Author: Editor

Afrikamart, the leading agritech West African start-up is announcing the closing of a USD$850,000 seed round of financing from leading venture capital groups including the BLOC Smart Africa fund managed by Bamboo Capital Partners, Orange Digital Ventures, Launch Africa and Teranga Capital.  The proceeds from the financing will allow the company to ramp-up its purchases from smallholder farmers across the country and efficiently manage the logistics and last mile delivery of 14 fresh types of vegetables directly to street vendors and small retailers, restaurants and hotels in Dakar and Mbour. By doing that, Afrikamart will create efficiencies, enhance information and trust…

In a ceremony presided over by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the African Risk Capacity Group, in the presence of Representatives of Partners organisations (Ambassador of Germany to Malawi), and of the UN system (WFP and UNDP country directors), delivered a symbolic US$14.2 million insurance payout cheque to the Malawi Government. “I assured Malawians that we have enough food for everyone and even those few whose crops had not done well would be provided for. My confidence came from the fact that we had taken this…

Financing the environmental and energy transition is a key objective for Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers dedicated to impact investing. With the acquisition of SunFunder, a private debt management company that finances renewable energy projects in Africa and Asia, Mirova is expanding its investment platform in emerging markets. This is a major step in Mirova’s development strategy in real assets. Founded 10 years ago as a crowdfunding platform, SunFunder’s main objective was to offer financing solutions for the decentralised solar energy sector in Africa, in order to achieve direct impact at the intersection of climate change and inequality.…

The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) today announced that it is providing technical advisory support to a new World Bank’s investment project in Ethiopia. The project valued at $600 million aims to increase the resilience of Ethiopia’s food systems and its preparedness for food insecurity. As a result of climate change, smallholder farmers in Ethiopia are suffering from greater variability and extreme weather events, increased temperature and declining rainfall in a country where 85 percent of farmers are depended on rain-fed agriculture. Ethiopia is currently in the middle of one of the worst droughts for 50 years which follows 12…

Reinsurance broker Chedid Re has signed a five-year partnership with JBA Risk Management to use the flood specialist’s global flood model. The new capability will enable Chedid Re to provide flood risk analytics and catastrophe modelling services to its clients across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. Chedid Re, a company of Chedid Capital, and a Lloyd’s broker since 2015 has offices in Abidjan, Beirut, Casablanca, Dubai, Limassol, London, and Riyadh. It is one of the top 20 reinsurance brokers in the world and its 300 plus employees manage a diverse portfolio across facultative and treaty reinsurance. The broker…

Africa’s trade grew significantly as the world gradually recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), said in Cairo. Launching the African Trade Report along with H.E. Mr Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, at the 29th Afreximbank Annual Meetings (AAM2022), Professor Oramah said that Africa showed resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, contracting by only 1.6% in its first recession in 25 years and rebounding strongly with GDP expanding by about 6.9% in 2021. “African trade grew significantly just as…

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) today in Cairo announced the appointment of Kanayo Awani to the position of Executive Vice President of the Intra-African Trade Bank (INAT) with effect from 1 July 2022. The appointment follows a decision by Afreximbank’s Board of Directors on 13 June 2022 to approve a recommendation by Bank President Prof. Benedict Oramah for Ms. Awani to be appointed to the new position to lead INAT, a new executive division of Afreximbank responsible for driving all Afreximbank intra-African trade activities, including all its African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation engagements. Ms. Awani has served as Managing…

The majority of the fastest growing cities and urban set ups in the world today are in Africa. The administrative and commercial hubs for such setups are under sub sovereign governments’ authority. Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Managing Director of Afreximbank’s Intra-African Trade Initiative, hailed the sub sovereigns as an ideal vehicle for infrastructural development, given their proximity to the citizenry. “By building on the value chains of their products and services, sub-sovereigns will automatically contribute to the addition of the global value chain,” said Mrs. Awani who was speaking at a panel discussion on the second day of the 29th Afreximbank…

