Author: The Exchange

Africa Blockchain Festival unveils Launch Africa Ventures in collaboration with Antler seeking to give selected blockchain and AI startups access to pitching opportunities, investors, deal-making and post-event mentorship. Africa Blockchain Festival (ABF) has announced the launch of the ABF Fellowship Program 2026, a new initiative designed to connect promising African blockchain and artificial intelligence founders with investors, venture capital networks and mentorship opportunities. The Fellowship Program will form part of Africa Blockchain Festival 2026, taking place from October 15–17 at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi, and will strengthen the startup and investment component of this year’s festival. The global…

VALR is expanding into Kenya and East Africa as demand grows for stablecoins, cross-border payments and blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The South African digital asset company now serves more than 1.8 million users and over 2,000 corporate and institutional clients. Its participation as a Platinum Sponsor of Africa Blockchain Festival 2026 comes as Kenya develops a more formal regulatory framework for virtual assets. Africa’s cryptocurrency story is changing. A few years ago, much of the discussion around blockchain on the continent centered on Bitcoin prices, speculative trading and whether governments would eventually ban or regulate digital assets. That conversation is now…

Geopolitics: Not since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq reshaped global security after 2001 or, more significantly, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, has the international order undergone change on the scale we are witnessing today. The US–Israeli war with Iran has proved more consequential for global energy security, trade and international stability than initially anticipated, while the US military intervention in Venezuela challenged established principles of national sovereignty and international law. Beyond the headlines, however, the transatlantic alliance is under its greatest strain in decades, divided over…

Transaction marks Africa’s first DFI-backed social Financial Loss-Absorbing Capacity (FLAC) instrument on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE, unlocking critical capital for small businesses and women entrepreneurs. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has invested $332 million (ZAR 5.4 billion) in a landmark capital markets security issued by Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest lender by assets. The social bond is designed to dramatically expand financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across South Africa, addressing a persistent funding gap that has constrained the sector, which accounts for 60 per cent of national employment. The transaction, announced on Thursday, is structured as a…

Equity Group’s Pan-African expansion helps drive the lender lion’s share of assets and half of banking profits, as non-funded income reaches record levels in the six months to June 2026. Equity Group Holdings has delivered a 32 per cent increase in half-year profit after tax to KSh45.5 billion (approximately $351.8 million) in the six months to June 2026, with regional subsidiaries outside Kenya now contributing 52 per cent of banking assets and 47 per cent of revenue, marking a structural shift in the lender’s earnings base. During the half, profit before tax rose 39 per cent to KSh57.8 billion (about…

The Africa Blockchain Festival 2026 will convene global pioneers in blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the digital economy in Nairobi, Kenya, this October. Kenya is set to host the Africa Blockchain Festival (ABF) 2026 this October, bringing together the world’s leading blockchain innovators, artificial intelligence pioneers, investors, policymakers, regulators and entrepreneurs for three days of dialogue, collaboration and investment opportunities in Nairobi. Scheduled for October 15–17, 2026, at the Sarit Expo Centre, the festival will welcome thousands of delegates from across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America under the theme “Capital, Code and Continuity: Building Africa’s Permanent Digital…

Kenya’s August fuel price review should look past crude oil prices to what fuel actually costs, how relief is shifted between fuels, and how much government support is involved, argues EBC Financial Group. Diesel import costs fell 23.9 per cent in Kenya’s last pricing cycle, yet the pump price of diesel did not move. The estimated KSh8.02 per litre of relief that could have gone to diesel was used instead to keep petrol and kerosene prices unchanged. EBC Financial Group (EBC) says that gap is exactly what transport operators, farmers and other diesel-dependent businesses should watch for again in Kenya’s…

Latest investment fund pool cover products from Britam Asset Managers Limited and Zimele Asset Management, spanning money market, fixed income, multi-asset, global equity and climate-focused investment strategies. The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has approved the registration of seven new collective investment scheme sub-funds and one alternative investment fund, expanding the range of regulated savings and investment products available to investors in Kenya, the regulator announced on Wednesday. The approvals cover products from Britam Asset Managers Limited and Zimele Asset Management, spanning money market, fixed income, multi-asset, global equity and climate-focused investment strategies. Approval follows a broader expansion of Kenya’s collective investment…

WSA Banking Index ETF approved to list on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), bringing the total number of ETFs on Kenya’s capital markets to three. The fund will replicate the performance of the banking index by investing all assets in the constituent shares, which include Equity Group, KCB Group, Co-op Bank of Kenya, Absa Bank Kenya and NCBA Group among others. Kenya’s capital markets regulator has approved the first locally-domiciled exchange-traded fund, WSA Banking Index, stepping up a years-long push to transform Nairobi into East Africa’s financial powerhouse. On Tuesday, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) gave the green light for…

From predicting droughts and floods to helping farmers plan planting seasons, space-based technologies are becoming practical tools for addressing some of Africa’s development challenges, according to a North-West University (NWU) space scientist. Prof. Amare Abebe, director of the Centre for Space Research (CSR) at the NWU, and president of the African Astronomical Society, says the continent already has access to satellite technologies that can improve agriculture, disaster management, climate adaptation and connectivity. The next step, he says, is ensuring that African countries develop the skills and institutions needed to turn satellite data into decisions that improve people’s lives. His comments…