellers access to cash without the need to follow up or wait for invoices to be paid...

An integrated policy framework built around the energy transition could bring a wave of new sustainable energy investment to Africa, growing the region's economy by 6.4 per cent by 2050, results of an analysis published today by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) revealed.

The report, 'Renewable Energy Market Analysis: Africa and Its Regions', shows that Africa is prospering significantly from development enabled by renewables, while greatly...

Following a turbulent year of stock market fluctuations, restrictions related to an ongoing pandemic and varying economic instabilities, predictions on Nigeria’s performance last year ranged from inferior to mediocre to excellent. 

Covid-19 limitations caused a dip in SME’s contributions to GDP and capital importations rose 97% as of Q3 2021. Growth trends could be observed in industries like Agritech, Startups, ICT and Banking, while others like Insurance, Manufacturing...

How does the East African region achieve a full economic recovery from the impact of the pandemic while also building toward a more globally-competitive and sustainable future?

As the only region in Africa to avoid a recession in 2020, East Africa is poised for strong growth despite ongoing disruption from the pandemic. While the exact level of threat posed by the newly-discovered Omicron variant of COVID-19 remains to be seen, the reaction from the global community – travel..

Global oil and gas investments will expand by $26 billion this year as the industry continues its protracted recovery from the worst of the pandemic and the hurdles imposed by the Omicron variant.

An analysis by Rystad Energy projects overall oil and gas investments will rise 4% to $628 billion this year from $602 billion in 2021. A significant factor behind the increase is a 14% increase in upstream gas and LNG investments. These segments will be the fastest-growing this year, with a jump...

In many ways, 2021 was a landmark year for online privacy. In April 2021, Apple rolled out an update allowing users to opt out of app tracking, with most iPhone users having done so by the end of the year.

There were even talks to disable tracking technology on the world’s most popular web browser. We also saw movement on the legislative front, with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) coming into effect in July. (Kenya and Nigeria’s equivalent acts came into effect in 2019)...

In order to achieve broad-based growth and job creation, the sustained implementation of a multifaceted and ambitious reform agenda will be essential, according to the World Bank’s Morocco Economic Monitor, January 2022: From Recovery to Acceleration.

The report analyzes the growth performance of the Moroccan economy over past decades. Thus far, fixed capital accumulation has been the main driver of growth, with limited productivity gains and an insufficient contribution of labor...

Dr. Oluyomi Alarape, CEO of Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies Dr. Oluyomi Alarape is the current Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies. He assumed leadership of the company in January 2021, prior to which he served as its Executive Director.

Could you introduce your company to us?

Wragby Business Solutions and Technologies is a proven leader in the technology space across Africa, the first and only Azure MSP expert in the sub-Saharan Africa...

As the East African Community, EAC, member states eye innovative ways of deepening integration and trading more with each other, the bloc and individual countries are putting in place mechanisms, policies and legislation that seek to address longstanding hiccups that have put the brakes on seamless regional trade.

The EAC Secretariat recently convened a multi-sectoral meeting to consider the adoption of the EACPass, a harmonized system to facilitate cross-border movement, in a bid to end persistent border traffic snarl-ups disrupting intra...