Author: Albert Savana

 The 2020 Final Conference takes place on August 25 via videoconference Trophée Babacar NDIAYE is pleased to announce that the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, HE Mr. Abdel Fattah al-SISI accepted the Super Prize Great Builder – Trophée Babacar NDIAYE 2020 which was awarded to him by the Selection Committee at the end of the Inaugural Conference of July 13, 2020. The General Commission was informed of this important news through diplomatic way. The General Commission is delighted with this reaction of President Abdel Fattah al- SISI and reiterates its very warm congratulations. The General Commission also congratulates…

UK fintech Mode announces the launch of its new instant Bitcoin transfers feature, as part of its continued mission to open up access to the exciting world of digital assets. The free feature allows Mode users to seamlessly sync their contacts on the Mode app, and send instant Bitcoin transfers to other Mode users, anytime, anywhere. Mode already provides an easy way for everyday investors to own a piece of Bitcoin, by enabling them to instantly deposit GBP funds via Open Banking and Faster Payments, and use those funds to buy from as little as £50 worth of Bitcoin in…

Kribi Conteneurs Terminal (KCT) welcomed the CMA CGM Cendrillon ship on 17 August 2020. Measuring 334 metres long and with a capacity of 8,645 TEUs, the vessel inaugurated the direct Asia-Africa (ASAF) line at the Kribi deep-water port. The Asia-West Africa Service (ASAF), operated by the CMA CGM shipping company, is one of the major services offered by ship owners in Asia-to-Africa container transport. Through the service, and in partnership with Maersk and Nile Dutch, CMA CGM will extend the reach of the container terminal at the port of Kribi, thus strengthening its position as a leading operator in the…

The excellence and palpable impact of TDB’s trade finance work in the region has once again been recognized. The Bank was honored earlier this month by Global Trade Review’s (GTR) Leaders in Trade Awards as ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Kenya’ and ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Ethiopia’ for the year 2020. Nairobi being TDB’s operational hub, the ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Kenya’ award recognizes not only the Bank’s work in Kenya, but also the efforts it has been deploying across its various member states. Similarly, the ‘Best Trade Finance Bank in Ethiopia’ award is a tribute to TDB’s…

With 469 million mobile money users throughout the continent, including more than 50 million new accounts created in 2019, Africa is the world’s most dynamic region in terms of mobile money transactions. In 2019, the sub-Saharan region recorded a total of 23.8 billion mobile transactions, amounting to more than $456 billion, and the Covid-19 health crisis has had a catalytic effect on the expansion of the mobile money market. To mitigate the spread of the virus, governments encouraged people to use mobile payments to reduce physical contacts. Many central banks, such as the Bank of Tanzania, have taken steps to…

Nigeria’s national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has become an EITI supporting company, joining a group of over 65 extractives companies, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), commodity traders, financial institutions and industry partners who commit to observing the EITI’s supporting company expectations. EITI Board Chair, Rt Hon. Helen Clark, welcomed the company’s commitment to the EITI: “NNPC plays a vital role in Nigeria’s economy. Joining the EITI as a supporting company is a welcome step in the NNPC’s journey toward achieving greater transparency and to help ensure that Nigeria’s citizens benefit from their natural resource wealth.” Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria’s…

At a ceremony on Monday to commission the permanent secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU Commission, reiterated the importance of the body to the continent’s economic transformation agenda. “The economic integration of Africa will lay strong foundations for an Africa beyond aid. Africa’s new sense of urgency and aspiration of true self-reliance will be amply demonstrated by today’s ceremony,” Akufo-Addo said. Ghana was selected as the venue for the headquarters by African leaders during a Summit of AU Heads of states in Niamey in July…

Finnfund, a Finnish development finance company and impact investor, has provided a US$ 10 million senior loan to First National Bank Ghana Ltd. One of the key objectives of Finnfund’s investment is to support the Ghanaian financial sector and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and in particular, foster affordable housing in the country. According to estimations, Ghana is facing a shortage of approximately 2 million homes against a population of 30 million. First National Bank Ghana (FNB Ghana) recently acquired GHL Bank, which is one of the market leaders in the Ghanaian mortgage market and the only lender serving…

