Author: Amadjiguéne Ndoye

Microsoft has announced potential funding of $500 million in partnership with venture capitalists to support African startups. The instrument should make it possible to support 10,000 startups in Africa over the next five years. The initiative is planned to launch alongside the Microsoft Startups Founders Hub on the continent, along with new partnerships with accelerators and incubators to provide startups with access to markets, technical skills and funding. Priority will be given to startups with a global reach and regional bases or with an interest in one or more regions of Africa. These initiatives will be carried out through the…

Dangote Fertilizer Limited, an entity of the Dangote Group, on Wednesday (March 2) signed a gas delivery agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and its Joint Venture (JV) partners including Shell, Total and Eni. The agreement is for the delivery of 70 million standard cubic feet (Scuf) of gas per day. It was signed in Abuja on the sidelines of the Fifth Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2022), with the theme “Revitalizing Industry: Future Fuels and Energy Transition”. For Dangote Group Chairman, Aliko Dangote (pictured), the additional gas will bring more foreign currency into the country given…

Zenith Bank plc posted double-digit growth of 10% in gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2021 to N765.6 billion ($1.8 million) from N696.5 billion. naira ($1.6 million) the previous year. Profit after tax was 244.56 billion naira ($587 million). The bank’s audited financial results attribute the growth, deemed “impressive”, to the 23% year-on-year growth rate noted in non-interest income from 251.7 billion naira ($604 million). at 309 billion naira ($742 ​​million). Added to this is a 2% annual growth in interest income from 420.8 billion naira ($1 billion) in 2021 to 427.6 billion naira ($1.02 billion) previously. The…

AgDevCo has raised USD 90 million from the UK Development Finance Institution (CDC), Norwegian fund Nordfund and the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The investment should enable AgDevCo, which specializes in investing in African agricultural start-ups, to consolidate investments in agribusiness. The fund is made up of a contribution of $50 million from CDC Group, $20 million from the Norwegian investment fund Nordfund and $20 million from the DFC. “We are delighted that our vision is shared by our new funders, who recognize the important contribution that AgDevCo’s investments can make to productivity, sustainability and inclusiveness in Africa,” said Keith…

Cameroonian journalist Michel Lobé Ewané has been appointed to the board of directors of Joseph Sassoon Group, an international financial services group based in New York. He will be in charge of promoting the company in Africa, the search for new investments and will serve as a relay between the group and the press. Former editor-in-chief of Forbes Afrique, which he joined in 2012, Michel Lobé Ewané has a career in international media, including Radio France International (RFI), TV5 Monde and BBC World in 1999. In 2021, the journalist was appointed adviser Royal Office of Sheikh Al Qassimi of Dubai…

EFG Hermes, the largest investment bank in Egypt, announced on Monday February 21 that it had received the approval of its board of directors to entrust Goldman Sachs with the takeover offer presented by First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) . On February 9, the main Emirati bank presented, in fact, a non-binding offer to acquire a majority stake in EFG Hermes concerning at least 51% of the shares of the bank for 19 Egyptian pounds ($1.21) by stock, valuing Egypt’s leading investment bank at nearly $1.2 billion. The market value of the transaction is expected to exceed $970 million. It…

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announced on February 17, 2022 that it had signed a loan agreement for 250 million euros with the German Development Bank KfW. The manna is particularly intended to finance the production, acquisition and distribution of anti-Covid-19 vaccines and medical supplies in Africa. “This loan demonstrates the German government’s support for Afreximbank’s Covid-19 interventions across Africa. It also affirms the commitment of the German government to promote the manufacture of vaccines and other essential pharmaceuticals in Africa. Afreximbank has demonstrated its commitment and ability to support these activities across Africa, which ensures that the loan will…

