Author: Rédaction Financial Afrik

Air Senegal will connect Washington via New York at the rate of two frequencies per week from September 2. As of this date, Air Senegal will be the only African company to operate regular direct flights between the United States and Senegal. This connection will be made by Airbus A330 neo, an ultra modern aircraft, equipped with the latest generation amenities. Attractive prices, easy and fast connections via Dakar: The fares are already available for sale with attractive prices for all the destinations served by Air Senegal which connect in both directions via Dakar. Flight schedules will also facilitate connections…

(Premium article offered) In Guinea, a rather curious provision of an order signed by the Minister of the Budget, Ismaël Djoubaté, worries investors. Indeed, decree A / 2021/816 / MB / CAB / SGG of April 27, 2021 applying the provisions of article 16 of the 2021 Finance Law cancels all tax and customs exemptions granted by agreements not ratified by the National Assembly as well as the Exemption Decrees. This in a context of fundraising after the presidential elections of October 2020 and the disbursements made to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The decree and its retroactive effect are…

Enrich in Africa (EIA) is launching a 3-month call for projects “Bees soft-landing program powered by EIA”, which intends to select 10 African entrepreneurs, start-ups or SMEs. Bees soft-landing program is initiated and funded by the European Commission through a consortium of twelve African and European organizations (streinbeis 2i, Bpi France, Impact hub, Methys Group, etc.). The objective of this project is to support African entrepreneurs in the development of their business in Europe and, also, to reconnect the entrepreneurial ecosystems of these two continents.The soft-landing program will allow entrepreneurs to participate in development training. international included in the project.…

The Development Innovation Fund (FID) is an innovative initiative to support innovations that help reduce poverty and inequalities in the world. Through grant funding following flexible modalities, the FID enables innovative and research teams to test new ideas, take strategic risks, demonstrate what works and deploy on a large scale the solutions that have the most positive impact. and the most efficient for reducing poverty and inequalities. A new innovation fund for development (FID) has been set up by the French Development Agency (AFD) since December 2020. Open and flexible, FID finances any innovative solution that aims to fight against…

A monument of the Pan-African press bows out. The founder of the pan-African group Jeune Afrique, Bashir Ben Yahmed, died Sunday evening (May 2, 2021) at the age of 93. At the head of the Jeune Afrique group since its creation on October 17, 1960, Béchir Ben Yahmed was ephemeral minister of the first government of Habib Bourguiba, in 1953, barely 28 years old, before crossing the Mediterranean. In Paris, he spent decades delivering his point of view in his editorial “What I believe”, the opening of a newspaper that has become more than a newspaper among the elites of…

As part of the international online conference organized by the ECOWAS Commission, from April 28 to May 10, 2021, to share its experience of food security storage with its partners and other regions of the world, humanitarian agencies have come together committed to supporting and accompanying the West African food security storage system. This declaration follows discussions on food reserves and management of recurrent and expansive food, nutritional and pastoral crises in West Africa: achievements, lessons, current challenges and prospects for the regional food security storage strategy. Humanitarian agencies, in their interventions of April 29, 2021, noted the potential of…

The Sanlam Group is strengthening its stake in Saham Assurance Maroc, increasing it from 61.7% to 84.5% of the share capital and voting rights of SAHAM Assurance Maroc, following the acquisition of 22.8% of the shares of Sanam Group for a total amount of 1,241 million dirhams (or 1,320 dirhams per share). This investment is made entirely by the Sanlam Group in foreign currencies. As a reminder, SAHAM Assurance (leader in Non-Life insurance in Morocco, listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange) had until then been 61.7% owned by Sanlam Pan Africa Maroc, a holding company incorporated under Moroccan law which,…

The international financial rating agency Standard & Poor’s maintained the rating assigned to the Republic of Benin, with a stable outlook. This decision once again attests to the resilience of the country’s economic fundamentals, which led the agency to maintain Benin’s rating in June and October 2020, despite the Covid-19 crisis. “Standard & Poor’s welcomes the ambitious reforms implemented within the framework of the Government’s Action Program, and the quality of the management of the Covid-19 crisis by the authorities”, indicates a press release from the Beninese Ministry of the Economy and Finance. Benin has thus preserved the dynamism of…

