Author: Editor

The inauguration ceremony of the University of San Pedro was held on Friday, November 30, 2018 in the village of Goreke and Magne under the chairmanship of the head of government, Amadou Gon Coulibaly. This event is the first symbolic step for the construction of the future building. As part of the University Decentralization Program (PDU), the construction of the University of San Pedro is the subject of a public-private partnership with Envol Partenariats CI. According to the terms of the contract, the first students are expected in San Pedro in October 2020. EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MADANI TALL: “THE TIME…

MTN Benin has signed a CFAF 75 billion loan from a consortium of banks including Societe Generale Benin through its structured finance platform, Structured Finance Group (“SFG”). The pool of banks participating in the loan includes Bank Of Africa Benin – Diamond Bank SA – Orabank Benin (Obbe) – Ecobank Benin – African Bank for Industry and Commerce (Baic) – Banque Populaire for Savings and Credit (Bpec) – Bsic Benin Sa. The CEO of the company, Stephen Blewett, welcomes these competitions spread over a maturity of 7 years. “This is the largest loan ever granted in the telecom sector in…

Founder and 100% owner of APO Group, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, 43, will become Chairman. His focus will be on delivering high-level counsel for APO Group clients and developing his own investment fund dedicated to Africa. Lionel Reina has over 25 years of senior management experience and has a strong history of providing effective leadership and delivering significant growth. From 2003 to 2012, he was Vice President and General Manager for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Orange Business Services, the B2B division of French telecoms company Orange – a remit that covered more than 80 countries. He was made…

Speaker line-up features Minister of Tourism, Minister of Social Solidarity, over 200 start-ups, executives from Uber, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Pepsico Vodafone Egypt & more   Content zones in on local perspectives, grounded experiences The 6th Annual RiseUp Summit revealed its three-day agenda, featuring talks by Her Excellency Rania Al Mashat, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, Her Excellency Ghada Waly, Minister of Social Solidarity,  content from over 200 participating start-ups from the Middle East and North Africa, talks and workshops by executives from Uber, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Pepsico, Vodafone Egypt  – all focused on Grounded Experiences – real challenges facing entrepreneurs in…

Africa50, in partnership with Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) has announced the U.S. launch of the gas report Investing in Natural Gas for Africans: Doing Good and Doing Well during a ceremony held yesterday at the Atlantic Council Headquarters. In June 2018, Africa50 commissioned a report from EFI to analyze the opportunities and benefits of natural gas development in Africa. The study explores the scale of potential domestic demand by mid-century, and the technologies that can help increase this demand and the concomitant supply and infrastructure. Speaking at the ceremony, Former U.S. Secretary of Energy and EFI founder, Secretary Ernest J. Moniz, said in his opening…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) yesterday in Moscow signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian Railways and the Russian Export Center (REC), agreeing to cooperate in implementing export and investment projects in the railway sector in Africa. Under the terms of the MoU, the parties will cooperate by undertaking mutual consultations on export and investment projects in the railway sector abroad and by jointly developing project financing schemes in the sector. Prof. Benedict Oramah. President of Afreximbank, signed the document on behalf of the Bank while Oleg Belozyorov, Director General of Russian Railways, and Andrey Slepnev, Director General of REC,signed for their…

The Lebanese pseudo-distribution of power in Central Africa has not, it seems, stolen. But the dismissal on 26 October of Abdou Karim Meckassoua for alleged financial malpractice and his replacement by El Adj Laurent Ngon Baba at the head of the Central African Parliament, continues to fuel the controversy and conjectures in an atmosphere of recovery of hostilities on all fronts. In the aftermath of this destitution caused by persistent rivalries between the former president of parliament and the president Augustin-Archange Touadéra, the ex-rebels of Séléka, who support Mackassoua, had given 48 hours to the representatives of the State to…

While President Ali Bongo, recovering in Riyadh, is announced sometimes in Paris, sometimes in Rabat, a new movement, called TGV (High Speed ​​Train), is launched in Libreville with the destination of the presidential palace. His goal, wearing Jean Ping at the head of Gabon. Initiator of the movement, the Coalition for the New Republic (CNR) announces next week several events in Libreville and inside the country. CNR President Jean Eyeghe, a former Prime Minister, called on Gabonese people at a rally on Monday (November 26th) to demand respect for the constitution he violated, and demand that Jean Ping be installed…

– 9 Heads of State expected at the Forum as Egypt takes over chairmanship of the African Union in 2019 – Some of Africa’s leading industrialists will be participating in the Forum – The Forum will also host the largest exhibition of African Investment Promotion Agencies The organisers of the Africa 2018 Forum have announced that nine heads of state have confirmed their participation as well as some of Africa’s leading industrialists. They had over 4,000 requests for registration with nearly 2,000 expected delegates. The Forum this year will put a strong emphasis on youth and women with a…

Ecobank is back on the debt market. This is a sign of an ever-pressing need for funds to finance an ambitious development plan for 36 African countries and continued high operating costs, despite efforts made over the last three years under the leadership of Nigerian CEO Ade Ayeyemi. The good news is that the market still gives credit to the bank’s signature. For example, the loan loan was oversubscribed for $ 268.5 million, with Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) increasing Deutsche Bank’s arranger mandate from $ 150 million to $ 200 million. This funding supports ETI’s goal of maintaining a diversified…

