Author: Ndeye Magatte Kebe

To help 36,000 rural businesses and create 50,000 new jobs, the Ghana Ministry of Trade and Industry has applied for a loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The $ 40 million loan will be used to finance the Rural Enterprise Program (REP), which aims to put 45,000 businesses and create jobs for the country within three years to support Economic Growth. Thus, rural businesses will benefit from access to credit facilities. In addition, the ministry targeted rural entrepreneurs deemed poor to help them with additional funds to make them productive assets for the nation. It should be…

After signing a memorandum of understanding, on September 29, 2017, with the consortium in charge of Cameroon-Brazil submarine fiber optic cable, formed by China Unicom and the incumbent Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel), for to become a member, Equatorial Guinea has just released an envelope of 18 billion CFA francs to connect to fiber optics from Cameroon. An agreement has been signed for this purpose between the company responsible for the management of telecommunications infrastructure in Equatorial Guinea (GITGE) and CAMTEL. Under the terms of the agreement, “GITGE will be able to connect to the Kribi Cable Landing”, the South Atlantic Inter…

BOA Niger, a Nigerian subsidiary of the Moroccan banking group Bank of Africa, received a long-term A- rating with a stable outlook, A2 on the short-term with a stable outlook from financial rating agency Bloomfield Investment Corporation. According to the agency, this note on the long term is justified by “a high credit quality. The protective factors are good. However, risk factors are more variable and more important in times of economic pressure. In the short term, the note demonstrates the certainty of timely repayment is good. The liquidity factors and the essential elements of the companies are healthy. While…

It is an envelope of one million euros that the French Development Agency (AFD) will unblock to subsidize the Rural Credit of Guinea (CRG). Indeed, the institution has signed this Monday, July 30, a financing agreement that aims to consolidate the ongoing transformations of the leader of microfinance in Guinea. Mainly in the form of technical assistance, this support is sequenced in two phases: it is, in a first phase, a subsidy of one million euros which will support the Rural Credit of Guinea in the transformation of its system information and management, its governance and competitiveness and will accompany…

DHL Global Forwarding, the leading international provider of air, sea and road freight services, and Ethiopian Airlines have joined forces to create the largest freight company in Africa. It will be “DHL-Ethiopian Airlines Logistics Services Ltd.” which intends to be the leading company in freight logistics on the continent. Under the terms of the agreement signed on Thursday (July 26th), the airline will secure a majority stake in this joint venture, provide regulatory and operational support as DHL establish air, sea and road freight links between major shopping centers in Ethiopia. and the rest of the world. The company will…

The Central Bank of West African States (Bceao) will launch this week the launch of the support mechanism for the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), known as the SME scheme. . To this end, it plans a series of launching ceremony from July 30 to August 3 next in the different states of the union. According to a public opinion issued by the institution, “the implementation of this device follows the mandate given to Bceao by the conference of Heads of State and Government of Uemoa, as part of the…

Isabel Dos Santos has begun a new battle with João Lourenço, the successor of his father at the head of Angola. Since the alternation, business goes bad for the daughter of Eduardo dos Santos. After losing the management of oil and diamond successively in November and December 2017 following his dismissal of the oil company Sonagol and the announcement of Sodiam, the Angolan public diamond marketing company, its withdrawal from the capital of Victoria Holding Limited where we find Sindika Dokolo, the husband of Isabel Dos Santos, a new battle has just triggered between the Angolan president and the businesswoman.…

Kenya Airways signed service agreements with Boeing for the American Multinational Corporation, becoming the first carrier in Africa to use this service. These agreements will enable the Kenyan company to improve the quality of its services and turnaround time. Consumable services will provide parts and services to the carrier’s Boeing fleet of fourteen 737 aircraft and eight 787 Dreamliners, which will service a new non-stop route between Nairobi and New York from October 2018. In a statement issued for the purpose, Kenya Airways Director of Operations Jan de Vegt said the program will provide support to the fleet while increasing…

Eskom, a South African energy company, posted a loss of 2.3 billion rand, or 171 million dollars for fiscal year 2017/2018. “The poor results have been exacerbated by allegations of corruption, mismanagement, mal-governance and loss of investor confidence,” said Phakamani Hadebe, chief executive officer of the company, which disclosed the news on July 23, 2018, at a news conference. briefing. Indeed, Eskom was involved in corruption scandals under former president Jacob Zuma, and narrowly avoided a liquidity crisis earlier this year, after the banks stopped lending. The company says it is “in talks with the government to examine the cash-strapped…

RCA: suspension of the activities of a Chinese company for non respect of mining texts This decision comes after a visit of the Minister of Mines, Léopold Mboli Fatrane, on July 21, 2018 in the locality of Yaloké located 225 km from Bangui. He noted that “the Chinese company exploits gold and diamonds, whereas it is only holding a license to search for these resources”. According to the same source, “the company does not comply with the mining regulations and for the transition from a research permit to the exploitation one, it should have required the prior authorization of the…

