Safaricom and Visa, the global plalyer in digital payments, have introduced the first M-PESA GlobalPay Visa Virtual card. The launch of the new M-PESA Visa virtual card opens global shopping for Kenyan consumers, allowing secure cashless payments at merchant locations in over 200 countries through Visa’s global network.

Customers can activate the card via the M-PESA App by selecting M-PESA GlobalPay, under “Pay” or “Grow” option. They can also activate it by dialling *334# then selecting option 6 for “Lipa Na M-PESA” followed by “M-PESA...

Nigeria and 13 Africa’s largest economies and capital markets have created a unified platform for trading of securities. The breakthrough promises to enhance free flow of investments across the continent without hitches.

The other countries involved in the first phase of the cross-border trading are: South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Casablanca, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The Exchanges in the first phase of the cross-border trading include Nigerian Exchange...

Accenture has announced a strategic collaboration with Imperial Logistics to deliver intelligent, customer-centric supply chain transformation across the African continent. As part of the initiative, Accenture will execute Imperial’s current supply chain and control tower contracts, as well as drive new skills and capabilities into these services.

This initiative is a first of its kind on the African continent, specifically in the logistics industry, with the ambition of supporting clients in getting products in and out of Africa. These services and capabilities, previously executed from...

TRADE X, a B2B cross-border automotive trading platform based in Ontario, Canada, announced it has opened a new office in Lagos, Nigeria, to help meet the growing demand for vehicles in Nigeria, now the largest economy in Africa.

TRADE X Nigeria will make vehicle purchasing and importation easier for Nigerian automotive dealers purchasing vehicles from suppliers in North America, Europe, and Asia by providing African dealers a wider range of vehicle accessibility that would have otherwise been difficult to obtain. Damilola...

IHS Holding (IHS Towers), one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world by tower count, has completed the acquisition of 5,701 towers in South Africa from MTN SA, one of the leading mobile telecommunications operators in South Africa.

Under the agreement, IHS Towers is also providing Power Management Services to MTN SA on approximately 13,000 sites, including the acquisition portfolio, across South Africa. Cash consideration for the Transaction is ZAR6.4 billion. The...

The World Bank has appointed Dr. Albert G. Zeufack as the new World Bank Country Director for Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sao Tome and Principe effective July 1, 2022.

Dr. Zeufack will lead the implementation of the World Bank’s program in the four countries, which includes an active portfolio of 84 national projects totaling $8 billion financed by the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development...

Cairo based Appetito is acquiring Tunisia’s Lamma to expand operations in Morocco, Tunisia and West Africa and to become the largest e-Grocery & Q-commerce player in Africa.

Appetito delivers thousands of grocery and household products through its mobile app to customers from dark stores across 3 cities in Egypt. In parallel, Lamma has developed a similar Q-Commerce business in Tunisia and Morocco. It was co-founded in 2021 by Yassir El Ismaili El Idrissi, serial entrepreneur and former GM at Careem (Ride hailing company). Yassir will join...

The African Development Centre (ADC), Microsoft’s premier engineering hub, has announced the appointment of Catherine Muraga as its Managing Director effective 01 June 2022.

Catherine, a seasoned IT professional with over 15 years of experience, succeeds outgoing MD Jack Ngare, who has led the ADC since its inception in 2019. She brings a wealth of experience and is well-versed in the IT landscape in Kenya and the region, having worked in a variety of industries such as manufacturing, aviation, and banking. While welcoming...

International calling app Talk360, which enables people around the world to make reliable and affordable calls to any landline or mobile phone worldwide, has secured $4 million in funding as it prepares to launch a new pan-African payment platform in mid-2022.

The seed round of funding was led by leading African venture capital investor HAVAÍC, 4Di Capital and several prominent fintech angel investors. While the Talk360 app is seeing rapid growth on the continent, with a growing number of paying...

In advancing the frontiers of scientific research in areas of specialization like artificial intelligence, the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences – Ghana (AIMS Ghana) has signed a Masters Sponsored Research Agreement (MSRA) with Google Research.

