Browsing: Africa Funding

“Sokowatch started as this kind of backend brand. We wanted a brand that could be more front and centre for the African retailer and easily pronounced across all markets while reflecting our East African roots. So that’s why we’ve rebranded now to Wasoko, meaning ‘people of the market,” Yu said.

The seven-year-old company said this round of funding will go towards exploring expansion into Nigeria as well as Southern Africa while consolidating its position across its six current markets.

It will also make hires and expand its product offerings to point-of-sale merchant systems, bill payments and social commerce, verticals it might build in-house or back and acquire companies that provide such services.

The company also offers a buy now, pay later option for retailers who need working capital to order more goods. Buy now, pay later offerings are the latest trend for B2B retail and e-commerce companies. They see it …

The company, founded in 2012, launched its online food ordering platform in 2013. In 2015, it launched its on-demand fast-food delivery app, becoming the first in South Africa to offer this service.

However, in 2020, Orderin officially shut down its consumer business. The brand relaunched last year as a B2B service, following successful projects helping other businesses develop their own delivery services.

The firm has provided delivery services for the likes of McDonalds and Pick n Pay.…

The Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund has approved a general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) equivalent to US$650 billion (about SDR 456 billion), to boost global liquidity.

In a statement, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva termed the move as historic, adding that it is the largest SDR allocation in the history of the IMF.

The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement the official reserves of its member countries.

The IMF adds that SDR is not a currency, but has a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of IMF members. As such, SDRs can provide a country with liquidity.

“Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) are an asset, though not money in the classic sense because they cannot be used to buy things. The value of an SDR is based on a basket of the world’s five leading currencies – the US …

The World Bank has announced its first investment in Somalia’s health sector in 30 years.

In a statement, the bank says it has approved the Improving Healthcare Services in Somalia Project, known as “Damal Caafimaad”.

The project is financed by a US$75 million International Development Assistance (IDA) grant and an additional US$25 million grant from the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF).

The organization says the project will deliver essential health and nutrition services and improve health service coverage and quality in some of Somalia’s most disadvantaged areas.

These include Nugaal (Puntland), Bakool and Bay (South West), Hiraan, and Middle Shebelle (Hirshabelle).

World Bank projects that around 10 per cent of Somalia’s population, as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs) and nomads in the target regions, will benefit from the project’s activities.

It is also expected to strengthen the stewardship capacity of Somalia’s Federal and State Ministries …

The Lesotho Revenue Authority is set to receive a loan of $4.25 million from the African Development Bank Group to provide digital tax services, including e-taxation and e-payment that will broaden the country’s tax base and boost government revenue.

In a statement, AfDB says the funds will be sourced from the African Development Fund, the Group’s concessional lending window and will go to support the Supplemental Financing of the Lesotho Tax Modernization Project.

The project follows the Lesotho Tax Modernization Project (LTMP) approved in November 2017, and for which the African Development Bank Group provided $7.09 million, in financing.

The financing will especially be used to procure and install e-taxation, e-payment, and e-invoicing software and hardware and to integrate financial institutions and mobile money providers into e-payment systems.

Kenya, Lesotho sign three deals to ramp up bilateral ties

According to the Bank’s Director of Governance and Financial Management Coordination, Abdoulaye …

Nigeria has a rich venture capital environment and in our new reality, startups will need to adapt to fund themselves. Fabio Scala from FurtherAfrica spoke to Aderonke Alex-Adedipe, a partner of Pavestones Nigeria to understand how the upcoming regulations will impact the market, particularly in regards to crowdfunding platforms and the eligibility and limitations companies may see in effect once the crisis is over.…

Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to face its first recession in 25 years as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is cutting life from the continent’s economies, disrupts world trade, according to information from the World Bank.

According to information from Bloomberg, the lender said, the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP) will probably contract 2.1 per cent to 5.1 per cent in 2020, compared with 2.4 per cent growth a year earlier.

World Bank Vice President for Africa, Hafez Ghanem said in a statement following the Africa Pulse report, that “The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the limits of societies and economies across the world, and African countries are likely to be hit particularly hard,”

The global investment bank, Goldman Sachs Group gave their prediction on African governments funding needs, saying that sub-Saharan Africa funding may rise by $75 billion due to COVID-19 hammering their economies.

Further, the growth downgrade is based on …