Nigeria’s Bank of Industry (BOI) has issued a €700 million Eurobond to fund business growth in Nigeria. The five-year euro-denominated instrument is guaranteed by the federal government and issued at a yield of 7.5%. The deal was backed by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), global coordinator and active bookrunner on the issue. The bond was initially set at $500 million. According to the RMB, BOI is the first African national development finance institution to issue a public Eurobond. The issue should be used to unlock financing for the Nigerian industrial sector. “This agreement represents the institution’s first Eurobond (BOI), the provision…

The SANAD Fund for MSMEs (SANAD) has granted a USD 1 million loan to Moroccan Attadamoune Micro-Finance in order to expand access to finance for Moroccan micro and small enterprises (MSMEs), particularly in rural areas. This funding will provide local currency financing to Attadamoune Micro-Finance through its network of 48 branches across Morocco, according to a press release issued on Tuesday (February 8th). Created in 1994, the Moroccan microcredit specialist intends, through this SANAD facility, to revive microfinance in the country to extend financial inclusion to underserved groups. “Local currency loans are a key element of responsible finance, as they…

Credit Suisse Group AG has decided to transfer to Barclays PLC its wealthy clients in nine African markets where the bank has decided to withdraw since last November. The assets under management affected by the private banking client referral agreement signed by the two banks total approximately $2.5 billion. “Credit Suisse has signed a private banking client referral agreement with Barclays as part of the plan to exit nine non-core wealth management markets, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa “, announced Credit Suisse in a press release published this Friday, February 4, confirming information from the Bloomberg agency. The…

Ghana is to receive a USD 27.39 million grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the development of mini-grids and solar PV net meters in the country. The project has already obtained co-financing from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy programme, a financing window of the Climate Investment Funds, and the Swiss State Secretariat for the Economy, for an amount of $28.49 million and $13.30 million, respectively. Called “Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering”, the project will have a production capacity of 67.5 MW and will produce approximately 111,300 MWh of electricity per year. It includes the development…

Her appointment officially announced on January 28, 2022, the new CEO of the Orange group, Christel Heydemann, becomes the first woman to hold this position. She will take office on April 4, replacing Stéphane Richard, sentenced last November for complicity in the misuse of public funds in the Tapie-Crédit Lyonnais affair. Member of the board of directors of Orange since 2017, Christel Heydemann Heydemann held the position of boss of Schneider Electric Europe before joining the French telecommunications giant. After starting her career at the Boston Consulting Group, an international strategy consulting firm, she spent more than ten years at…

African venture capital firm TLcom Capital has raised $70 million for the first closing of its $150 million Africa-focused technology fund. The new fund should allow TLcom to expand its activities to fast-growing, technology-focused African startups, and strengthen its presence in East and West Africa. The deal saw Allianz participate through AfricaGrow, its joint venture with DEG Impact (German Investment Corporation), as well as a host of new and returning investors, including Bertelsmann, King Philanthropies, the TLcom team and FBNQuest. private sector, and major development finance institutions such as UK CDC Group, IFC, Proparco and Swedfund. The fund’s second closing…

GuarantCo, a member of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), granted a portfolio guarantee of approximately 14.55 billion FCFA, or 25 million USD to Oragbank Togo. The guarantee mainly concerns telecommunications and road projects in Togo. The largest bank in the country, Orabank will also benefit from capital relief allowing it to develop its infrastructure portfolio while remaining within the limits of a single debtor. The transaction will result in the provision of improved infrastructure services to more than 500,000 people and support hundreds of jobs through Orabank’s continued lending to infrastructure projects. In addition, GuarantCo will contribute to the…

African insurers who are members of the Federation of African National Insurance Companies (FANAF) will hold their ordinary general meeting for the year 2022 from February 24. A press release from the organization’s executive office, published on January 21, indicates that this meeting will be held in hybrid mode in two phases and primarily concerns the statutory assembly scheduled for February 24. It will relate to the adoption of the accounts closed on December 31, 2021 and the 2022 budget and concerns members up to date with their contributions. The second phase of the general assembly relating to the scientific…

