Africa’s multi-asset investment platform AfricInvest and global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation, have completed the final close of their joint Pan-African Venture fund, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund [CAIF], at €110M.

The fund is backed by LPs such as EIB, AfricaGrow, FMO, Bpifrance, Triodos Investment Management, Proparco, SIFEM, BIO and, among others, as well as a diverse pool of globally renowned investors, including Development finance institutions, leading multinational corporations, and high-net-worth individuals across Europe, Africa and the Middle East...

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and Equity Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to deepen the economic integration of the African continent.

The partnership seeks to implement the AfCFTA Agreement and the AfCFTA Private Sector Strategy through the `Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan’, which focuses on acceleration of economic recovery and resilience in Africa, in a post-COVID 19 environment. The initiative is designed to showcase a...

Liquid Cyber Security, a business of Cassava Technologies, has launched the first of its matrix of Cyber Security Fusion Centres in Johannesburg, South Africa. With this Fusion Centre, Liquid aims to bolster the cyber security industry in the country by managing the growing threat of cyberattacks to governments and enterprises of all sizes.

For the first time, African businesses and governments will have access to Liquid's matrix of Security Fusion Centres across key markets. These centres will provide threat intelligence and bring together the existing Liquid Cloud...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has transitioned into a private entity, thus initiating a monumental shift in active engagement, accountability and value that is expected to reshape Nigeria’s petroleum industry, while simultaneously acting as a model for other National Oil Companies on the continent.

Inaugurated by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on 19 July, the transition from NNPC Group to NNPC Limited is regulated in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021. This transition will create a significant departure...

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the East Africa Business Council (EABC) have launched the EABC – Africa Trade and Investment Council, with the goal of creating a platform for engagement and investment between the East Africa Community (EAC) and the rest of Africa, to unlock investment opportunities, private sector development and business growth.

Launched in Rwanda, the Council will help the private sector in EAC to engage with the rest of Africa with a view towards increasing access to intra-African investment as well as trade and market information through trade fairs and investment...

FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, announced the signing of a NASIRA portfolio guarantee for $15 million in local currency for its existing customer I&M Bank in Kenya. The risk-sharing facility will be used for I&M Bank’s MSME portfolio, as it aims to expand its outreach to MSMEs as part of its current iMara strategy.

The NASIRA program is enabled by the European Union (European Fund for Sustainable Development) and MASSIF, the financial inclusion fund FMO manages on behalf of the Dutch government. Kenyan MSMEs, in particular youth-and...

MIGA has issued a guarantee of $98.3 million to Virtuo Finance S.a.r.l. (Virtuo), boosting the sustainable refinancing of six operational solar power plants in Egypt’s Benban Solar Park (Power Plants), the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar park in Africa.

The refinancing will reduce financial costs, improve overall financial viability, and generate cost savings to be shared with the Government of Egypt. The Power Plants will be refinanced through issuance of a first-of-its-kind green bond by Virtuo...

Ericsson has announced the appointment of Hossam Kandeel as Vice President and Head of Global Customer Unit MTN and Customer Unit MTN Africa effective 21 July 2022. Hossam will lead a high performing technologies and services team that promises to deliver exceptional value towards MTN Ambition 2025 while enabling positive change across society.

Being with Ericsson for nearly two decades, Hossam has held leadership positions across various practices including government and industry relations, strategy and marketing, business solutions, sales, and operational excellence...

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting Morocco in its transition to a low-carbon economy by co-financing the repowering of the Koudia Al Baida wind farm in the north of the country.

The EBRD is providing a senior loan of up to €44 million, to the Koudia Al Baida Energy Company S.A., a special purpose vehicle (SPV) owned by the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) and EDF Renewables. This is part of a senior debt provided by a group of international and Moroccan...

Blitz Motors, the manufacturer of smart e-mopeds in Israel, has signed orders with South Africa's AKATA Energy, committing it to purchase 400 Blitz 3000x model smart e-mopeds, over a period of 24 months from July 2022.

Raphael Moszynski, CEO, Blitz: ''Following efforts to expand our geographical footprint and after we have consolidated our deployment in Europe, I am delighted to report a substantial deal in a new territory - South Africa. The deal is a result of intensive work with AKATA Energy which generated...

Afentra announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Afentra Angola, has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with INA - Industrija Nafte, d.d. to acquire a 4% interest in Block 3/05 and a 5.33% interest in Block 3/05A, offshore Angola (the INA Transaction).

This transaction builds upon the acquisition of a 20% interest in Block 3/05 from Sonangol announced in April 2022 (the Sonangol Acquisition). The INA Acquisition has an effective date of 30^th September 2021. Afentra had earlier signed an...

TotalEnergies has signed with Sonatrach, Occidental and Eni an extension of its Production Sharing Contract for a period of 25 years for onshore Blocks 404a and 208 in the Berkine basin, in Eastern Algeria.

