Browsing: Ghana

Since the turn of the century, Africa’s GDP has grown by 4.6 per cent annually, on average.

Domestic demand has been Africa’s key driver of the growth performance accounting for 69 per cent of annual growth between 2000 and 2018, according to the African Union (AU).

The AU notes that this is reflected in the demand for processed food which is growing 1.5 times faster than the global average. On the other hand, the demand for many other products such as vehicles, manufactured metals and industrial machinery, is expanding faster than the global average.

This makes it a good opportunity for local firms to grow in size and productivity.

Start-ups in Africa

On the tech front, start-ups in Africa have also increasingly emerged with the top three activities relating to information technology and communications (ICT) and internet services; digital applications and software; and the creation of audio-visual content and broadcasting.…

Leading mobile payments company WorldRemit saw a 43% growth in remittances to Africa from higher-income nations in 2019.

The top five countries receiving remittances from the diaspora in 2019 included Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, with Nigeria receiving the most remittances. The top sending countries to the region included the United States, Australia, Canada, and Sweden, with the UK sending the most remittances.

The diaspora plays a key role in Africa’s development story, today the value of remittances is three times larger than official development assistance (ODA) and forecasted to become higher than foreign direct investment for a handful of African countries in 2019.

WorldRemit has disrupted an industry previously dominated by offline legacy players by taking international money transfers online – making them safer, faster and lower-cost. We currently send from 50 to 150 countries, operate in 6,500 money transfer corridors worldwide and employ over 800 people worldwide.

On the …

Remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa are set to increase by over 5.6 per cent between 2019 and 2020…

The Chinese government offered Ghana a grant of $42.62 million for economic and technical projects implementation.

The economic and technical cooperation agreement was signed on Thursday by Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Wang Shiting and Kenneth Ofori-Atta Ghana’s Finance Minister.

This follows Madam Sun Chunlan China’s First Premier visit to Ghana where she had promised to give the grant to finance some economic and technical projects.

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta commended the Chinese government for its continuous support to Ghana during the signing ceremony in Accra

Also Read: Ghana hosts key African Continental Free Trade Area meetings

“We would like to acknowledge the immense support the government of the People’s Republic of China has provided Ghana over the decades especially in the areas of infrastructure, information communication technology, trade and investment, tourism and education including technical vocation education training,” he said.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the grant would be used …

Ghana hosts the 17th Meeting of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Negotiating Forum which began on Tuesday this week at the Accra International Conference Centre.

An official statement, issued by Ghana’s Public Relations Office of the Ministry of Trade said the three-day meeting would be followed by the 10th meeting of the Committee of Senior Trade Officials which will begin from December 12 to 13, 2019. While the African Ministers of Trade Meeting and the AfCFTA Council of Ministers Meeting will follow from December 14 to 15, 2019.

According to the statement, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Negotiating Forum will seek to finalise outstanding works on the first phase negotiations which deal with the trade in goods and services protocols and dispute settlement mechanisms.

The meeting will also see the establishment of technical Working Groups on investments, competition policy and intellectual property rights.

AfCFTA is a …

OPay, one of the fastest scaling growth companies in Africa, has announced that it raised $120 million of series B funding, less than 6 months after it announced its last funding round of $50 million in June.

The company, which was incubated by Norwegian based, global consumer Internet company Opera, is already Nigeria’s leading mobile wallet and motorbike ridesharing provider, and is rapidly expanding.

Series B investors included Meituan-Dianping, DragonBall Capital (The Investment fund backed by Meituan-Dianping), GaoRong Capital, Source Code Capital, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), Redpoint China, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital China and GSR Ventures.

OPay is one of the fastest growing companies in Nigeria, providing consumers with a wide range of services including mobile payments and transfers, ridesharing and food delivery. The company plans to use the new capital to further accelerate its expansion across its multiple verticals, as well as entering new African markets.…

Nations that were lacking this momentum are now growing and modernising their economies…

Sub-Saharan African clothing and footwear market is worth $31 billion US dollars and growing. In a series of articles about the industry in Sub Sahara Africa, we will explore the policies, trade and the budding creative fashion industry in the region.

The African Fashion catchment

Africa drink, eat, and sleep fashion. The diversity of the culture of this huge continent ensures its almost 1.3 billion inhabitants wear or dream to wear certain clothing and apparel. With the population of the continent becoming younger by the day, the demand for fashion that sends a message and identity of an individual is becoming more relevant.

This diversity comes with its strengths and challenges. West Africa has a rich African infused fashion while East and Southern Africa has western influenced fashion and manner of dressing. Most of Northern Africa has a fashion industry dictated by middle eastern and Islamic culture.

Fashion is big …

Global consultancy Palladium has announced its first impact investment fund to bridge the financing gap for small businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.

The “Palladium Impact Fund I” is expected to raise USD 40 million to provide much-needed capital for SMEs in emerging markets. The fund, which will focus on agribusiness value chains and off-grid clean energy in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, aims to alleviate poverty and economically empower over 500,000 rural households. It intends to create at least 3,500 full-time jobs, of which 60 percent will be for women.

Investors will include foundations, family offices, pension funds, and institutional investors. Palladium will manage the fund, anchored by a $5 million investment of its own capital. The new fund will make debt and mezzanine investments of between $250,000 and $2 million into small companies.

Andrew Tillery, Head of Impact Investments at Palladium, said, “Fifty-four years of experience has taught Palladium that for …