AZA Finance’s merger with South African fintech Exchange4Free aims to double the volume of annual transactions to more than $ 2.5 billion, and expand the reach to 115 countries worldwide. Nairobi, April 29, 2021 – Following a wave of consolidation generated by the transformation of the global digital payments system, AZA Finance has agreed to acquire cross-border payments specialist Exchange4Free, becoming the largest non-bank service provider FX cash flow across Africa. The acquisition of Exchange4Free, South Africa’s largest non-bank currency broker, will allow AZA Finance to double the volume of its transactions to more than $ 2.5 billion in 2021,…

200 of Tunisia’s elite medical students will have access to Harvard Medical School’s HMX online learning platform in the next five years. The funding will enable medical faculties at the Universities of Tunis El Manar, Sfax, Sousse and Monastir, to offer Harvard Medical School fundamental courses and lectures in biochemistry, genetics, immunology, physiology and pharmacology. Successful students will obtain an HMX certificate, alongside their local university degree. Agreement made possible thanks to a US$1 million scholarship gift by Hazem Ben-Gacem that will fully finance this initiative. Enabling Tunisian students to attend Harvard Medical School online courses (HMX), builds on the…

Malians living abroad, and more particularly their investment practices and intentions in Mali, are at the heart of an online study just launched by the new investment fund Zira Capital intended to support SMEs, very small businesses and Malian start-ups. This new device carried by IPDEV II (fund managed by “Investors & Partners”) which has already sponsored and participated in the launch of funds in five African countries (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Burkina and Niger) and Mohamed Youssouf Keita, with the support of IFAD and the European Union, aims in a participatory approach to strategically involve the Malian diaspora and…

A food company, CDL focuses on transforming fonio, a former African superfood, into a range of fonio-based products. ShEquity today announced its investment in the Beninese startup Céréales de Laury (CDL). Céréales de Laury is an agri-food start-up focused on the transformation of fonio (an ancient African super-food cereal) into a range of products that easily adapts to the culinary needs of the average African: semolina, infant flour for food. healthy and balanced for babies or even degué (popular dessert in several West African countries). These products are 100% natural, nutritious and gluten-free and have virtues that can improve the…

On March 15, 2021, Outsource Monetic ™, an Atlanta GA-based startup, officially began commercial and technical operations in West and Central Africa. Outsource Monetic ™ is the 1st Independent Operator of Automated Banking Machines (or IAD – Independent ATM Deployer) to operate in the 8 WAEMU countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo) and the 6 CEMAC countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon). “We are delighted and excited to start our startup in West and Central Africa,” said Mika DIOL, Founder and CEO of Outsource Monetic ™; “Thanks to…

As part of the project on the second container terminal in the Port of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire Terminal is announcing the order of 36 electric towing vehicles from the manufacturer Gaussin. The new handling machines will equip the future container terminal, construction work on which was launched in October 2020 by Côte d’Ivoire Terminal. The order, for a total of €9.9 million (6.5 billion CFA francs), is one of the commitments made by the leading shareholders of Côte d’Ivoire Terminal, Bolloré Ports and APM Terminals as part of the public-private partnership signed with the Côte d’Ivoire authorities. It is notably…

Watch it live on Friday April 23 from 10am GMT on financialafrik.com, YouTube and Facebook. On the occasion of the release of his book ”CFA Franc, Eco and Monetary Sovereignty, Stakes and Reality”, published by NEI-CEDA Editions, Kouassi Kouamé will answer Financial Afrik’s questions, in a debate on CFA Franc reforms, and the transition to Eco. Engineer Statistician Economist, Mr. KOUASSI has served at several levels of responsibility, as Director General of Budget and Finance at the Ivorian Ministry of Economy and Finance, Director and Administrator of the BCEAO, Chairman of the Board in various public and private institutions .