On the sidelines of the African Week of Industrialization, which began on November 19 in Addis Ababa under the aegis of the Trade and Industry Department of the African Union Commission, the Nigerian Minister of Industry, Malam Zanaidou Amirou, presented the strategy of his country in this matter. Here are the highlights. “The role of industrialization is clearly enshrined in the African Union Plan of Action for Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa, and the Third Decade of Industrial Development for Africa,” says the Minister from the outset Nigerian, recalling the importance of Agenda 20163, “the African Union’s strategic framework for…

Eight years after his report on “Lions in motion, the progress and potential of African economies,” McKinsey and his leading economist Acha Lake, return with a new study on “Africa’s extraordinary growth potential.” Africa is on the path to an unprecedented acceleration of its economic growth, similar to that experienced in Asian markets. This is the main conviction of McKinsey’s new book on the African economy. Global companies that enter these markets early with perfectly targeted strategies could, like growing African champions, benefit from double-digit revenue growth over the coming decades. In “Africa’s Business Revolution: How to Succeed in the…

The bankruptcy of Samir, the first Moroccan refiner, extends to the property of some directors and, in particular, those of the CEO, Jamal Bâ Amer, right arm of the majority shareholder, the Saudi billionaire Hussein Al Amoudi, himself concerned by the procedure. The Casablanca Commercial Court found the management fault against the former CEO and other members of the board of directors, including the CEO. As part of this procedure, the Commercial Court of Casablanca has auctioned off a villa of Mohammed Jamal Baamer located in Rabat and worth 16 million dirhams. The sale is scheduled for 6 December 2018…

African Media Agency (AMA)/- Africa Finance Corporation (“AFC” or “the Corporation”), the leading infrastructure development finance institution in Africa, is pleased to announce it is to invest in the Nachtigal Hydro Power Company (“NHPC”), located 65KM north of Yaounde in Cameroon. The EUR 1.2 billion power generation project will consist of a 420MW hydro-electric power station as well as a 50KM transmission line. The financing structure will take a 76:24 debt to equity ratio, with AFC providing EUR 50 million in debt and an additional 18-year interest rate swaps of up to EUR 75 million. Construction is expected to commence…

By François Lamontagne. Received with great pomp by Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh continues to persecute his people and turns his back on his former Western allies. Ismaïl Omar Guelleh at a “Forum for Peace”: the image would have something to smile about, if it was not so sadly ironic. The autocrat of Djibouti, nicknamed “IOG”, was indeed invited as number of heads of state and government to attend the official ceremonies commemorating the centenary of the armistice, as well as the Forum for Peace organized in Paris by Emmanuel Macron, at the beginning of November.…

The International Bank for Trade and Industry of Côte d’Ivoire (BICICI) announced that it has entered into “promising” contacts with French businessmen on a prospection mission to Côte d’Ivoire from 07 to 09 November 2018. the FICIA framework “, the International Trade and Industry Forum in Abidjan. According to a press release issued for this purpose, the bank “participated fully” in the activities of a delegation of 30 French business leaders, led by the Chairman of the Lorrain Committee of Foreign Trade Advisers of France, presenting its local and international financing solutions “both for the Corporate and for the offer…

Gabonese Minister of Agriculture Biendi Maganga Moussavou has signed a technical assistance agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on behalf of Gabon for just over US $ 1 billion. CFA francs, reported Sunday the national radio. For the resident representative of FAO, Helder Muteia, “this agreement will allow Gabon to obtain reliable statistical data of the agricultural sector” continued the radio. The FAO thus provides Gabon with its expertise to enable the latter to have statistical data for an evolutionary mapping of its agricultural environment.

Gabon has just adopted a series of measures in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on the Restoration of Public Finances. This is one of the important decisions made at the cabinet meeting on November 16, 2018. Chaired by Vice-President Pierre-Claver Maganga Moussavou, the Council of Ministers set in motion the recommendations of the Task Force. This working group, which met for one month, throughout May 2018, had released a roadmap on the reforms needed to restore the balance of public finances by 2020. The note released since June 2018 starts from a rather alarming diagnosis of a…

At the market forum organized by the Federation of African National Insurance Companies (FANAF), on 8 and 9 November 2018 in Cotonou, the CIMA presented a state of play of the implementation of the decision taken by the Council. insurance ministers of the Franc zone, to increase the share capital of insurance companies and the social fund of mutual insurance companies to comply with international standards and for the financial soundness of insurance companies (the full document is available on fanaf.org). FinancialAfrik went to meet Abdou Cissé, a recognized expert in the market of the CIMA zone, who participated in…

