(Posted 16th March 2023)
CCA MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
Flutterwave Secures Two Additional Licenses in Rwanda: Electronic Money Issuer & Remittance licenses
Cision PR Newswire
Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, has today announced that it has received its Electronic Money Issuer and Remittance Licenses from the National Bank of Rwanda. This will help the company expand its operations in East Africa. With these new licenses, in addition to being a Payment Service Provider, Flutterwave can offer money deposit and withdrawal, electronic funds transfer, as well as inbound and outbound remittance services to the 13.46 million people living and working in Rwanda… Read more>>
Bechtel to Deliver Electric School Bus Charging Infrastructure
Bechtel
Bechtel was selected by First Student, the largest provider of student transportation services in North America, to support its industry-leading electrification efforts. Bechtel will immediately start designing and building charging stations for one of First Student’s electrification projects in the U.S. The two companies intend to partner on more electric vehicle deployments in the future, with Bechtel providing engineering, procurement, and construction services… Read more>>
U.S.-AFRICA RELATIONS
$331 Million in New Humanitarian Assistance for Ethiopia
U.S Department of State
This funding will provide life-saving support to those displaced and affected by conflict, drought, and food insecurity in Ethiopia. This assistance includes $12 million through the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and more than $319 million through the U.S. Agency for International Development. This brings the total U.S. humanitarian assistance for the response to the region to more than $780 million in FY 2023… Read more>>
Assistant Secretary Satterfield Travels March 13-17 to Johnannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa
U.S Department of State
From March 13-17, 2023, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) Lee Satterfield will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. She will address nearly 500 alumni of the Young African Leaders Initiative’s flagship program – the Mandela Washington Fellowship – representing countries from across sub-Saharan Africa; meet with U.S. exchange participants, and South African government officials and educational leaders; and discuss a variety of issues, ranging from United States-South African collaboration on higher education, including community colleges and technical schools, to cultural heritage protection and preservation… Read more>>
Secretary Blinken’s Travel to Ethiopia and Niger
U.S Department of State
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel to Ethiopia and Niger March 14-17, 2023.? On March 15, the Secretary will visit Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he will discuss implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement to advance peace and promote transitional justice in northern Ethiopia. He will also meet humanitarian partners and civil society actors to discuss humanitarian assistance delivery, food security, and human rights… Read more>>
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Molly Phee On the Secretary’s Upcoming Travel to Ethiopia and Niger
U.S Department of State
It’s a piece of the partnership scene that we so successfully highlighted in December when President Biden and his cabinet hosted the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. You’ll be seeing this as the year of travel of U.S. officials to Africa. We’ve already seen the First Lady and the Treasury Secretary as well as Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on the continent, and I expect to see many more leaders of the administration visiting to deepen and expand our partnerships, and that’s what the Secretary’s trip is designed to do as well… Read more>>
Statement by Press Secretary Kirsten Allen on Vice President Harris’s Travel to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia
The White House
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff will travel to Accra, Ghana; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Lusaka, Zambia from March 25 to April 2. The Vice President’s visit will build on the recent U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that President Biden hosted in Washington in December 2022. The trip will strengthen the United States’ partnerships throughout Africa and advance our shared efforts on security and economic prosperity… Read more>>
Mauritius National Day
U.S Department of State
On behalf of the United States of America, I congratulate you and the Mauritian people on the 55th anniversary of Mauritian independence. The United States and Mauritius enjoy a strong relationship based on shared values and mutual respect. We are heartened to see Mauritius emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than ever… Read more>>
U.S., African industry groups coordinate push for AGOA renewal this year
InsideTrade
U.S. and African industry groups are coordinating a press for the renewal this year of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, echoing a unified call by African trade ministers to ensure the program’s extension is not left in doubt as it nears expiration in 2025. The developing effort, informally called the AGOA Renewal and Enhancement Alliance, includes representatives from the private sector as well as some African countries. They discussed the program’s renewal during a meeting last month hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa, according to a source familiar with the alliance. Participants are pushing for renewal for “as soon as possible for as long as possible” — at least for 10 years, the source wrote in an email. The trade preference program for sub-Saharan African countries is set to expire in September 2025… Read more>>
EAC proposes flexible US market access under AGOA plan
The East African
The East African Community (EAC) wants the US government to make the rules governing access to their market more flexible under the planned renewal of the African Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa). The regional bloc, during its Council of Ministers Ordinary meeting held in February, made four new proposals to the Joe Biden administration to expand Agoa and make it more effective should the US Congress hasten its renewal before the 2025 expiry date… Read more>>