The agreement seeks to further strengthen the partnership between both institutions as part of efforts to enforce their ongoing commitment to collaborate and advance computing and technology in Africa. “We are excited about this...

MTN Group announced the appointment of Tumi Chamayou as Group Executive, Enterprise Business Unit (GEBU), effective 1 June 2022.

Tumi joined the GEBU team in 2018, as General Manager for Large Enterprise Sales, and has been Acting Executive for the function since July 2020, until now. During this time, she has added immense value, overseeing client segment teams as well as the overall strategy and operational alignment with EBU teams in MTN’s Opcos. Jens Schulte-Bockum, Group...

MIGA has issued guarantees to Azura CTRG Holdings of Mauritius (Azura) to cover up to $149.85 million for equity into and loans to Central Termica de Ressano Garcia (CTRG) for a period of approximately 13 years against the risks of breach of contract (BOC) and transfer restrictions (TR).

Azura will acquire stakes owned by Sasol New Energy Holdings Pty Ltd (SNE) of South Africa in CTRG and requires MIGA coverage to do so. In addition, MIGA issued guarantees for eight years to Absa Bank Limited of South Africa (Absa) for...

With the inauguration of the Kasoa Bulk Supply Point (BSP), the United States has completed its nearly six-year $316 million investment in Ghana’s energy infrastructure, supporting more reliable power for hundreds of thousands of schools, hospitals, offices, and homes in Ghana.

The Kasoa BSP will reduce outages in the power system, help stabilize voltages, and improve the quality and reliability of power supplied to the Awutu Senya East Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana. The Kasoa BSP is now the second...

The Cairo Angels Syndicate Fund (CASF), a micro venture capital fund that invests in early-stage startups in the Middle East and Africa, is delighted to announce its investment in the fintech startup Finclusion Group.

Finclusion Group is an African-focused fintech platform building out a full neo bank offering for its users. Today, Finclusion Group provides earned-wage access, BNPL and direct credit to its clients with a presence in South Africa, Eswatini & Namibia in Southern Africa, and Kenya and...

Global multi-asset broker Exness has recently obtained its licence from the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA). The company is now authorised to operate as a non-dealing online broker in the African country.

The new licence will allow Exness to offer trading products to its Kenya-based clients under a secure regulatory environment. It will strengthen the broker’s presence in Sub-Saharan Africa. Known for its better-than-market trading conditions, Exness has been experiencing continuous growth...

Nigeria’s largest brewing company, Nigerian Breweries, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with sustainable energy company, Konexa, for the supply of renewable energy to the brewery’s Kakuri and Kudenda facilities.

The PPA will see Nigerian Breweries source 100% of its power from renewables, with the official signing ceremony held at the Nigerian Breweries headquarters in the capital city of Lagos. Co-funded by the Netherlands-based Climate Fund Managers and Konexa, the PPA will cover a period of ten years, with...

Technology company DarkPulse announced the appointment of Ehab M. Eldemeri as Director for Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. DarkPulse is focused on the manufacture, sale, installation and monitoring of laser sensing systems which provide a data stream of critical metrics for assessing the health and security of infrastructure.

Eldemeri is a successful entrepreneur, Artificial Intelligence Projects Manager (AIPM), Optical Systems & Business Development expert with over 23 years' experience in project management and infrastructure. Coupled with hands-on...

The African Business Roundtable (ABR), a group of visionary business leaders who saw very early the need for Africa to position itself well in the global market to attract investments to the continent, this year marks its third decade of existence.

Founded with the primary objective of boosting the African private sector, the ABR has successfully positioned itself at the forefront of the global movement for the development of Africa and her people. Recognizing the many steps that are needed...

Unicaf is an online and blended learning higher education platform that is dedicated to making higher education of international standard accessible, by offering scholarship opportunities to professionals and young school leavers.

What are scholarship opportunities?

A scholarship could be defined as financial aid that relieves the burden of tuition fees and living costs that students and families have to pay to secure a place in secondary and tertiary education. Considering the rising costs of student expenses and debts, we could nowadays describe education...

