Author: Amadjiguéne Ndoye

Senegal is facing an alarming deterioration of its financial situation, confirmed by the downgrade of its sovereign rating to “B-” by Standard & Poor’s, with a negative outlook. This decision, announced on July 14, comes in the context of a growing debt burden and adds to a series of warnings already issued by other rating...

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has launched a private placement of $250 million in conditional convertible bonds over a period of ten days, with the support of Renaissance Capital Africa (RenCap) as transaction advisor, demonstrating its willingness to rely on high-level international financial expertise. This fundraising, approved by shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting on May 28, 2025 in Lomé, is part of a strategy aimed at strengthening the group’s financial strength, supporting its long-term growth, and increasing its competitiveness across its African markets. In a statement, ETI specified that the operation involves an issuance of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital…

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the long-term credit rating of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) from Baa1 to Baa2, with a revised outlook from negative to stable. Moody’s justifies this decision by “weaker-than-expected asset performance, increasing exposure to distressed states, and a significant reduction in its sources of funding.” The agency specifically points to Afreximbank’s strategic shift away from its traditional trade financing mission to providing unsecured sovereign loans to countries like Ghana, Zambia, and Malawi, all facing debt distress or restructuring situations. “The recent shift by the bank towards unsecured loans to distressed states has introduced significant risks,” notes…

As AZA Finance prepares to join forces with the Uruguayan giant dLocal, its founder, Elizabeth Rossiello, discusses with Financial Afrik the strategic stakes of this acquisition, the expected synergies on the continent, and the future of the African fintech sector.

Microsoft has announced potential funding of $500 million in partnership with venture capitalists to support African startups. The instrument should make it possible to support 10,000 startups in Africa over the next five years. The initiative is planned to launch alongside the Microsoft Startups Founders Hub on the continent, along with new partnerships with accelerators...

Dangote Fertilizer Limited, an entity of the Dangote Group, on Wednesday (March 2) signed a gas delivery agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and its Joint Venture (JV) partners including Shell, Total and Eni. The agreement is for the delivery of 70 million standard cubic feet (Scuf) of gas per day. It...

Zenith Bank plc posted double-digit growth of 10% in gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2021 to N765.6 billion ($1.8 million) from N696.5 billion. naira ($1.6 million) the previous year. Profit after tax was 244.56 billion naira ($587 million). The bank’s audited financial results attribute the growth, deemed “impressive”, to the 23% year-on-year...

AgDevCo has raised USD 90 million from the UK Development Finance Institution (CDC), Norwegian fund Nordfund and the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The investment should enable AgDevCo, which specializes in investing in African agricultural start-ups, to consolidate investments in agribusiness. The fund is made up of a contribution of $50 million from CDC Group,...

Cameroonian journalist Michel Lobé Ewané has been appointed to the board of directors of Joseph Sassoon Group, an international financial services group based in New York. He will be in charge of promoting the company in Africa, the search for new investments and will serve as a relay between the group and the press. Former...

EFG Hermes, the largest investment bank in Egypt, announced on Monday February 21 that it had received the approval of its board of directors to entrust Goldman Sachs with the takeover offer presented by First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) . On February 9, the main Emirati bank presented, in fact, a non-binding offer to acquire...

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) announced on February 17, 2022 that it had signed a loan agreement for 250 million euros with the German Development Bank KfW. The manna is particularly intended to finance the production, acquisition and distribution of anti-Covid-19 vaccines and medical supplies in Africa. “This loan demonstrates the German government’s support for...

Nigeria’s Bank of Industry (BOI) has issued a €700 million Eurobond to fund business growth in Nigeria. The five-year euro-denominated instrument is guaranteed by the federal government and issued at a yield of 7.5%. The deal was backed by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), global coordinator and active bookrunner on the issue. The bond was initially...

The SANAD Fund for MSMEs (SANAD) has granted a USD 1 million loan to Moroccan Attadamoune Micro-Finance in order to expand access to finance for Moroccan micro and small enterprises (MSMEs), particularly in rural areas. This funding will provide local currency financing to Attadamoune Micro-Finance through its network of 48 branches across Morocco, according to...

Credit Suisse Group AG has decided to transfer to Barclays PLC its wealthy clients in nine African markets where the bank has decided to withdraw since last November. The assets under management affected by the private banking client referral agreement signed by the two banks total approximately $2.5 billion. “Credit Suisse has signed a private...

Ghana is to receive a USD 27.39 million grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the development of mini-grids and solar PV net meters in the country. The project has already obtained co-financing from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy programme, a financing window of the Climate Investment Funds, and the Swiss State Secretariat for the Economy, for an amount of $28.49 million and $13.30 million, respectively. Called “Ghana Mini Grid and Solar Photovoltaic Net Metering”, the project will have a production capacity of 67.5 MW and will produce approximately 111,300 MWh of electricity per year. It includes the development…

Her appointment officially announced on January 28, 2022, the new CEO of the Orange group, Christel Heydemann, becomes the first woman to hold this position. She will take office on April 4, replacing Stéphane Richard, sentenced last November for complicity in the misuse of public funds in the Tapie-Crédit Lyonnais affair. Member of the board...

African venture capital firm TLcom Capital has raised $70 million for the first closing of its $150 million Africa-focused technology fund. The new fund should allow TLcom to expand its activities to fast-growing, technology-focused African startups, and strengthen its presence in East and West Africa. The deal saw Allianz participate through AfricaGrow, its joint venture...

GuarantCo, a member of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), granted a portfolio guarantee of approximately 14.55 billion FCFA, or 25 million USD to Oragbank Togo. The guarantee mainly concerns telecommunications and road projects in Togo. The largest bank in the country, Orabank will also benefit from capital relief allowing it to develop its infrastructure...