By Kouao Brice, The School of the Abidjan Stock Exchange At December 31, 2017, the leading bank in Cote d’Ivoire in terms of outstanding loans and deposits is SGBCI. With a 15% share of the market, it is ahead of the Atlantic Bank of Cote d’Ivoire, the Ivorian subsidiary of the Moroccan group BCP in terms of resources. In terms of jobs, its 19% share of the market, the place far ahead ECOBANK CI. The Ivorian subsidiary of the French group SOCIETE GENERALE has demonstrated a responsiveness in a sector where competition has increased in recent years. Indeed, ten years…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has released its unaudited financial statements for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, showing strong financial and operational performance, with gross income of $546.6 million (a 14.3 per cent increase from the same period last year) and net income of $172.4 million (a growth of 11.9 per cent from the same period last year). The financial statements, released in Cairo today, showed that the Bank’s total assets stood at $12 billion; Loans and advances at $9.5 billion (+14.2% from FY17); return on average assets at 1.9 per cent; return on average equity at 10.3…

Decryption. The controversy comes from the architect Pierre Atepa Goudiaby, candidate for the candidacy for the next presidential elections of Senegal. In an interview with the press, the now full-fledged politician makes a tasty comparison: “Do you also know that the Regional Express Train (Ter) of 30 km costs about 1 billion euros and that the Moroccan TGV that was inaugurated Thursday, cost two billion euros and is 300 km? When you are faced with choices like this, you say that it is not possible for us to manage a country like this, “says Pierre Atepa Goudiaby. What is the…

Mutandis obtained a visa from the Moroccan Capital Markets Authority (AMMC) on November 16, 2018, for an introduction to the Casablanca Stock Exchange. A birthday present for the president of the company Adil Douiri, who has been waiting for the famous sesame since February 2018. Péripéties et stakes. The operation will be in the form of share transfer and capital increase. Shareholders until then, the group Holmarcom and the Spanish fund Freira, owners of respectively 7.3 and 8% of the capital, yield their bets. At the end of the IPO transaction, the free float will be 70%, a record on…

The Best Innovative Project in the field of renewable energies was awarded on the sidelines of the celebration of the 45th anniversary of the West African Development Bank (BOAD). Thus, the Togolese Yao Azoumah was the recipient of the price of 30 million CFA francs for his project “KYA-SoP electro-solar groups”. This startup created in 2015 proposes to move from a centralized system of electricity supply very expensive with electrical networks to a decentralized system (individual or community), much more affordable financially using standard hybrid mobile cabinets through the KYA-SoP electrosolar groups. Holder of a PhD in Renewable Energies, the…

The electrification rate in Togo has doubled from 23 to 38% over the last ten years. This was declared by Prime Minister Komi Selom Klassou on November 15 in Lome, on the sidelines of the celebration of the 45th anniversary of the West African Development Bank (BOAD). Strengthened in its good momentum, Togo has adopted a new national electrification strategy to increase from 38% to 50% in 2020. An integral part of Togo’s National Development Plan (PND), this objective aims at 100% electrification of electricity. 2030, “said the Prime Minister. By the set horizon, 600,000 households will be connected thanks…

After two days of strategic and technical exchanges on “solar energy, its challenges and prospects”, on 14 and 15 November in Lome, in the presence of President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire, the Prime Minister of Togo, the president of the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and various institutional actors, the way forward seems clear for the BOAD *. The West African Development Bank, which celebrated its 45th anniversary in Lomé, capital of Togo, relies on solar energy as an acceleration factor for inclusion and development. “This is not a change of course,” said Christian…

The privatization of the Togolese Bank for Trade and Industry (BTCI) and the Togolese Union of Bank (UTB) as well as the Togocom Group are included in the presentation of a bill on their privatization, presented on November 15 2018 to deputies by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Sani Yaya. Regarding the two public banks (UTB and BTCI), the privatization process, started in 2008 and supported by the World Bank, led to the resumption of the Togolese Development Bank (BTD) and the Inter-African Bank for the Togo (BIA-T) respectively by the Orabank Group in 2012 and the Attijari Group…

A two-day Ad-Hoc Expert Group Meeting opened in Kigali Wednesday with participants exploring avenues through which financing for tourism development in the Eastern Africa region could be sustained in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the global Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Meeting under the theme; Promoting services trade within the AfCFTA: The Sustainable Financing of Tourism, participants are trying to find innovative ways through which to increase the region’s share in global tourism investment and come up with models for tourism investment and financing that would be relevant to facilitate faster tourism growth and development and suggest policy…

The Ministry of Equipment, Infrastructure and Mines launched Thursday a census operation operators in the gold sector throughout the country, recalling that “since September 17, 2018, the government had suspended all gold activities in order to put an end to the lawless and illegal exploitation of gold for a better reorganization of this sector “. According to the statement, “this decision, based on risks of public disorder, remains enforceable until the government notifies the legally compliant operators of the terms of resumption of their activities (…)”. If the current known gold reserves are estimated between 30 and 50 tons in…

As part of the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) for the first 10 months of the current year, the Minister of Budget and Public Accounts, Jean Fidèle Otandault, had a working session Thursday with a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Libreville led by Boileau Yeyinou Loko, Head of Mission for Gabon in the Africa Department. The monetary institution welcomed Gabon’s efforts to mobilize revenue and, in particular, progress in financial governance. The minister said that “there are still things to be done in the direction of better resource mobilization”. “We have welcomed the efforts undertaken by Gabon. It…