Egypt is expected to achieve economic growth of 5.7% for the financial year 2022-2023, as well as a primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP. This growth will be, according to the projections of the Egyptian Ministry of Finance, at 6% for the financial year 2024/25. Egypt is also seeking to reduce its overall budget deficit to 6.1% in the next fiscal year, which begins in July. Despite the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, Egyptian exports increased by 27% in 2021 and recorded 31 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.9 billion), the country’s largest export volume in its economic history. according to a…

GuarantCo, a member of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), and the Kenyan bank SBM Bank have granted financing of 1.6 billion Kenyan shillings (nearly 15 million USD) to Bboxx Kenya to invest in affordable solar home systems for 470,000 Kenyans. The transaction represents the largest single loan raised by Bboxx Kenya to date. In a statement dated Tuesday, January 25, GuarantCo said it participated in the transaction with a partial credit guarantee of KES 1.2 billion (USD 11.25 million) of 75% on the loan facility. Bboxx Kenya manufactures, distributes and finances decentralized solar systems in developing countries. The funds…

American venture capital firm Ajim Capital has launched a $ 10 million fund to invest in African tech startups allowing entrepreneurs to focus on growing their businesses. The fund will provide checks of $ 25,000 to $ 150,000 to technology companies across the continent. “We invest primarily in profiles with entrepreneurial or directly relevant industry experience, initial indications of product-market fit (eg revenues or users), a highly scalable software solution and a potential return of 10 times the CoC for investors ”, explains Eunice Ajim (photo), founding partner of Ajim Capital. On the continent, venture capital funding is currently concentrated…

Italian company Eni has won five new exploration permits obtained from the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, after participating in a global tender for oil exploration in 2021. The licenses, including four as operator, are at sea and on Egyptian soil. In detail, the licenses are located in the Eastern Mediterranean (block “EGY-MED-E5” in partnership with BP 50% -50% and block “EGY-MED-E6” IEOC 100%), in the Gulf of Suez (block “EGY-GOS-13” IEOC 100%) and in the western desert (blocks “Egy-WD-7” in partnership with APEX 50% -50% and “EGY-WD-9” IEOC 100%) with a total area of approximately 8,410 km².…

Microsoft has announced the appointment of Ghanaian Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh, an international expert in corporate law, as the new head of strategic partnerships for Africa in its new Africa transformation office (ATO). The office will focus on facilitating growth and investment in four key development areas: digital infrastructure, skills development, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups. After having been responsible for IBM’s operations in more than 40 African countries, including Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, Ghana and Tunisia, the Ghanaian will now work on strategic partnerships with governments, financial institutions, telecommunications operators, multinationals and international organizations across the African continent.…

“My presence in Mauritania shows that things have changed. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here ” Returned from exile since March 11, 2020, Mauritanian businessman Mohamed Ould Bouamatou loudly proclaims his ambition to contribute to the emergence of a prosperous Mauritania. Benefiting from the abandonment by the new regime of President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of the international arrest warrant issued against him three years ago, the banker marries the present with hope with a new decade of construction and achievement. Talk to him about the 2050 horizon for a developed Africa, Mr. Bouamatou does not believe it. For the boss of…

The Nigerian government intends to increase its outstanding public debt to 50.22 billion naira ($ 122 million) by 2023, with domestic debt of 28.75 billion naira ($ 69.9 million) and debt of 21.47 billion naira ($ 52.2 million). The projections contained in the National Development Plan 2021-2025, indicate that the state plans to accumulate approximately 12 billion naira of debt between 2021 and 2023, as well as a reduction of the total public debt by 2025. Nigeria’s public debt was estimated at 38 billion naira at the end of the third quarter of 2021, with the total outstanding debt increasing…

