Trending
- Kenya-Ethiopia Trade Relations: Legislators Advocate for Policy Alignment to Boost Ties
- Visualising the state of debt in Africa 2024
- Abu Dhabi radiates optimism as over 300 startups join AIM Congress 2024
- TLcom Capital Raises $154 million in Funding to Boost Its African Growth
- Africa’s $824Bn debt, resource-backed opaque loans slowing growth — AfDB
- LB Investment brings $1.2 trillion portfolio display to AIM Congress spotlight
- AmCham Summit kicks off, setting course for robust future of US-East Africa trade ties
- Why the UN is raising the red flag on the UK-Rwanda asylum treaty
Entrepreneurship
- Analysts have termed Central Africa as a sleeping Giant, yet to awaken as the region recorded the least funding for startups in 2022.
- In 2022, Central Africa was by far the region where start-ups raised the least funding through deals worth $100,000 and over with a total of $51 million according to the latest report by The Big Deal.
- While the region represented only 1.1 percent of the funding raised on the continent, Year on Year growth was commendable, as start-ups raised more than double the amount that had been raised in 2021 ($24 million).
Analysts have termed Central Africa a sleeping giant, yet to awaken as the region recorded the least funding for startups in 2022.
Max Cuvellier from The Big Deal says there is a huge potential in the region despite the depressed numbers.
“This is not to say that there isn’t talent or potential in the DRC, …
In the latest fundraising led by B Capital Group, Flutterwave raised US$250 million, with participation from Alta Park Capital LP, Whale Rock Capital and Lux Capital.
Flutterwave said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “The investment has enabled the company to become the highest valued African startup,” a Flutterwave email read.
Flutterwave has processed transactions worth more than US$16 million in over 50 million transactions across dozens of countries in Africa, facilitating cross-border transactions in multiple currencies for companies, including Uber Technologies Inc., Booking.com and Alibaba’s Alipay. It has evolved beyond payments products to an online marketplace and a lending channel to small and medium businesses.
With operations from the Nigerian commercial hub of Lagos to Nairobi, Kenya, the San Francisco-based company will continue to grow in East Africa. According to Flutterwave’s software engineer, the company also plans to expand its Francophone African nations such as Senegal and Cameroon.…
Rural Farmers Hub will receive financial support worth US$15,000. It is a precision management solution for crop health and soil quality assessment created for small farmers, extensive plantations, and industrial out-growers.
Rural Farmers Hub provides intelligent maps to plan precise fixation of defects in soil and crops and develop various AI algorithms for agricultural application in Africa, showing how data can significantly impact the agriculture sector.
The company works with an extension worker network of over 200 members and have since reached over 25,000 smallholder farmers. They target ten vital corporate customers and an estimated 250,000 smallholder farmers within 24 months.…
Women leaders drawn from Africa and United Arab Emirates have called for a new era of active collaboration between female entrepreneurs in the UAE and Africa, highlighting the similarity in synergies between businesswomen in both regions and the importance of drawing on these strengths to create ambitious projects and initiatives.
In a speech delivered by H.E. Dr. Raja Al Gurg, President of Dubai Business Women Council (DBWC) at an event on the sidelines of fifth edition of the Global Business Forum on Africa (GBF Africa 2019), organised by Dubai Chamber under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. It was delivered in the presence of Fatima Maada Bio, First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone and, as well as an array of Emirati and African women entrepreneurs.
During her speech, H.E. Al Gurg underlined …
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has joined a growing list of countries that are yearning to tap into the numerous opportunities within the African continent as well as boost trade and development. Heads of state, ministers, policymakers, prominent business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs from Africa are descending on Dubai for the two-day Global Business Forum Africa 2019.
Held under theme “Scale-Up Africa”, the fifth edition of the forum is organised by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dubai Chamber) under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
GBF Africa 2019 is the largest event of its kind in the region, focusing on Africa’s vast economic potential and exploring new avenues of cooperation between UAE businesses and their African counterparts. Established in 1965, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry is a non-profit public entity, whose …
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has launched a new initiative to boost gender equality and female economic empowerment. The aim of SheInvest is to mobilise EUR 1 billion of investment that can benefit millions of women across Africa with better access to finance and by making sustainable infrastructure services and products work for them.
This initiative was launched simultaneously at the Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg and at the EIB headquarters in Luxembourg.
Building on experience in northern and sub-Saharan African countries as well as in gender-focused lending, the EIB will step up efforts to further invest in projects, sectors and markets that have a transformative effect on gender equality and can increase the capacity of women and girls to participate in the economy and labour market.
“Unlocking the potential of women is key to boosting Africa’s economic growth. In several African countries many women still lack access to basic …
Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) in collaborating with Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and other organizations have partnered to provide support for women running small and medium-sized business to standardize and improve the quality of their products.
The partnerships has seen 13,500 beneficiaries trained by WEF receive technical guidance to improve their products ensuring they meet industry standards.
READ ALSO:KEBS to issue new Import Standardization Marks to curb illicit trade
Once the products are standardized, the women are eligible to apply for certification, which the Fund pays a subsidized rate of Ksh5,800.
As a result, their products will qualify for the Kebs Diamond mark of quality which allows them to access local and international markets.
READ ALSO:Zambia to connect women SMEs to international markets by 2020
“A key mandate for WEF is to provide business support services including linkages for the women entrepreneurs to improve on the quality of …
With the ever-increasing need to provide job seekers that are qualified for a specific job, Kenya’s talent recruitment agency BrighterMonday has introduced a new product called ‘Best Match’. Research has shown that there exists a disconnect between job seekers with their skills and the job market keen to bridge skilled labour space.
The product is designed to make the process of finding the best candidates more efficient for human resource professionals, business heads and entrepreneurs looking to hire quality talent.
According to BrighterMonday CEO Emmanuel Mutuma, with increasing market dynamics and competitive job markets, Best Match was designed to cater to growing organizations with limited access to niche talent, those with mass recruitment needs as well as organizations that were not savvy enough to use digital recruitment solutions.
“Employers who use the Best Match product will get up to 10 best matches within the first 7 days of their job …
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) has partnered with e-commerce players in Kenya to boost access of manufacturing SMEs to local and international markets through e-commerce.
This is in the wake of low uptake of e-commerce in Kenya despite its immense benefits.
The partnership, therefore, seeks to promote the uptake of e-commerce by SMEs to enable them to gain access to global markets and new international customers and reinventing their business models to align with changing technologies.
Speaking at the inaugural event, KAM Board Member and SME Hub Chair, Ms Ciiru Waithaka noted that the increased attention on SME growth, both at a national and global scale, points to a reckoning that the future of business hinges on their success.
“The unique and dynamic nature of SMEs in the manufacturing sector calls for an adaptive approach in developing policies and interventions that most importantly centres their needs and proposed solutions …