Mr Admassu TADESSE, Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) President and Chief Executive, and Mr. Ghislain DE VALON, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Kenya Director, signed a USD150 million credit line agreement aimed at financing climate infrastructure projects in Africa. The non-sovereign loan’s objective is to strengthen TDB in its role as a leading regional bank for green finance in the region it serves in Eastern and Southern Africa. The facility will increase the supply of climate finance from TDB, directly contributing to the achievement of the objectives outlined in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of TDB…

As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic affects ACBF’s ability to function at full capacity, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) have reiterated their determination to work with the African Capacity building Foundation (ACBF) to accompany African countries in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath. The commitment to support African countries which are member states and beneficiaries of both banks was communicated during the ACBF’s virtual High-Level Brainstorming Session. At least half of African countries are reportedly members of the IsDB. Senior Regional Coordinator of Technical Cooperation in…

REDAVIA, a global market leader of cost-effective, reliable, and clean solar power for businesses, deployed its first solar farm in Kenya for Menengai Farmers Ltd tea farm in Tigoni. For the first 20 years of its operations, Menengai Farmers Ltd successfully grew tea without any large electrical demands. However, in the mid-80’s, weather patterns in Tigoni changed requiring the installation of an irrigation system. As the tea farm and irrigation system have grown, so have Menengai Farmer Ltd’s energy needs, putting a strain on their operational budget. Menengai Farmers Ltd turned to REDAVIA for a cost-efficient solution. REDAVIA provides solar…

United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), the leading pan-African financial services institution, announced the appointments of Rokia Hacko, Chioma Mang, Chinedu Obeta, Bode Aregbesola, Kingsley Ulinfun and Usman Isiaka as chief executive officers of six of its 20 subsidiaries across Africa, subject to regulatory approvals. The new CEOs will drive the Group’s strategy and activities in Mali, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Tanzania and Sierra Leone respectively. In addition, Ogechi Altraide has become the new Head, Retail Banking; Amadao Konate, Head, Treasury & International Payments for UBA America. These international appointments compliment the prior appointments of Sola Yomi-Ajayi as the CEO of UBA America, and…

Vital Capital, a pioneering impact investment, private equity fund focused on companies in sub-Saharan Africa, has announced a collaboration with the U.S. Government’s Kenya Investment Mechanism (KIM). KIM is a five-year program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to unlock significant financing to businesses in targeted sectors that have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Managed by Palladium, an international impact advisory and management firm, KIM aims to unlock $400 million in investments for key sectors of Kenya’s economy, including agriculture, and for regional trade and investment opportunities. By unlocking finance to agribusinesses and other sectors,…

Fitch Ratings, the global credit rating agency, has affirmed the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘AAA’, with stable outlook. According to the agency, “the ‘AAA’ rating of the AfDB is driven by extraordinary support it receives from its shareholders, which Fitch Ratings assesses at ‘aaa’”. It judged the Bank’s risk management policies as conservative and excellent in line with ‘AAA’ rated regional peers. Fitch Ratings assessed “the Bank’s liquidity profile at ‘aaa’, reflecting an ‘excellent’ liquidity buffer and quality of liquid assets”, while “the bank’s capitalization is judged strong reflecting strong equity-to-assets ratio”. The rating…

Annual Credit Analysis African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Africa’s foremost multilateral trade finance institution, announces that the global credit ratings agency Moody’s, on 14 July affirmed the Bank’s long-term credit rating at Baa1, with a stable outlook. The agency determines its rating for supranationals based on three criteria: capital adequacy, liquidity, and funding and strength of member support. Moody’s notes that Afreximbank’s credit profile is “supported by its collateralized trade finance business model, with a short average asset maturity and a relatively well-diversified loan portfolio that allows it to respond flexibly to the coronavirus crisis.” The report adds that “the stable…