First combined guarantee solution (liquidity extension and partial credit) for GuarantCoFirst financing agreement solely focussed on toll plaza infrastructure in AfricaFirst road-related Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Cameroon GuarantCo, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), has provided a USD 38.4 million (XAF equivalent) guarantee solution to Société Générale Cameroun (SG) and Société Commerciale de Banque Cameroun (SCB), a subsidiary of Attijariwafa Bank Group to finance TollCam, a project company established by Egis and Fayat. The financing comprises a 14-year combined liquidity extension and partial credit guarantee to support debt for the modernisation, operation and maintenance of 14 toll…

In May, Côte d’Ivoire Terminal (CIT) took delivery of 14 APM 75T HE electric tractors, ordered from the manufacturer Gaussin and for use at the second container terminal at the Port of Abidjan. This initial delivery follows a historic order for 36 100% electric tractors that was placed in April 2021 for a total of 6.5 billion CFA francs (€9.9 million). The remaining 22 tractors will be delivered in a few weeks’ time, ready to be put into service in November. The APM75T HE tractor is the result of creating a synergy between Gaussin’s expertise in the production of handling…

Bolloré Transport & Logistics, the operator of the leading integrated logistics network in Africa, will take part in the Africa CEO Forum 2022 on 13 and 14 June. The summit will bring together more than 1,500 business leaders, investors and policy makers from Africa and around the world to discuss the theme “Economic sovereignty, green growth and industrial transformation: new paths to African prosperity”. Bolloré Transport & Logistics will take this opportunity to present its development projects in Africa, together with its commitment strategy based on the implementation of sustainable logistics solutions. During this Pan-African event organised around conferences,…

Malawi Government chose cluster policies to cover different regions from droughtWFP Malawi receives US$14.2m pay-out following driest season since 1981 Drought-affected households in Malawi will receive swift relief with an upcoming climate insurance pay-out by African Risk Capacity (ARC) Limited to the Malawian government in June. Malawi is a signatory of the ARC Treaty established by African Risk Capacity, a specialised agency of the African Union, aimed at helping AU member states improve their capacities to plan, prepare and respond to extreme weather events and natural disasters. The objective of the ARC is to assist AU member states in reducing…

On April 2022, Bolloré Transport & Logistics Ghana received a total of 555 vehicles on behalf of CFAO Ghana PLC, part of the CFAO Group, at the Tema port. After leaving India, the vehicles were shipped in 2 batches before arriving at destination. In all, this operation will have lasted one month requiring an end-to-end mobilization of Bolloré Transport & Logistics’ teams in Ghana. Working in synergy, they were in charge of the handling of the shipping agency, customs clearance, storage, transport, and other annex services such us a washing bay as well as tire pumping. A dedicated space was…

Africa50, the pan-African infrastructure investment platform, will hold its 2022 General Shareholders Meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, from 19 – 20 July 2022. The event is expected to be opened by H.E Aziz Akhannouch, Head of Government of the Kingdom of Morocco.Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank and Chairman of the Africa50 Board of Directors, will deliver a keynote address on the important role infrastructure investments play in enabling Africa’s resilient recovery and sustainable growth, at a critical time for the continent. He will also co-chair the statutory General Shareholders Meeting with Ms. Nadia Fettah, Minister of Economy and…

Internationally renowned strategic investor, Proparco is set to make an equity investment of USD 10M, becoming MUA’s largest international institutional shareholder. This investment is a strong vote of confidence in MUA’s regional growth ambitions and marks the start of a key long-term partnership that will further strengthen its financial capacity to improve insurance coverage and increase market share. • MUA enters into an agreement with Proparco, a leading international Development Finance Institution, for a proposed equity investment of USD 10M (“the investment”), subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. • The milestone investment will enable MUA to strengthen its financial capacity…

