Browsing: Ghana

United Kingdom Export Finance boost investments in West Africa. www.theexchange.africa

There were more than 3,000 delegates that participated in the conference this year, boosting trade and investment ties between the continent and the UK.

The UK government is also mobilizing support from the United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) to boost exports to Africa. Prime minister Boris Johnson’s administration, provided support worth US$3.04 billion in 2021.

In West Africa, the support has been directed towards a range of significant infrastructural projects, construction of major roads, environmental and social work, medical services and technological equipment.…

Dr. Zanetor Agyeman – Rawlings. She says there still are many challenges of global governance and gender. www.theexchange.africa

The Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 was forced to address women’s rights as a human rights issues because of the violence and sexual abuse against women occurring in Yugoslavia at the time.

The Fourth International Women’s Conference was held in Beijing in 1995 made human rights and women’s participation in decision making at all levels key. One of the recommendations was for the countries to have gender desks in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies including Security Services. It cautioned against the specific establishment of Women’s Ministries as these would take gender issues to the periphery as that ministry would be saddled with all matters gender-related.

The conference also discussed the eradication of poverty, women in armed conflict and violence against women. …

Norrsken Foundation co-founders Natalie Kolbe, Ngetha Waithaka and Lexi Novitske. www.theexchange.africa

Norrsken22 plans on capitalizing on its general partners’ years of experience and investment philosophies to back startups in fintech, MedTech, Edtech, and market-enabling solutions such as B2B marketplaces and inventory management businesses.

Kolbe, whose previous firm Actis backed Egyptian fintech giant Fawry in 2019 as it prepared to go public, said Norrsken would look at Egypt ‘opportunistically.’ 

Deals from the country that may be of interest to the firm will be those planning an expansion into the four markets Norrsken22 is currently keen on, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.…

Africa Price for Engineering Innovation entrepreneurs. www.theexchange.africa

The programme will facilitate access to the Royal Academy’s global network of experienced, high-profile and business experts, in addition to access to the alumni network upon completion of the programme.

Moreover, 2022 is the programme’s second consecutive year to render a digital experience, with rigorous support provided through person-to-person and group discussions.

Four finalists will pitch their revised and improved innovations and business plans to the judges in the presence of a live audience.…

The Kumasi Market makeover after completion of phase one. Deutsche Bank has organised financing for phase two of the market. www.theexchange.africa

West Africa’s largest market, the huge Kumasi Market in Ghana has more than 12,000 shops and stalls and with the traffic it receives, upgrades are inevitable.

Up to 800,000 people visit the Kumasi Market in Ghana, which neighbours Benin and Togo, each day.

There have been numerous fires in the area because of its size and unplanned development, which has caused the destruction of many stalls and the loss of jobs.

To avoid this, the Deutsche Bank together with the UK Export Finance Agency and the African Export-Import Bank have signed a financing agreement for the second phase of the Kumasi Market reconstruction project.…

Mali military ruler, President Asimi Goita. He is under pressure to have the elections on February 27 as initially planned. www.theexchange.africa

The main objective of the bloc is to promote economic interdependence and cooperation among member states to raise the living standards and encourage economic development.

Exportation in Mali is already feeling the pressure of the political instability in the country. Exports reduced from CFA552.39 billion in the first quarter of 2021 to CFA495.87 billion in the second quarter.

Mali lists among the poorest nations in the world. According to the 2021 Index of Economic Freedom, absence of property protection rights and a transparent and honest judicial system, and the higher degree of corruption tolerance makes it impossible to achieve greater economic freedom in the country.…

The West African Monetary and Economic Union. Experts say that the emergence of the CBDCs will sabotage the common currency project in West Africa. www.theexchange.africa

Whether Nigeria and Ghana will abandon their digital currencies and jump on the Eco train is an unclear narrative, but it appears unlikely because of the significant investments put into them and the optimism by the governments to embrace digital transformations.

Nigeria had banned cryptocurrency transactions in February last year which increased the popularity of the eNaira as an alternative for cross-border trade and remittance inflows.

eNaira critics say that the solutions being offered by the digital currency are already existing in online banking and bank card transactions. …

Using mobile money in a market place. www.theexchange.africa

In 2020, total transaction values climbed by 22% to hit US$767 billion. or the first time, and in a pandemic, the industry is processing more over US$2 billion per day which has more than doubled since 2017. 
The GSMA predicts that by the end of 2022, this value will be in excess of US$3 billion every single day. Some of the innovations that will help propel this growth include APIs and regulation initiatives like tightening transaction and balance limitations which could bolster the industry's transaction values growth.
Transaction costs remain a big concern for many with users calling for a review of this in countries like Kenya. When the pandemic was announced in Africa, Kenya and Ghana- which also happen to be the continent’s two biggest mobile money markets– were swift to scrap fees on small person-to-person transactions.…

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protein rich nuts TanzaniaTanzania hopes to plant an ambitious 1.5 million cashew nut trees annually across some 535,000 acres of land in a new revitalized effort to grow output and increase revenue from the protein-rich nut.

Tanzania is already one of Africa’s largest cashew growers coming third after Nigeria and Ivory Coast. It is the world’s eighth biggest producer and if all goes to plan, the country wants to move up the ranks.

In a recent press communiqué, the Cashew nut Board of Tanzania (CBT) released projections that show that Tanzania would produce one million tonnes of the nuts in the 2023/24 harvest season.

The plan is a multiple-year scheme that would see the country increase output year after year as follows; 600,000 tonnes for the 2021/22 farming season, 800,000 tonnes were to be produced in the 2022/23 farming season and the 1 million mark would be met in the following farming season.

South Africa’s leading fintech, MFS Africa founder, Dare Okoudjou. MFS Africa announced on October 20, 2021 their acquisition of one of Nigeria’s leading super-agent networks, Baxi. www.theexchange.africa

Mergers and acquisitions worth US$52B were completed in South Africa during the first half of 2021, with the value of deals growing by 958% from 2020 with the tech sector in the lead according to Refinitiv Data that provides financial markets and infrastructure data . According to Digest Africa, the value of mergers and acquisitions in the African tech ecosystem in 2018 was US$504M with 24 out of the 39 deals taking place in South Africa making it the country with the most mergers, acquisitions and exits among the KINGS countries. …