WIC Gestion, manager of the WIC Capital Fund, is pleased to announce that it has completed an investment in E-cover SAS, an innovative tire recycling startup based in Dakar, Senegal. WIC Capital invested XOF 216 million alongside a group of individual equity and quasi-equity investors. E-cover specializes in tire recycling, which it transforms into two main products: SBR, mainly used for the installation and maintenance of synthetic turfgrass Granulates, an intermediate product, used as a fuel by cement plants to replace fossil fuels, to comply with international standards and reduce costs. WIC Capital’s investment will enable Ecover to finance the…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Africa’s foremost multilateral trade finance institution, has disbursed a total of $3.55bn to the Egyptian Banking sector under its Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) since the outbreak of the pandemic in March this year. In its bid to strengthen long-term economic prosperity in the region the Bank has also provided $300m to the National Bank of Egypt to support activities aimed at expanding intra-African trade. The 3.55bn support has been provided to the Central Bank of Egypt and other Egyptian Banks through Afreximbank’s Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA). PATIMFA is designed to assist…

The leading pan-African banking group, Ecobank, is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Alain Nkontchou, a Cameroonian and Independent Non-Executive Director since 2015, as Board Chairman of its holding company, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), with effect from 30 June 2020. In accordance with ETI’s Articles of Association, Mr Emmanuel Ikazoboh, a Nigerian, ended his six year tenure as Chairman on 30 June 2020 having reached the retirement age of 70. Alain Nkontchou said: “I am honoured to be appointed as Chairman of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated. Having served on its Board since 2015, I have seen Ecobank’s resilience and its…

The African Risk Capacity Insurance Limited (ARC Ltd) has appointed Dr Jennifer Blanke to its Board of Directors. Dr Blanke was, until recently, the Vice-President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development of the African Development Bank Group, based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, where she was responsible for overseeing the strategy, lending and programming for a significant share of the Bank’s activities. Welcoming Dr Blanke to the ARC Ltd Board, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, the interim Chairperson of ARC Limited Board, said, “Since inception, we have always attracted world class professionals to our Board in our progression to become the development insurance…

Bolloré Logistics Madagascar announces the opening of a new office in the Ivato International Airport, Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. With a soft opening in February  2020, the new  office is now home to 49 employees. The facility includes 300m² of offices and 108m² of customs warehouses and will provide logistics solutions with a tailor-made and secure service for transport from remote regions of Madagascar to Ivato International Airport, the main airport for air traffic cargo. This perfectly suits the increased volumes in the vanilla market, with new flows created with a door-to-door offer to the USA for vanilla products.…

Moody’s Investors Service says that non-investment grade emerging and frontier market sovereigns face a sharp economic downturn following the coronavirus outbreak, with many not recovering to pre-crisis levels until 2022 or beyond. Reflecting these challenges, Moody’s has so far this year taken rating action on 50 non-investment grade sovereigns, 29 of which have been principally motivated by the coronavirus outbreak. Moody’s conclusions are summarized in the second edition of a bi-annual chartbook that highlights key rating trends for non-investment grade sovereigns across the globe. “Globally, debt-to-GDP ratios will jump, often from already elevated levels, and we expect they will continue…

CDC Group and Finnfund today announce a US$70 million commitment to AfricInvest Fund IV, a generalist pan-African fund aiming to foster the growth of African enterprises across the continent. CDC, the UK’s impact investor and development finance institution, committed US$50 million and Finnfund, the Finnish development financier, committed US$ 20 million. With offices in cities such as Abidjan, Cairo, Casablanca, Lagos, Nairobi and Tunis, AfricInvest has one of the most comprehensive track records in African private equity, having made over 160 investments in 25 African countries through several funds. Fund IV will invest in mid-cap and growth-oriented companies in sectors including financial…

The African Development Bank (AfDB), the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), and the OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) have, once again, stepped-up their support and commitment to the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and its mandate, via record risk sharing facilities as well as new funding, totalling over half a billion USD. These commitments are part of an exciting string of new and expanded partnerships that TDB has been working on – various to be announced in the coming weeks – to continue deploying trade and project finance into the…

