Dr. Kate Steel (Co-Founder & CEO, Nithio) Climate fintech, Nithio, has secured $10 million in new funding for its Facility for Adaptation, Inclusion and Resilience (FAIR) mechanism, which was set up to provide financing to companies that supply clean energy to households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. The contribution comes from the Netherlands Development Finance Corporation (FMO), which is investing via its Energy Access Fund (AEF). FMO has included this financing in its climate investments. Explains Dorien Lobeek (AEF portfolio manager at FMO): “By investing in small local borrowers, Nithio contributes to household access to renewable energy,…
Author: Admin
Affiong Williams (Founder, ReelFruit) Founder & CEO of ReelFruit , Affiong Williams is delighted to have her company’s wide range of products – made from the best tropical fruits sourced from West Africa – listed on US discount e-Tailer, Martie. For Williams, the ReelFruit listing on Martie is not just another happenstance achievement for her company. She says: “It is a culmination of years of lessons and insights to find the right retail partner, right logistics/distribution, right marketing representation, and right payment terms. I’m proud that we’re learning how to win in the U.S market! “Now, if you love our products and are…
📸 Tech Nation A total of 25 companies have been selected for the 2024 Tech Nation Libra Programme (a curating community and education for under-represented tech founders to support scale and growth). The 25 shortlisted visionary founders and their ground-breaking companies joining Libra in 2024 are: 🚚 aTrace – seamless control over your supply chain🛒 Bakkali – making grocery shopping for cultural communities easier🌸 Brarista – AI-enabled bra expert🤖 Bot Theory – the first Web 3.0 Learning Metaverse for children📊 Deep Loop – generative AI supercharged analytics📈🏗 Ecolens – supply chain data to measure construction emissions📅 Elifa – digital vault for legacy planning and preservation🏙️ FueGo. – AI powered curator of travel and cultural experiences🚗 Finalrentals – sky-rocketing eCommerce sales…
Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah (2nd L); Founder & CEO, Del-York Group, Linus Idahosa (2nd R) Nigeria’s Enugu State government has just signed a multi-million dollar joint venture agreement with the Del-York Group to construct ‘The 042 Arena and Entertainment Park’ – a multi-purpose sports and entertainment hub designed to focus on key areas of development, training, innovation, education, talent discovery, hospitality, entertainment among other areas of interest. On completion, the sports arena will reportedly house the following facilities: training space, athlete housing, a physical therapy and sports medicine centre, and a performance centre, among. The entertainment park will house…
Late Kofi Annan: Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Secretary-General of the United Nations between 1997 and 2006, and the founding chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation The Austrian Federal Chancellery, together with the Kofi Annan Foundation, invites entrepreneurial start-ups with a proven business model and a demonstrated social impact to submit their business plans in order to bring their impact to scale and benefit as many Africans as possible. With a grant of EUR 25000 available to nine social enterprises, the focus of the 2024 edition of the Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa (KAAIA) is on Sustainable Development Goal…
Mike Adenuga (Chairman & CEO at Globacom) According to Forbes’s real-time billionaire ranking, Othman Benjelloun, at 91 years of age is the oldest billionaire on the African continent, and holds the 2050th position among the oldest billionaires in the world. He is followed closely by 82-year-old Christoffel Wiese, who ranks 2301th globally. The figures below represent the net worth of Africa’s oldest billionaires, as at January 22, 2024. RankNameAgeNetworthCountryIndustry1.Othman Benjelloun91$1.4 BillionMoroccoBanking and Insurance2.Christoffel Wiese82$1.2 BillionSouth AfricaRetail3.Issad Rebrab80$2.5 BillionAlgeriaFood4.Youssef Mansour79$1.3 BillionEgyptDiversified5.Nicky Oppenheimer78$9.4 BillionSouth AfricaDiamonds6.Mohamed Mansour75$3.3 BillionEgyptDiversified7.Michiel Le Roux74$1.2 BillionSouth AfricaBanking8.Johann Rupert72$10.2 BillionSouth AfricaLuxury goods9.Koos Bekker71$2.6 BillionSouth AfricaMedia and Investments10.Mike Adenuga70$7.0 BillionNigeriaTelecom and…
Dorothy Sokefun-Olokodana Dorothy Olokodana is the Founder of Organic Dorothy (suppliers of handcrafted ferments and nourishing wholefoods), and the brand’s Kombucha tea is making the rounds as a brew of choice. In her words: “Kombucha is a fermented beverage, and its basic ingredients are tea, sugar, a scoby (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) and water. These ingredients are left for some time to ferment – the same way that all coffee and chocolate are fermented. “The Organic Dorothy Kombucha tea is a living drink whose surprisingly unique flavour comes from using traditional fermentation techniques alongside high-quality ingredients in a…
Roosevelt Ogbonna (Managing Director, Access Bank) Access Holdings has announced that its subsidiary, Access Bank, will be acquiring a majority stake in Uganda’s Finance Trust Bank, subject to approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Uganda. In the new deal, Access Bank will hold 80% of shares in the East African financial institution. The definite agreement was disclosed by Sunday Ekwochi, Access Holdings’ Secretary, in a statement submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) for the investment public and involves the institutional shareholders of Finance Trust Bank. This deal comes amidst struggles by Ugandan commercial…
Founder of Chess in Slums Africa, Tunde Onakoya, has become a sensation once more, this time for playing 10 simultaneous chess matches, and winning every single one of them. Says Tunde: “On day two of the Digital Life Design (DLD) conference, I played a simultaneous chess match against 10 players at once. After an almost two-hour battle of wits, I managed to win all the games. The Chess exhibition helped us raise enough money to support the education of 100 children in our academy.” Tunde Onakoya 9Founder, Chess in Slums Africa) Chess in Slums Africa very recently signed a three-year…
Anne Ngozi Agbakoba My name is Anne Agbakoba, Publisher of Bank & Entrepreneur Africa – and we have just formally launched our #ItsToughEnough campaign – an audacious online initiative that harnesses the know-how of world-leading entrepreneurial experts to help take citizens of Africa from idea (or even no-idea) stage to viable business. Our first expert volunteers are Marc Goldberg (founder, Marc Goldberg Photography) and Precious L. Williams (founder, Perfect Pitches by Precious) who have both volunteered to share their expertise with every ambitious Nigerian through Masterclass online sessions, in February 2024. Marc kicks off with what he calls ‘low-hanging fruit’…