• The project is billed to help African countries play catchup as the continent is still relatively behind when it comes to global consumer banking habits.
• The African Development Fund in partnership with Smart Africa Alliance will evaluate policy gaps in the digital trade and e-commerce ecosystems in selected countries that are lagging behind their counterparts in terms of digital trade and e-commerce adaptation.
• Data by the International Trade Administration (ITA) indicates that the continent is forecast to surpass half a billion e-commerce users by 2025.

The African Development Fund has partnered with Smart Africa Alliance to launch a $1.5 million project aimed at streamlining digital trade and e-commerce policies across 10 African countries.

In a project dubbed Institutional Support for Digital Payments and e-Commerce Policies for Cross-Border Trade (IDECT), the two institutions will evaluate policy gaps in the digital trade and e-commerce ecosystems in the selected countries that are lagging …

• In 2018, fintech Flutterwave received a series A funding of $20 million, setting its pace ahead of most of its competition.
• In 2022, Kenya’s tech Industry accumulated $574.8 million in funding, showcasing its tech startups’ potential.
•  Mr Oluwabankole Falade claimed that Fluttwerwave recognizes Kenya’s invaluable role in East Africa.

Nigerian fintech company Flutterwave has picked Kenya as its hub as the firm seeks to grow its presence across East Africa. This announcement signal’s Kenya’s growing significance in Africa’s digital transformation and competitiveness in business.

Olubenga Agboola, CEO of Flutterwave, said the organization is propelling financial inclusion in the country. Started in 2010, Flutterwave facilitates cross-border payment transactions of both small and large African businesses.

Flutterwave is among the few organizations to tap into Africa’s rising virtual economic community; the Web3 Community. One of its main selling points is its ability to integrate blockchain technology and use it to drive financial …

In the past decade, nations around the world have sought to transition to an investment-focused strategy in Africa, recognizing the continent’s substantial $100 billion annual infrastructure financing gap. In this era of a global transition towards investment-focused strategies in Africa, Japan emerges as a proactive player, steering the trajectory toward sustainable growth with its substantial financial commitments and innovative initiatives.

Japan’s Active Position for Investing in Africa

While China’s Belt and Road Initiative dominated the global scene, Chinese lending to Africa has been on the decline since 2016. This has prompted a series of “Africa+1” summits in 2022, with countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and Russia placing significant emphasis on investment and trade deals.

Among these nations, Japan has taken a proactive stance, particularly highlighted at the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) summit held in Tunisia last summer. Japan pledged an impressive $30 …

• The meeting will share lessons and experiences on strategies deployed to catalyse the development of insurance sectors for inclusivity and innovation..
• Delegates will also explore client value and viability dimensions of national health insurance schemes in Africa.
• Insights and lessons from trends and business models on inclusive digital insurance solutions; taking stock of what has worked and what has not worked will be shared.

Kenya is preparing to host the Eastern and Southern Africa regional conference on inclusive insurance, which is part of a series of regional learning sessions aimed at contributing to the development of inclusive insurance markets in Africa.

Across the continent, insurance penetration remains low and different players including governments have been deploying various strategies to scale up uptake of various cover products.

The eighth regional conference is modeled as a combination of high-quality training and plenary forums that are aimed at sharing insights on inclusive insurance …

• Growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to slow to 3.6 percent in 2023, as a “big funding squeeze” tied to the drying up of aid and access to private finance hits the region. 
• If no measures are taken, the funding shortage may force countries to reduce fiscal resources for critical development areas of health, education, and infrastructure, the IMF warned.
• Persistent global inflation and tighter monetary policies have led to higher borrowing costs for sub-Saharan African countries, placing huge pressure on exchange rates.

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to slow to 3.6 percent in 2023, as a “big funding squeeze”, tied to the drying up of aid and access to private capital sweeps across the region, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

The Regional Economic Outlook for Sub Saharan Africa April 2023 report indicates that if no measures are taken, to tackle this shortage of funding, a …

• Standard Chartered Kenya has partnered with business accelerator Somo to launch a program that would allow women to access loans ranging between KSh250,000 and KSh2 million at an interest rate of 5%
• Disadvantaged women in Kenya have a chance of accessing small-ticket loans to support their businesses
• The loans, which are designed to help the women restore and revitalise their businesses, will be payable over a period of up to 3 years

Disadvantaged women in Kenya have a chance of accessing small-ticket loans to support their businesses under a plan by Standard Chartered Kenya in partnership with business accelerator Somo.

Women in business will be able to access loans ranging from KSh250,000 to KSh2 million, at an interest rate of 5 percent. The loans, which are designed to help the women restore and revitalise their businesses, will be payable over a period of up to three years.

StanChart said the …