Brokerslink has announced a further expansion of its footprint in Africa with Tunisian brokerage Karé Kamoun becoming the latest affiliate to join the global broking business. The Tunis-based insurance and reinsurance broker, specialises in core lines of business in Tunisia including industrial and commercial cargo, construction, as well as health and life insurance. The firm’s reinsurance expertise in areas including the placing of industrial risks and proportional and non-proportional treaties with reinsurers, will also be of importance to Brokerslink’s partners and affiliates both in Africa and beyond. Zied Kamoun, General Manager of Karé Kamoun, commented: “Our mission is to design…

“The success of the HTA bond issue demonstrates the value of the EAIF/PIDG business model in African economic development ,” says EAIF fund managers The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), which is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), acted as an anchor investor in a bond issued in London on 8th June 2020 by HTA Group Ltd (HT), a whole owned subsidiary  of Helios Towers plc. EAIF has invested US$30 million in the UK listed bond, which has a 5.5 year term and a coupon of 7%. Helios Towers operates over 7,000 telecommunications towers, mainly in Tanzania, the Democratic…

COFINA Gabon is pleased to announce that it has obtained a medium- term financing of 4 billion FCFA (€ 6 million) from the Development Bank of Central African States (BDEAC) based in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. COFINA Gabon, a subsidiary of the COFINA Group, the pan-African leader in mesofinance, has been operating in Gabon since 2016. COFINA Gabon will use this funding exclusively for the benefit of Gabonese SMEs. Indeed, the objective is to support these SMEs in growing their activities. This fundraising takes place against a backdrop of a lack of funding for SMEs on the continent and their…

By Darwis Khudori (Indonesian Architect and Historian, Director of Master’s Degree in Exchanges with Asia, University of Le Havre, France) The rising waves of Asia have reached the coast and the heartland of Africa. All the economic powers of Asia have developed economic relations and organised periodical summits of heads of states with Africa: Japan-Africa (TICAD, since 1993), China-Africa (FOCAC since 2000, summits since 2006), Korea-Africa (since 2006), India-Africa (since 2008), Turkey-Africa (since 2008), Iran-Africa (since 2010), Indonesia-Africa (since 2018). In 2009, China alone has surpassed the USA in its trade with Africa. In term of intercontinental trade, Asia grows…

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the German government assumes premium payments of around EUR 19 million for the drought insurance offered by the African Risk Capacity (ARC). This will reliably protect up to 20 million poor and vulnerable people in Africa against drought in the coming agricultural season and mitigate the risk of a compound crisis. Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Co-Chair of the InsuResilience Global Partnership emphasized in a video message that Germany will provide its partners in Africa with fast and uncomplicated assistance, for they…

Africa Finance Corporation, the leading infrastructure solutions provider in Africa, today announces the successful issuance of a US$700 Million Reg S Eurobond, maturing 16 June 2025 (“the US$700 million Eurobond” or “the bond issuance”). The US$700 million Eurobond is AFC’s first bond issuance in 2020 and carries a coupon of 3.125%. The bond received strong global interest across Europe, Asia and the Middle East despite the challenging global economic backdrop, leading it to being c.3 times over-subscribed. The order book, which reached over US$2.1 billion, comprised of high-quality fixed income investors that are seeking exposure to a high-quality investment grade…

Dangote to boost Economic Diversification with Maiden Clinker Shipment Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) commended Dangote Cement for leading the way for Nigeria to become one of the biggest cement and clinker exporter in the world LAGOS, Nigeria, June 15, 2020/ — To reaffirm its status as the biggest cement producer in Africa, Dangote Cement (www.DangoteCement.com) has set the pace with the exportation of 27,800 metric tonnes of clinker to a neighbouring African country.   With this historic maiden voyage from its Export Terminal located in Apapa Port, Lagos weekend, Dangote has gradually made Nigeria, which until recently was one…