London, 20 April 2021 – Global and African dignitaries, institutional investors, fund managers and entrepreneurs opened the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s (AVCA) 17th annual conference today. The live virtual programme brought together more than 350 key private equity and venture capital practitioners from over 50 countries around the world, to discuss the trends and developments shaping Africa’s investment landscape in 2021 and beyond. H.E. Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, launched AVCA’s virtual conference week. Introducing the theme “Resilience, Resurgence and Results” with a keynote address, he commended the private sector’s role in pushing Africa’s…

To follow live, Friday April 16 from 10am GMT, on financialafrik.com, youtube and Facebook. Journalist Lemine Ould Mohamed Salem will face Adama Wade, publication director of Financial Afrik magazine. Journalist, reporter, writer and director, Lemine Ould Salem gives his point of view on the jihadist threat that is undermining the Sahel. Author of the investigative books “Bin Laden of the Sahara: In the footsteps of the jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar”, published by La Martinière in 2014; “The Secret History of Jihad, Al-Qaida to the Islamic State”, published by Flammarion in 2018, and also of the documentary “Salafists” shot in 2016, Lemine…

The West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has announced the launch of its Virtual DealRoom which enables international investors to access Trade Hub information and business opportunities. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Trade Hub aims to catalyze economic growth in West Africa using a market-based approach. Through its co-investment fund, the Trade Hub intends to attract $ 400 million in new private investment. The Virtual DealRoom has been implemented on Asoko Insight, a business data and engagement platform providing international investors, multinationals and development institutions with an efficient way to discover, shortlist…

While his comeback in 2022 in French politics is no longer a mere hypothesis, Financial Afrik lifts a corner of the veil on the mysterious back and forths of Nicolas Sarkozy in Africa. The former French president, seen in Kigali these days, is not strictly speaking an evening visitor to Conakry, a roving ambassador from the Ivory Coast or a selfless tourist in the savannah. Read our exclusive survey on Friday February 5, written by Alexandre Varel. En savoir plus sur ce texte sourceVous devez indiquer le texte source pour obtenir des informations supplémentaires

These massive appointments are due to the new administrative (regional) division. In fact, the number of regions has increased from 15 to 20. It appears that 13 soldiers close to Assimi Goita, vice-president of the transition in charge of defense and security questions, were appointed in place of civilians to lead a ten new regions. Previously there were only five soldiers out of the fifteen regional governors. According to sources, Colonel Assimi Goita and the Minister of Territorial Administration had the upper hand over these appointments. The objective is to apply the new strategy of defense and security of the…

In DR Congo, the agents and executives of the International Bank for Africa in Congo (BIAC) whose Council of State opposed the dissolution decided by the Central Bank (BCC), filed Thursday, November 19 at the Presidency of the Republic, a memorandum calling for the involvement of President Félix Tshisekedi with regard to their fate. This memorandum was tabled at the end of an organized march in the streets of Kinshasa. “We are surprised that the Central Bank was able to kill BIAC. This bank has appointed a cabinet of experts for its completion. A month later, we saw the statement…

For the Bolloré transport and logistics group, this is the heaviest package transported to Côte d’Ivoire with its 900 tonnes of equipment, including a turbine, an electric generator and various equipment. These machines will be intended for “the construction of the new Azito thermal power station, the work of which is being carried out by the Spanish supplier and manufacturer Cobra”, indicates the communication unit of this logistics structure. In fact, this plant, which contributes to asserting the energy mix in the country, will be equipped with a new turbine, which will increase the power output of the plant by…

Economists Fadhel Kaboub from Denison University in Ohio, USA; Ndongo Samba Sylla from Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal; Kai Koddenbrock from Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany; Ines Mahmoud and Maha Ben Gadha from Tunis, Tunisia; are the leaders of this open letter signed by 500 personalities from all corners of the globe and world-famous and successful economists. These intellectuals plead for a break in economic development strategies in Africa and for the continent’s reconquest of its economic and monetary sovereignty. The open letter is available in 47 languages ​​(including African languages ​​like Wolof, in most cases with an…

By Adamou Sambaré, Managing Director of Creditinfo West – Africa. Covid – 19 has hit the world with a “double shock”: an unprecedented contraction in supply and demand coupled with a health-economic conundrum. For Africa, and the UEMOA region, the immediate picture is bleak. However, there is hope if the financial sector uses the situation as a trigger for accelerated transformation of lending processes and products, taking the lead from other sub-Saharan markets and levering advantage of the robust financial infrastructure in place. Background  The IMF forecasts a GDP contraction of 1.6% for Sub-Saharan Africa. For the UEMOA regional powerhouses,…