The Africa Trade Expo (TATE) presents direct access to African buyers whose main aim is to source the latest products, establish partnerships, and conclude import/export deals. TATE is an ongoing virtual trade show for African businesses to network, collaborate, and enter into partnerships with international manufacturers and exporters. Present your new opportunities, network, build relationships and grow your business in African markets...

Future Foods is a virtual meeting place for importers, F&B managers, retail category buyers, owner-operators, agents, and distributors from across Africa’s diverse and booming market to come to conferences, to network, meet exhibitors, source products, new ingredients, retail shelf-ready products, and the latest processing, packaging, and logistics solutions. Future Foods connects attendees exhibitors across the...

Hilda Kragha is the current CEO of The African Talent Company (formerly known as ROAM Jobs), leading the jobs brands in four countries including Jobberman Nigeria, Jobberman Nigeria, BrighterMonday Kenya, and BrighterMonday Uganda. Collectively, the boast of more than 4.6 million talents (with more than 2 million in Nigeria) and over 160,000 employers.

Could you tell us about your company?

The African Talent Company (TATC) is a group of pan-African businesses working together to solve the talent gap in Africa with unique, home-grown solutions. We operate fully-fledged career development and recruitment solution companies in...

Biodun Kolade is the Founder of Colad Gray Consulting, an HR Tech service firm bringing a variety of human resources solutions to companies all over Nigeria.

Could you tell us about your company?

Founded on the disruptive idea that every business should have access to efficient, professional and affordable HR services, Colad Gray launched in 2019. Our mission is to optimise human capital for businesses. We desire to empower small and medium-sized enterprises and startups across Africa with bespoke and strategic HR solutions designed to support...

The month of May is significant for the African continent because it is during this month that we celebrate Africa Day. Africa Day commemorates the formation of the African Union on May 25, 1963. It is a day when Africans celebrate the continent’s independence, freedom, and liberation from colonialism.

Reflecting on the significance of Africa Day, we have accomplished much in terms of colonial liberation, but much work remains to be done in achieving liberation from persistent challenges such as poverty, inequality...

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift in how people get access to information, services and conduct business. As governments in most countries implemented hard lockdowns to curb the spread of the pandemic, mobile phones allowed people to stay connected and access critical services and information.

This contributed to the growth of mobile internet usage, with over 3 billion people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) now accessing the internet on the palms of their hands. In LMICs, the majority of women own a mobile...

According to a report by the African Development Bank, Africa has the highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world, with 22% of the working-age population starting their own businesses.

While the African continent has struggled to direct its large human capital pool and vast natural resources to accelerate economic growth, a new wave of entrepreneurship shows tremendous potential. With the world on a steady course toward rapid digitalisation, many African start-ups are...

We’re all aware of how rapidly the media landscape is changing. Audiences have been migrating to digital and online channels for more than a decade, and even established media such as broadcast, film, and radio are using hybrid platforms that reach audiences across multiple channels.

A modern media company would likely use a combination of broadcast media, social media, written content, video clips, as well as animation and physical activations to share content...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has an approximated value of 50 trillion naira. With oil and gas infrastructure in Nigeria constantly plagued by mischief and vandalism which drastically diminish both financial value and our country’s reputation, an economic strategist with the ECOWAS has profferred a very interesting solution to this persisting problem — list the NNPC on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

As we seeing in this week’s headlines across business news outlets, the banking sector dominates the stage. Within a few days, Wema launched an innovative package for kids and another prominent bank made moves toward empowering...

As more established African companies and startups look to grow their footprints, they are investing in African countries buoyed by the growing infrastructure, skilled labour and ease of doing business. West African companies have particularly been keen to expand their operations in the East African region. This has been through mergers, partnerships or takeovers.

Nigerian fintech startup Grey is the latest having announced the launch of its service to East Africa starting with Kenya in partnership with Cellulant. Its products, including foreign bank accounts, instant currency exchange, and international...