The contract, signed under the new Algerian Hydrocarbon Law published in 2019, will allow to develop additional liquids hydrocarbon resources, while reducing these fields carbon intensity through a dedicated carbon reduction program. The opportunity to develop and valorize associated gas resources...

West African oil and gas service company, Coleman Technical Industries Limited (CTIL) has opened its multi-billion-dollar fibre optic cable manufacturing factory, hoping to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to play big in the African market.

The company is renowned for manufacturing different specifications of high voltage and low voltage cables for the oil and gas industry and construction sector. The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring...

With digitalisation unlocking a plethora of business opportunities in an increasingly connected continent, African countries are emphasising investments in digital technologies, communications infrastructure, IT hubs, data centers, e-commerce, and e-government services.

With the ratification of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), new opportunities in technology start-ups and e-businesses are expected to grow the combined GDP to over $600 billion. Now, more than ever, it has become apparent...

The Smart Africa Alliance is now counting S and BTS Global as it's new and latest entrepreneurial members. The organizations will work together mainly towards the aim of achieving the One Africa Network project.

With a vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030, the Smart Africa Alliance has committed as part of its flagship projects to accelerate the digitalization of the continent and increase connectivity through the development of the free continental roaming initiative. “It is a pleasure to...

Nigeria’s real-time and digital payments revolution is driving economic growth and financial inclusion at unprecedented levels for the largest African economy, according to the third edition of Prime Time for Real-Time, published by ACI Worldwide, in partnership with GlobalData, a data and analytics company, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

The report – tracking real-time payment volumes and growth across 53 countries – includes an economic impact study for the first time, providing a comprehensive view of the economic benefits of real-time for consumers, businesses, and the...

As the voice of the private sector and a prominent advocate of a developed African economy, the ABR has peered into the future and discovered a division of the private sector that is resilient about the mission of building the African economy.

This division may seem small, but we will find it powerful enough to surmount the mountainous challenges surrounding the development of the African economy. This sector is known as SMEs. Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises are unlikely...

After discussions with a variety of advisory and investment institutions, and to further attract investment to projects, the African Business Roundtable Secretariat in association with Afreximbank has designed the “Project Preparation Masterclass”.

This masterclass will equip participants with the basic understanding and need for proper project preparation as key steps towards the presentation of bankable projects to financiers and introduce participants to the critical project...

Cloud OnBoard is a free, instructor-led training event, that gives you a headstart on your journey to developing on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Through a combination of presentations and technical demos, you’ll learn all about virtual machines, containers, applications, big data, and machine learning. What you choose to build next, is up to you! Cloud OnBoard Core Infrastructure is best suited to solution architects, software developers, and systems administrators. Bring your laptop and come ready to learn...

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...

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 pandemic and growing relevance of 4IR technologies continues to drive greater digitalisation across industries. According to Gartner, 64% of organisations are accelerating their digital investments in 2022.

Global spending on digital transformation is expected to reach nearly $2-trillion this year, with the global cloud computing market estimated to reach $474 billion in 2022, an increase of over 16% from $408 billion in 2021. However, fewer than three in every ten digital transformation projects succeed...

The perfect storm of inflationary pressures, aggressive monetary tightening from central banks, combined with a deepening of the Russia/Ukraine crisis, has made capital raising via traditional bond markets particularly expensive for African countries whose governments have been forced to find innovative ways to raise capital.

While the quality of African sovereigns hasn’t declined, risk appetite amongst typical bond investors certainly has and this has pushed pricing up to prohibitively high levels. African government bonds have historically offered fairly priced, long-term debt for issuers and attractive returns for investors...

Despite telecommunications being considered a building block for a digitally transformed world, many operators and businesses in the sector struggle to modernise their legacy applications effectively. These have become an interconnected patchwork of systems integral to supporting operations.

Telecom companies do not have the luxury of switching everything off and rebuilding from scratch. Instead, they need to balance integrating digital solutions with existing ones in ways that do not negatively impact their ability to increase...

Instead, the key is optimisation through a combination of rightsizing, migrating some workloads to the cloud, and putting a strategy in place to manage future needs. Here are some important points to consider on your cost-saving journey.

Software licence reconciliation

According to Gartner, less than 25 percent of organisations have a mature strategy for optimising their licensing spend. That’s a lot of money being left on the table. In a way, it’s normal, because most companies don’t know where to begin...

Along with all caring South Africans, a few months back we witnessed the aftermath of the flooding in KwaZulu-Natal with a combination of horror, sadness, and powerlessness, as lives were lost and communities devastated.

My empathy was more pronounced. I come from the province – a place where I have family and friends and that is deep-rooted in my soul. I was appalled at reports suggesting the possibility of malfeasance in relief fund distribution and along with other members of the business community welcome...