US has an enduring commitment to Africa – Africom chief
Defence Web
United States Marine Corps General Michael Langley, head of the US military’s Africa Command, has affirmed the United States’ enduring commitment to Africa and this can be seen in recent interactions with defence chiefs from African countries, as well as defence engagements… Read more>>
US Firm Bids to Stop Contested DR Congo Oil Auction
Barron’s
A US investment firm has proposed to stop a controversial oil auction in DR Congo’s rainforests, bidding to exploit carbon credits instead of drilling in the environmentally sensitive areas. In July, the Democratic Republic of Congo opened bidding for 27 oil blocks, arguing that exploiting its fossil resources was an economic imperative for the impoverished central African country… Read more>>
AGRIBUSINESS
Food Security in Africa: Microsoft, OCP Africa pool efforts to support smallholder farmers
The North Africa Post
Microsoft, through its Africa Transformation Office, and Morocco’s OCP Africa announced at the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), held in Doha, March 5-9, a partnership to support smallholder farmers and other stakeholders across Africa by 2025. OCP Africa, an African company that provides fertilizer solutions tailored to local conditions and the needs of soils and crops across the continent, is partnering with Microsoft to strengthen and expand its digital agriculture platform, a statement released Friday said… Read more>>
IFC, agCelerant and Bank of Africa Partner to Boost Rice Production in Senegal
Market Screener
To boost rice production and enhance food security in Senegal, IFC today announced a partnership with agCelerant and Bank of Africa to help smallholder farmers and small businesses in Senegal’s rice value chain more easily access financing for growth… Read more>>
ENERGY
Sahara Group urges collaboration, investments to drive sustainable energy in Africa
Newswires
Africa requires enabling energy policies, effective regulatory frameworks, investments, and collaboration to meet soaring energy needs across the continent, Wale Ajibade, Executive Director, Sahara Group has said. Addressing top energy operators, regulators, and government functionaries at the 2023 African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA) Week in Cape Town, Ajibade said the current level of global investments on renewable energy was inadequate to enable Africa embrace more alternative energy sources… Read more>>
South Africa’s Tourism Industry Confronts Worsening Electricity Outage Crisis
Skift
South Africa’s hospitality and tourism industries have had to source alternative energy proactively. There appears to be no end to the country’s ongoing energy crisis that cuts travel business profit margins and puts its digital nomad destination appeal at risk… Read more>>
SADC governments should cooperate to enhance cross-border energy trade
The Namibian
Kharas governor Aletha Frederick says governments in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region should cooperate to establish needed regulatory frameworks and infrastructure to provide assurance for cross-border energy trade and to enhance regional connectivity… Read more>>
HEALTH
Rwanda welcomes Africa’s first mobile vaccine-production units
RFI
Six mobile vaccine-production units developed by German pharmaceutical company BioNTech have arrived in Rwanda. This is the first such shipment to Africa as the continent seeks to boost local production of mRNA vaccines… Read more>>
Afreximbank, EIB unveil €200m pharmaceutical financing scheme for sub-Subsaharan Africa
The Independent
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the world’s largest multilateral bank, and Afreximbank, the pan-African multilateral financial institution, have joined hands to finance healthcare and pharmaceutical manufacturing projects across sub-Saharan Africa in an attempt to strengthen health resilience on the continent… Read more>>
INFRASTRUCTURE
2023 U.S. Institutional Investors Delegation Trips To Africa
Prosper Africa
Under the Prosper Africa initiative, MiDA Advisors (MiDA) and the Institutional Investor Network (IIN) will facilitate delegation trips in Africa to expose and educate U.S. institutional investors about investment opportunities and increase the flow of U.S. private and public capital into the continent. Delegation trips will allow investors to gain greater insight and understanding of perceived versus real risks, build relationships with local asset owners and managers and other key stakeholders, and assess a viable pipeline of deals across Africa… Read more>>
Africa receives investment boost to develop water infrastructure
Zawya
Metito Utilities Limited (MUL), a global investor and operator of water, wastewater, and alternative energy management solutions, and British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, announced the launch of their new company Africa Water Infrastructure Development “AWID”, a first-of-its-kind platform to develop climate-smart water projects at scale and to increase water security across Africa… Read more>>
ICT
Nigeria launches $672 million tech fund for young investors
Reuters
Nigeria launched a $672 million fund on Tuesday to support tech and creative sectors for young investors who struggle to raise capital in Africa’s largest economy. The fund – targeting 15 to 35-year-olds – comes at a time when there are concerns locally about the failure of U.S. startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group, which has supported startups in Nigeria… Read more>>
“Massive” Cyber Attack crashes African Union’s system
The Reporter
Cyber attackers prey on the African Union, resulting in the unscheduled suspension of its systems. The Reporter got a copy of an internal memo that said an attack on the AU data center started last week, making services and applications unavailable. Sources say that more than 200 corrupted devices have been found and are being cleaned up at a facility outside AU headquarters. The cloud-based data is secure, but staff were unable to access it… Read more>>
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