The State of Senegal and the Eiffage Company signed on Wednesday, December 22 an agreement relating to the Concession of the Autoroute de l’Avenir (SECAA sn) and which marks the entry of the State into the capital of the company responsible for 25% exploitation. The agreement signed by the Minister of Finance and Budget, Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo, and Xavier Idier, the managing director of the Eiffage company of the Autoroute du Futur concession (Secca Sn) also concerns the reassessment of the license fee. Annual state property representing 2% of the annual turnover of SECAA, with a minimum of 800 million…

Proparco and Standard Bank have signed two new guarantees as part of the Choose Africa initiative aimed at accelerating the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship in Africa. The grant totaling 28.5 million euros was supported by the European Union (EU) and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP). The facility includes a first guarantee in the amount of 19.5 million euros intended to allow the bank to continue its lending activities to SMEs in a post-Covid environment. The second portfolio guarantee of € 9 million is to benefit sectors such as FinTech, agriculture,…

African Insurance Organization (AIO) President Tope Smart (pictured) has announced his organization’s intention to integrate the insurance sector into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It was during the 25th African Reinsurance Forum held from November 27 to December 1, 2021 in Kigali (Rwanda). “After careful consideration, the IOA secretariat has seen fit to include insurance in this agreement. We are not only looking at how the insurance sector could best fit into the Zlecaf, but also provide a suitable place for the cream of the African insurance industry to think about the way forward, ”said Tope Smart. According…

The Moroccan group Addoha achieved a turnover of 420 million dirhams (45.4 million dollars) in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 37% compared to the same period in 2020 when the group posted 305 million dirhams ($ 32.9 million). Over the first 9 months of the current year ended September 30, this figure is raised to one billion dirhams (108 million dollars) against 743 million dirhams (80.3 million dollars) in 2020, thus achieving a 47% increase. The group indicates in its financial communication published on Tuesday, November 30 that the period under review was marked by a stability…

The European Investment Bank plans to grant a new long-term facility of 30 million euros to the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) for Rwandan companies, through its rapid response mechanism to the Covid-19 crisis in East Africa, and by the BRD’s own funds. The EIB financing was concluded on 23 November 2021 in Kigali as part of a financing agreement signed between Uzziel Ndagijimana, Rwandan Minister of Finance, Thomas Ostros, EIB Vice-President, and Kampeta Sayinzoga, Managing Director of BRD. “We are honored to receive this investment from the European Investment Bank to facilitate the development of the private sector, especially…

Greek gas importer Depa could soon source LNG from Egypt. Energy ministers of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on November 25 in Cairo, aimed at expanding bilateral cooperation between Greece and Egypt. In a statement issued on Monday (November 29th), the Greek state-owned gas group said that “the strategic cooperation between Greece and Egypt creates opportunities for specialized agreements between Depa Trading and Egas, the Egyptian state gas company”. Such an agreement contributes “to Greece’s ambition to become an energy center for the south-eastern Mediterranean”. Greece has an operating LNG import terminal at Revithoussa, which began operations…

The Senegalese National Groundnut Company (Sonacos) has secured 40 million euros in funding from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) as part of the post-Covid revival of the Senegalese agricultural sector. The facility, dedicated to financing part of the 2021-2022 peanut campaign, will cover Sonacos’s financing needs to ensure the acquisition of 150,000 tonnes of peanuts from the current harvest from farmers. It brings the total ITFC-approved funding to Senegal to more than $ 1.1 billion in 19 operations since ITFC’s inception in 2008. A vital sector of the Senegalese economy, agriculture contributes around 16% of the country’s GDP…

Morocco and Israel on Wednesday (November 24th) signed a memorandum of understanding on security allowing the two countries to benefit from increased cooperation in the fields of intelligence, industrial cooperation and military training. The deal has been called a “pioneer.” The agreement was signed by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz during his visit to Morocco and his Moroccan counterpart Abdellatif Loudiyi. Gantz arrived in Morocco on Tuesday evening for a two-day official visit According to a statement from the Israeli Defense Ministry, “the agreement provides a solid framework which formalizes the defense relations between the two countries and lays the…