He is the fourth person to have lost his life on the project of the Renaissance dam. Simegnew Bekele, the project director, was found dead in his car on Thursday (July 26th) in Addis Ababa. With a capacity of 6,000 megawatts, the equivalent of six nuclear reactors, this project will be, at its inauguration, the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa. The discussions around his work had generated a lot of tension between Ethiopia and Sudan, and with Egypt, which, for its part, fears that this installation of a cost of 4 billion dollars built on the Blue Nile, does not…

Morocco now has a platform for comparing and evaluating financial institutions. This is Bankeo, launched by Connection Investement, a young Startup created by computer engineer Nassim Housni Alaoui. This platform provides a global and exhaustive perspective of the different services and bank rates. Its user “gets a” precise and personalized “comparison result between traditional, participative and online banks,” said a statement from the initiators of the application. “The emergence of participative banks and online banks also increases the need for consumers to compare and position themselves in relation to these new offers,” the document explains. And to emphasize that “questionnaires…

Ghana has entered into negotiations with China to finance its road infrastructure. President Nana Akufo-Addo revealed it Tuesday, July 24 on the sidelines of a tour inside the country. This is a $ 2 billion credit line he hopes to contract with the Middle Kingdom next September, during the working visit he will make on the sidelines of the Cooperation Forum. China and Africa. The negotiations for this loan, which will serve to fill the infrastructure deficit, “are at an advanced stage with the Chinese authorities”. The envelope will be used for the construction of the road network to accelerate…

The General Directorate of Taxes and Domains (DGID) officially launches this Thursday, July 26, its new online platform called “My personal space”. Open to all taxpayers with an annual turnover of less than 100 million CFA francs, the new service was unveiled Wednesday on the sidelines of a meeting with the press. It comes on top of the “Etax” platform for reporting and paying taxes online, another for taxpayers whose annual turnover exceeds the 100 million mark. According to Ndèye Aissatou Ndao, director of computer services, this web platform of permanent exchange between the taxpayer and the services of the…

Massawa Port of Eritrea will again be operational to secure Ethiopia’s imports and exports after 20 years of hostilities between the two countries. According to Port Chief Executive Layne Asfahaley, “the port had undergone major renovations to enable it to provide services to Eritrea, with which diplomatic relations have been restored for a month” . And to add that he is equipped with the necessary facilities and skilled labor and is ready to resume shortly, his service for imports and exports from Ethiopia. As a reminder, this port was founded in the nineteenth century by the Italian and British colonial…

The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly known as the BRICS Development Bank, approved a $ 300 million loan to South Africa. The amount is intended to finance projects aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions and improving energy efficiency. Financing that comes on time because Nelson Mandela’s country is trying to diversify its energy mix in order to reduce its dependence on coal-fired power plants. The loan will be provided through the Southern African Development Bank, according to an announcement from the institution. Since 2011, the BRICS, which account for almost half of the world’s population and more than 20% of…

SBM, a subsidiary of State Bank of Mauritius in Madagascar, launched last week the SBP UnionPay Travel Mate Asia prepaid card, in collaboration with UnionPay International (UPI). Aimed at customers including individuals and corporates, the card will facilitate transactions for merchants, businesses, students and tourists Malagasy, and allow to benefit from fixed exchange rates with prepaid cards, as well as exceptional discounts reserved for its users. According to Mr. Kee Chong Li Kwong Wing, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SBM Holdings Ltd, “the introduction of UPI will contribute to the economic and social development of the territories”. “The…

This is an amount of $ 75 million of loans that the African Guarantee Fund intends to provide as a guarantee to support small and medium-sized Togolese businesses. In this sense, a headquarters agreement was initialed Thursday, July 19 between the Togolese authorities and the financial institution. Indeed, the former Gari Fund will help the private sector raise not less than $ 150 million, or more than 82 billion FCFA from banks. Thus, over the next 5 years, the institution plans to grant a little more than 75 million dollars, about 41.25 billion CFA francs, guarantees to banks and financial…

The French bank Société Gnérale announced on Monday, the appointment of new heads within its board of directors. They are Véronique Loctin and Ilya Polyakov, who, since 1 July 2018, have respectively held the positions of head of corporate clients and general manager of Rosbank. These new appointments have been effective since the beginning of the month, according to a statement released on July 23. Previously Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Rosbank in charge of financing and investment banking activities in Russia, Ilya Polyakov has been managing the Russian subsidiary of Societe Generale since April 2018. New changes taking place…

The tandem Air Madagascar and Air Austral has concluded a strategic alliance with Kenya Airways, recorded in a memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday, July 18 in Antananarivo by the three companies. The aim of this union is to strengthen the collaboration between the three companies that commit themselves to strengthening and developing the services from the African continent to the Indian Ocean, thus offering their passengers an expanded choice of services. In addition, this new privileged partnership between Air Madagascar, Air Austral and Kenya Airways will have to extend its tentacles into the field of aircraft maintenance and leasing. It…

