- Africa’s natural resources: Will Trump’s policies benefit or exploit the continent?
- US Sanctions Zimbabwe’s gold smuggling Kingpin Kamlesh Pattni
- From Industry 5.0 to Future Finance: AIM Congress 2025’s bold agenda, key partners unveiled
- John Mahama Makes a Comeback as Ghana’s President
- Zambia’s solar energy drive: Fighting rural energy poverty with renewable options
- Nigeria to Ban Corn Exports Amid a Biting Food Security Crisis
- Democracy or diplomacy? Balancing U.S. interests in Africa under Trump 2.0
- African startups hit by funding drought in 2024, but innovation persists
Browsing: Ivory coast
- Jamie Dimon embarks on a strategic journey in October seeking to grow the US banking giant’s footprint in Africa.
- This will be Dimon’s return to Africa after seven years.
- The lender’s CEO will be touring Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ivory Coast.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is set to visit Africa in mid-October, marking his first trip to the continent in seven years. The head of the largest U.S. lender, with assets exceeding $4.1 trillion, will visit key markets, including Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ivory Coast, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Dimon’s visit comes as JPMorgan aims to expand its presence in Africa, a continent ripe for investment opportunities, where both sovereign debt and corporate deals are becoming increasingly attractive to global banks.
With the bank already operating in South Africa and Nigeria, this trip signals JPMorgan’s intent to deepen its foothold in African markets, …
- Across Ghana and Ivory Coast, climate change, illegal mining, cocoa industry woes, and a devastating disease known as swollen shoot have conspired to end West Africa’s cocoa supremacy.
- In Ivory Coast, 30% of cocoa plantations are infected by swollen shoot disease. Upto 600,000 hectares under Cocoa in Ghana are infected, too.
- The crisis in West Africa is offering opportunity to Ecuador, Brazil and Peru to become global cocoa production titans.
A double whammy of a devastating disease coupled with unchecked gold mining activities has set up a storm that is fast threatening to kill West Africa’s Cocoa supremacy.
For decades, Ghana and the Ivory Coast have held the mantle of titans in the cocoa world, jointly supplying over 60 per cent of the beans’ global demand. However, this year’s poor harvest as noted by an exclusive piece by Reuters, could spark a seismic shift in the cocoa production industry, …
Africa will be the second fastest-growing regional economy in 2024. Over 10 African countries will experience substantial GDP growth. In October 2024, the International Monetary Fund emphasized Africa’s pivotal role in global economic development and resilience.
Africa could face economic headwinds this year. However, some of the continent’s brightest spots are lighting up the economic prospects. According to the International Monetary Fund, six of the top 10 performing nations globally are projected to come from Africa in 2024.…
- Uganda has issued first Islamic Banking License after a 20-year wait. On its part, Kenya has issued the first Islamic Bond to finance affordable housing agenda.
- The performance of Sukuk bonds in the continent is revealing untapped demand that could finance development projects.
- Estimates show global Islamic finance assets could reach $3.8 trillion by 2024.
Islamic Finance is on an exponential growth trajectory across Africa, garnering momentum by the day broadening the continent’s financial landscape. African countries are making significant steps towards bolstering access to shariah-compliant financial instruments and services, to cater to the largely financially, excluded Muslim population. This comes as figures from the Islamic Development Finance Corporation (IDFC), forecast that global Islamic Finance assets could reach $3.8 trillion by 2024.
Large swathes of African populace still remains unbanked, pertinently those shifting stance from the conventional system driven by their religious beliefs, thereby unlocking an untapped pool of investments.…
Most Kenyans, 83 per cent, indicated a willingness to increase the amount of money they allocate to savings and investments, but the inability to save due to insufficient funds after fulfilling their obligations that require regular funding and the availability of quick digital loans.
Among their obligations which contribute to Kenyans’ financial strain is supporting their extended family which considerably bites into their savings. 84 per cent of people indicated that they regularly provide some income to their extended family, mostly in case of emergencies, because they feel a sense of obligation to send their extended families money and because their extended family members treat them better when they are sent money.
On their part, the extended family members mostly use the money to cater to recurring expenses like food & transport, school fees and medical expenses at 23 per cent, 19 per cent and 18 per cent respectively. Farm-related…
- Cocoa is a signature cash-crop for Ivory Coast
- US Department of Agriculture slated to invest $61 million in Ivory Coast cashew nut
- Ivory Coast economy is forecasted to expand by 6.7 percent in 2022
Ivory Coast is one of Africa’s largest farms. More than 60 per cent of the national territory is dedicated as arable agricultural land. Ivory Coast is one of the largest economies in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, and agriculture is its backbone. Cocoa production is the blood pumping through the economic veins of the Ivory Coast. The West African nation is not only the largest producer of Cocoa in the region but globally (contributing around 30 per cent).
In 2020/2021, Ivory Coast produced 2.15 million metric tonnes of cocoa beans. In Ivory Coast, the share of agriculture to the economy stood at 21.39 per cent in 2020.
The West African nation of more
Based on a report by Disrupt Africa, funding for health tech startups in Africa jumped 257.7% from US$28.8m in 2019 to US$103m in 2020. These startups provide a wide range of services from scheduling medical consultations to telemedicine and digitalized imagery.
MaiSoin from Cote d’Ivoire uses a decentralized, gig-economy model, to facilitate the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients needing care at home or via telemedicine. In their first year of operations, they have had an average of 50% growth month over month and are already looking at potential expansions in the region.…
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.…
Africa is seen as one of the most promising regions for hotel developers. Aside from small chains and independents, four global hotel groups dominate signings and openings on the continent. Over the last four rolling quarters, as of September 2019, Accor, Hilton, Marriott International and Radisson Hotel Group have opened 2,800 rooms and signed deals for 6,600 rooms.
Across Africa, hotel development remains important in most advanced economies, such as Morocco and South Africa; and projects are multiplying in East Africa, especially in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
In West Africa, Nigeria is back on the development scene thanks to emerging regional destinations beyond Abuja and Lagos. Francophone Africa is also moving fast. The Ministry of Tourism of Ivory Coast has launched an ambitious national plan for tourism development, Sublime Cote d’Ivoire, and already announced over US$1bn investment in the sector.
Senegal is the other regional star, with local programmes …
International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, announced that it will co-host the AFRICA CEO FORUM 2020.
IFC’s support for the event shows its increasing commitment to help Africa’s governments, businesses, and entrepreneurs overcome challenges, increase trade, create jobs and drive innovation.
The Africa CEO Forum will be held on March 9 to 10 next year in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
It is the leading international conference dedicated to supporting private sector-led growth on the continent.
The upcoming 8th edition of the AFRICA CEO FORUM will focus on regional integration, the impact of technological advances, infrastructure development and jobs.
It will also cover other areas relevant to unlocking the continent’s economic potential and helping improve lives.
IFC which has co-hosted the FORUM since 2018, is at the centre of discussions on these and other development topics which will help drive economic transformation in the …