An Open Banking Excellence Campfire shone a light on payment initiation in Brazil and addressed the topic of the country’s Open Banking ecosystem. Guests included representatives of Mastercard, Brazil’s Central Bank, Itaú Unibanco and more. Brazil’s Open Banking and Finance ecosystem will soon be the largest in the world, according to speakers at an industry event. Open Banking Excellence (OBE), the global centre of community and knowledge, driving change in Open Finance, gathered key players in the finance industry around its digitalCampfire to celebrate the launch of payment initiation in Brazil and discuss the future ahead. Over the last 12 months, Brazil has moved…

Enko Education, a network of African international schools, announces the closing of its $5.8 million Series B round led by Adiwale Partners and followed by the Steyn Capital family office, existing institutional investors Proparco, Investisseurs et Partenaires and Liquid Africa, as well as prominent figures in international education and entrepreneurship in Africa. This Series B round, which closed on May 30, validates Enko Education’s innovative educational model. Reach 10,000 students by 2025By 2030, 750 million African youth will be of school age. To enable these young people to access the best universities, Enko Education schools offer a quality African international…

Betastore, a tech-enabled B2B retail platform helping small retailers source inventory and access financing, today announced the closing of a $2.5 million Pre-Series A round which saw investment from 500 Global, VestedWorld, and Loyal VC. Betastore plans to deploy this funding to continue its expansion across West and Central Africa.  Founded in 2020, Betastore serves over 1.5 million small retailers that sell a combined $22 billion worth of merchandise in Nigeria annually. The company optimizes the procurement, financing, and delivery of a wide range of FMCG goods to these vendors via its tech-enabled platform, saving vendors time and money. With…

Bolloré Transport & Logistics was recently commissioned to handle a logistic operation organizing the  first direct shipment of coffee by Kenyan farmers to South Korea without the use of a coffee brokerage.  This was made possible thanks to sector reforms by the government of Kenya that now allow farmers  to market their produce directly with a view to fetch a better price for their produce.  The shipment that was flagged off in March docked weeks after into the country. It was successfully  done with Bolloré Transport & Logistics, the company being contracted to oversee the processing,  bulking, stuffing and shipping…

Owendo Container Terminal (OCT), operator of the container terminal of the Port of Owendo, has been granted the Green Terminal label following an audit conducted by Bureau Veritas on 4 May 2022. This label rewards the efforts made by the company to reduce the impact of its activities on the environment by implementing eco-responsible measures. The audit was conducted by Bureau Veritas experts and based on the eight pillars of the labelling process. This process includes work procedures, building infrastructure in line with international standards, waste management and training employees in best environmental practices. “Owendo Container Terminal is our 7th…

Bolloré Logistics Spain continues its deployment in Spain with the opening of two new offices in Vigo and Burgos both of them being depending from Bilbao Branch. By expanding its scope activity, Bolloré Logistics is strengthening its presence in Spain and demonstrates its willingness to offer its global customers and regional companies a personalised and local service but also to support large groups in their international development. Located in the region of Castile and Léon, the Burgos office will allow Bolloré Logistics to develop its local business specially in the cosmetics vertical and to get closer to its customers and…

The new Sigma7 Risk Management Services Platform aims to upgrade business risk management capabilities. The new company is formed by industry veterans with investment backing from Growth Catalyst Partners. Risk management veteran Andrew Hersh, in partnership with middle-market private equity firm Growth Catalyst Partners (GCP), announced two days ago the launch of Sigma7, a risk management services company founded to support large organizations facing today’s dynamic complex risk environment. Sigma7 will integrate the services of the leading companies specializing in risk services to create a complete platform to serve companies across all industries, risk domains and global locations. Three initial…

Skaleet, an international fintech providing a next-generation Core Banking Platform (CBP), has partnered today with Mobiblanc, an Agile Digital Services Entreprise (ESN), to offer turnkey solutions to financial institutions across Africa. The partnership will ensure that financial institutions have the capacities to launch new digital and innovative financial solutions that they can provide to their customers, whether businesses or individuals.  Mobiblanc, based in Morocco and Tunisia, is a leading player in North and West African markets entirely devoted to digital solutions. With a talented and dynamic team, Mobiblanc delivers an efficient and effective consulting and integration service for a wide…