Nigeria’s former finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was named Thursday to the board of directors of Twitter Inc., the social media giant. A graduate in economics from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Nigerian joins the board of the company at the same time as the American Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank (2007-2012) . According to Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter, the two new directors “are distinguished leaders with unparalleled global perspective and political expertise. We are confident that they will be incredible assets for Twitter as we continue to focus…

Senegal will soon have its first tourism code. The validation work of the development project having started this Thursday, July 19 in Saly in the department of Mbour (70 km south of Dakar). These meetings are chaired by Minister Mame Mbaye Niang, in the presence of professionals in the sector. The code, whose development process was launched in January 2018, will have to regulate the conditions for the exercise of tourism activities and professions. In addition, it will be a “response to the request made since 2004 by tourism professionals,” said Mame Mbaye Niang. In addition, the Minister has made…

The Development Bank of Mali (BDM-SA) and Orange Finances Mobiles launched Thursday, July 19, a joint offer called “mCauris”. Said offer allows customers to carry out a transfer between the Orange money account and BDM. “MCauris” being a doubly secure service according to its promoters, BDM-SA’s customers can perform transfer, payment and supply transactions but also transfer money from their OMY account to a bank account. In addition, the service makes it possible to consult the balance and to receive it in real time by SMS and especially to consult the last transactions of its account without forgetting the payments…

On the sidelines of the 20th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa COMESA currently being held in Lusaka (Zambia), the Zambian Chileshe Kapwepwe has been appointed Secretary General of the organization. The former boss of the tax administration of her country thus becomes the first woman to occupy this position. She succeeds, to this post, to his compatriot Sindiso Ngwenya. President of the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and Executive Director of a non-governmental organization called Imiti Ikula Empanga, Ms. Kapwepwe has also served as Alternate Executive Director of the International…

On the sidelines of the Farnborough Air Show held on 18 July 2018 in London, Uganda Airlines CEO Ephraim Bagenda and Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Eric Schulz initialed the Memorandum of Understanding for Airbus. two Airbus A330-800neo. The acquisition will enable Uganda Airlines, Uganda’s new national carrier, to build its long-haul international network with aircraft offering advanced technologies and more efficient operations. The plane will be configured in three classes divided into 20 business seats, 28 in Premium Economy and 213 in Economy class. With this agreement, Uganda Airlines is demonstrating its ambition for economic growth supported by a robust…

Sabodala Gold Operations, the Canadian mining company based in Eastern Senegal, has achieved gold production of 233,067 ounces for a turnover of 170 billion CFA francs in 2017, according to its general manager, Abdoul Aziz Sy. In a press conference Wednesday, July 18 to present the seventh report of Corporate Social Responsibility of SGO in fiscal year 2017, Abdoul Aziz Sy further informed that the production of the company has increased by 13 % more than the previous year. According to the top management, the contributions of the mine in Senegal amount, in 2017, to nearly 115 billion CFA francs,…

The Moroccan Association of Air Line Pilots (AMPL) of Royal Air Maroc has started a new strike since Wednesday, July 18th. Indeed, the management of the national airline and the pilots have not found a common ground to meet AMPL’s demands which include wages and the improvement of working conditions. For example, in an open letter, RAM’s chief executive officer warns of the new strike, which he says is “likely to darken his economic future”. “We are doomed to rewrite the same story, the same for 20 years,” denounces Abdelhamid Addou, the CEO in the document. The top mangement sees…

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) plans to inject an additional $ 3 billion into its offshore oil and gas operations in Nigeria, according to an announcement last week by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after a meeting between the heads of the two entities. According to the CEO of Chinese oil company Yuan Guangyu, “this investment is a strategic option”. For his part, Ndu Ughamadu, General Manager of the Group and the Public Affairs Division of NNPC, the Chinese group had already invested more than $ 14 billion in its Nigerian operations. As a reminder, CNOOC was…

The Congolese authorities have chosen the Spanish telecommunications company, Applus, to support the public company Congo Telecom for the implementation of 5G in its network. This partnership, which aims to make Congo Telecom more competitive, was announced Monday (July 16th) by the minister in charge of the digital economy, Léon Juste Bombé, after an interview with the Spanish company. “Investments in the telecommunications sector in Congo are astronomical and the state needs credible companies to help it implement the digital economy ecosystem,” he said, recalling that aligns with the government’s national strategy for developing the digital economy, as part of…

The prize for the “Best Bank of Côte d’Ivoire” was awarded to SGBCI, the Societe Generale group’s subsidiary by the international magazine Euromoney. For the second consecutive year, SGCI receives this distinction, which results firstly from its financial performance, notably the 12% increase in net profit and the 25% increase in outstanding loans, and secondly, the launch of “YUP”, the Group’s mobile money offer, a solution to the problem of financial inclusion. The fifth award received this year by the bank, the trophy reinforces SGBCI’s historic leadership position and demonstrates that the many initiatives taken to improve customer satisfaction are…