Author: Mustapha Juma

Have you ever considered investing in Rwanda? Then you should try it in the year 2021.

The investment-friendly climate in Rwanda backed by laws that favour investors is one of the reasons to invest in Rwanda. Or is it?

Well, the country’s robust governance and Anti-corruption system of government offer investors security for their investment.

Access to markets

Rwanda is a hub for rapidly integrating East Africa and offers investors access to markets with over 10 million people.

The sustained high economic growth with an average annual GDP growth rate highly favours domestic and foreign investors with a stable inflation and exchange rate.

Top business climate

World Bank Group ranked Rwanda among the top business climate reformers in 2011 and 2012. Subsequently, Rwanda was ranked 46 out of 189 economies in the World Bank Doing Business report 2015, in terms of convenience of doing business.

It ranked 3 in sub-Saharan …

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has partnered with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), company headquartered in Munich that provides banknote and securities printing, smart cards, and cash handling systems to roll out a general purpose Central Bank Digital Currency (retail CBDC).

Founded in 1852 by Hermann Giesecke and Alphonse Devrient, G+D has expanded operations to include banknote processing, smart cards, identification systems, and e-payments. The firm is the world’s second largest supplier of banknotes, with annual revenues of $2.45 billion.

Provide technology

According to the partnership agreement with Ghana, G+D is providing the technology and developing the solution adapted to Ghana’s requirements, which will be tested in a trial phase with banks, payment service providers, merchants, consumers and other relevant stakeholders.

G+D will now provide its proprietary CBDC solution known as Filia to pilot the issuance of a digital form of Ghana’s national currency, the cedi.

Digital Ghana Agenda

The …

President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta of Kenya has proposed a commercial partnership between Kenya Airways and South African Airways.

Speaking on Wednesday August 11, 2021 in Mombasa during a virtual meeting with South African Minister for International Relations and Cooperation Ms Naledi Pandor, President Kenyatta said that there was need for Kenya and South Africa to deepen their economic political collaboration.

This, according to the Kenyan head of state will help the two nations see how they can share their ideas and experiences with the rest of the continent.

The virtual meeting was also attended by Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo.

Kenya-South Africa Joint Commission for Cooperation (JCC)

President Kenyatta during the meeting called for the elevation of the Kenya-South Africa Joint Commission for Cooperation (JCC) so as to deepen bilateral ties between the two countries.

Also Read: Why Africa’s biggest oil refinery may soon run into …

On November 20, Africa will mark the Africa Industrialization day.

Since 2018, the Africa Industrialization Day has been successfully commemorated with weeklong events. The Africa Union Commission last year hosted the 2020 Africa Industrialization Week celebrations (#AIW2020) on 16-20 November 2020, under the theme “Inclusive and sustainable industrialisation in the AfCFTA and COVID-19 era”.

Economic growth

Industrial development is of critical importance for sustained and inclusive economic growth in African countries. Industry can enhance productivity, increase the capabilities of the workforce, and generate employment, by introducing new equipment and new techniques.

Industrialization, with strong linkages to domestic economies, will help African countries achieve high growth rates, diversify their economies and reduce their exposure to external shocks.

This will substantially contribute to poverty eradication through employment and wealth creation.

China success

Over the last few years , African leaders have been pursuing policies designed to mimic the path China took to …

Despite Nigeria being the second biggest oil-rich country in Africa after Libya with an estimated 37 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the West African country has been depending on imported refined fuel products due to lack of domestic refining capacity.

Dangote Oil Refinery

However, the situation is set to be changed by the coming of Dangote Oil Refinery, a company owned by the Nigeria-based Dangote Group.

The Dangote refinery, a 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) integrated refinery and petrochemical project under construction in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, Nigeria, is expected to be the Africa’s biggest oil refinery and the world’s biggest single-train facility, upon completion.

Light and medium grades of crude

The project which is being developed with an estimated investment of $12bn will process a variety of light and medium grades of crude to produce Euro-V quality clean fuels including gasoline and diesel …

Nigerian fintech startup Kuda bank has announced its plan to expand into more African countries.

This comes after the fintech raised $55 million in Series B funding. According to the bank, it will also use the raised funds to launch new product offerings for its Nigerian market.

The funding was made at a $500 million evaluation.

Investors

The round was co-led by previous investors, Valar Ventures and Target Global with other investors including Japan-based Strategic Business Investor (SBI) Investment and past angel investors also participating.

In March this year, Kuda which aims at providing a modern banking service for Africans and the African diaspora picked up $25 million in a Series A  led by Valar Ventures, the firm co-founded and backed by Peter Thiel, with Target Global and other unnamed investors participating.

First backing

The March funding marked the first time that Valar, which has invested in a number of …

Qatar Holding LLC, an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is set to invest $200 million in Airtel Africa’s mobile money business dubbed Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV).

This follows an agreement that was signed between the two firms.

Majority stake

According to the signed agreement, QIA will hold a minority stake in AMC BV upon completion of the Transaction (alongside other minority investors), with Airtel Africa continuing to hold the majority stake. The Transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

A statement released by the telecom’s operator states that deal will close in two tranches, $150 million invested at the first close. The remaining $50 million will be invested at the second close.

QIA will be entitled to appoint a director to the board of AMC BV and to certain customary information and minority protection rights.

Also Read: Nigerian healthtech Field Intelligence expands into new East, West …

Airtel Africa’s profit after tax has risen to $142 million in the quarter of June compared to the year-ago period, the company has said.

The telecom and mobile money services provider on Thursday July 29, 2021 said its profit has more than doubled.

The company attributed the growth to the higher operating profits along with stable net finance costs which more than offset the increase in tax charges due to increased profits.

The telco company which enjoys a presence in 14 countries in Africa said that strong revenue growth was recorded in all regions and across key services.

Reported revenue

According to the company, reported revenue grew nearly 31 per cent to $1,112 million during the June quarter of 2021-22 with constant currency growth of about 33 per cent.

“Revenue growth partially benefitted from a weakened quarter in the prior year during the peak of COVID-19 restrictions across the region,” …

Field Intelligence, a Nigerian healthtech startup has announced its plans to expand into new cities across East and West Africa.

Formed in 2015 to transform the role of technology, business, and supply chain in sustainable, equitable development in Africa, the firm is planning to expand into Rivers, Edo, Kaduna, Kano, Enugu, Delta and Kwara States in Nigeria, and Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu and Naivasha in Kenya.

Quality healthcare across Africa

The expansion will build on Field Intelligence’s existing 700+ pharmacy membership, which has served over 1.4 million patients to accelerate quality frontline healthcare across Africa.

The firm in 2016 began development of Field Supply, an offline-first SaaS solution simplifying the process of digitizing and optimizing large-scale supply chains, and Forth, a fourth-party logistics service leveraging Field Supply with the mission to upskill Africa’s underutilized informal transport labor to extend last-mile delivery at scale.

Independent and franchise pharmacies can …

The Republic of Burundi has joined other East African Community (EAC) partner states to launch her own Trade Information Portal (TIP).

The TIP is meant to map out all of Burundi’s imports, exports and transit procedures, fees and time.

According to a press statement by EAC sent to newsrooms on Wednesday July 28, the next step after mapping will be to simplify and remove unnecessary and redundant bottlenecks.

Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are the EAC partner states that have already launched and operationalised the Trade Information Portals (TIPs).

Burundi unveiled her own TIP on  the internet on Tuesday July 27, 2021 as committed by the Burundi delegation during the 38^th Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment held in Arusha on 28^th May, 2021.

Trade Transparency

The publication of Trade Information is a good sign that Burundi is committed to facilitate trade by …