African insurers who are members of the Federation of African National Insurance Companies (FANAF) will hold their ordinary general meeting for the year 2022 from February 24. A press release from the organization’s executive office, published on January 21, indicates that this meeting will be held in hybrid mode in two phases and primarily concerns...

Egypt is expected to achieve economic growth of 5.7% for the financial year 2022-2023, as well as a primary surplus of 1.5% of GDP. This growth will be, according to the projections of the Egyptian Ministry of Finance, at 6% for the financial year 2024/25. Egypt is also seeking to reduce its overall budget deficit...

GuarantCo, a member of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), and the Kenyan bank SBM Bank have granted financing of 1.6 billion Kenyan shillings (nearly 15 million USD) to Bboxx Kenya to invest in affordable solar home systems for 470,000 Kenyans. The transaction represents the largest single loan raised by Bboxx Kenya to date. In a statement dated Tuesday, January 25, GuarantCo said it participated in the transaction with a partial credit guarantee of KES 1.2 billion (USD 11.25 million) of 75% on the loan facility. Bboxx Kenya manufactures, distributes and finances decentralized solar systems in developing countries. The funds…

American venture capital firm Ajim Capital has launched a $ 10 million fund to invest in African tech startups allowing entrepreneurs to focus on growing their businesses. The fund will provide checks of $ 25,000 to $ 150,000 to technology companies across the continent. “We invest primarily in profiles with entrepreneurial or directly relevant industry experience, initial indications of product-market fit (eg revenues or users), a highly scalable software solution and a potential return of 10 times the CoC for investors ”, explains Eunice Ajim (photo), founding partner of Ajim Capital. On the continent, venture capital funding is currently concentrated…

Italian company Eni has won five new exploration permits obtained from the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, after participating in a global tender for oil exploration in 2021. The licenses, including four as operator, are at sea and on Egyptian soil. In detail, the licenses are located in the Eastern Mediterranean (block “EGY-MED-E5” in partnership with BP 50% -50% and block “EGY-MED-E6” IEOC 100%), in the Gulf of Suez (block “EGY-GOS-13” IEOC 100%) and in the western desert (blocks “Egy-WD-7” in partnership with APEX 50% -50% and “EGY-WD-9” IEOC 100%) with a total area of approximately 8,410 km².…

Microsoft has announced the appointment of Ghanaian Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh, an international expert in corporate law, as the new head of strategic partnerships for Africa in its new Africa transformation office (ATO). The office will focus on facilitating growth and investment in four key development areas: digital infrastructure, skills development, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups. After having been responsible for IBM’s operations in more than 40 African countries, including Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, Ghana and Tunisia, the Ghanaian will now work on strategic partnerships with governments, financial institutions, telecommunications operators, multinationals and international organizations across the African continent.…

“My presence in Mauritania shows that things have changed. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here ” Returned from exile since March 11, 2020, Mauritanian businessman Mohamed Ould Bouamatou loudly proclaims his ambition to contribute to the emergence of a prosperous Mauritania. Benefiting from the abandonment by the new regime of President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of the international arrest warrant issued against him three years ago, the banker marries the present with hope with a new decade of construction and achievement. Talk to him about the 2050 horizon for a developed Africa, Mr. Bouamatou does not believe it. For the boss of…

The Nigerian government intends to increase its outstanding public debt to 50.22 billion naira ($ 122 million) by 2023, with domestic debt of 28.75 billion naira ($ 69.9 million) and debt of 21.47 billion naira ($ 52.2 million). The projections contained in the National Development Plan 2021-2025, indicate that the state plans to accumulate approximately 12 billion naira of debt between 2021 and 2023, as well as a reduction of the total public debt by 2025. Nigeria’s public debt was estimated at 38 billion naira at the end of the third quarter of 2021, with the total outstanding debt increasing…

The State of Senegal and the Eiffage Company signed on Wednesday, December 22 an agreement relating to the Concession of the Autoroute de l’Avenir (SECAA sn) and which marks the entry of the State into the capital of the company responsible for 25% exploitation. The agreement signed by the Minister of Finance and Budget, Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo, and Xavier Idier, the managing director of the Eiffage company of the Autoroute du Futur concession (Secca Sn) also concerns the reassessment of the license fee. Annual state property representing 2% of the annual turnover of SECAA, with a minimum of 800 million…

Proparco and Standard Bank have signed two new guarantees as part of the Choose Africa initiative aimed at accelerating the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship in Africa. The grant totaling 28.5 million euros was supported by the European Union (EU) and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP). The facility includes a first guarantee in the amount of 19.5 million euros intended to allow the bank to continue its lending activities to SMEs in a post-Covid environment. The second portfolio guarantee of € 9 million is to benefit sectors such as FinTech, agriculture,…

African Insurance Organization (AIO) President Tope Smart (pictured) has announced his organization’s intention to integrate the insurance sector into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It was during the 25th African Reinsurance Forum held from November 27 to December 1, 2021 in Kigali (Rwanda). “After careful consideration, the IOA secretariat has seen fit to include insurance in this agreement. We are not only looking at how the insurance sector could best fit into the Zlecaf, but also provide a suitable place for the cream of the African insurance industry to think about the way forward, ”said Tope Smart. According…

The Moroccan group Addoha achieved a turnover of 420 million dirhams (45.4 million dollars) in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 37% compared to the same period in 2020 when the group posted 305 million dirhams ($ 32.9 million). Over the first 9 months of the current year ended September 30, this figure is raised to one billion dirhams (108 million dollars) against 743 million dirhams (80.3 million dollars) in 2020, thus achieving a 47% increase. The group indicates in its financial communication published on Tuesday, November 30 that the period under review was marked by a stability…