BUSINESS - The African Mirror

May

28

2024

Ackerman family cedes control of South Africa’s Pick n Pay in revamp

BUSINESS

THE Ackerman family, which founded South Africa's Pick n Pay (PIKJ.J), will relinquish control of the struggling retailer as part of a revamp aimed at stemming losses, cutting debt and regaining market share. Gareth Ackerman will also retire as chairman after 14 years in the job and 40 years at the company, though he will stay on to support management until next year's annual results. New CEO Sean Summers is tasked with reviving a business that has been losing market share to bigger rival Shoprite (SHPJ.J) and others for more than a decade. Founded by Raymond Ackerman in 1967, Pick n Pay was…

May

26

2024

By The African Mirror

MTN Uganda to sell shares left over from undersubscribed 2021 IPO

BUSINESS

TELECOM firm MTN Uganda (MTNU.UG) plans to sell shares left over from its deeply undersubscribed 2021 Initial Public Offering to local investors to expand local ownership and comply with regulatory requirements, it said on Saturday. The Uganda unit of South Africa's MTN Group (MTNJ.J) has received regulatory approval for the extra share sale, MTN Uganda said in a statement published in The East African newspaper. When it was listed on the Ugandan stock market three years ago, MTN Uganda sought to sell 20% of its shares to local investors to fulfil regulatory requirements but only met 60% of that target. MTN Uganda said…

May

23

2024

By The African Mirror

Microsoft ties up with UAE-based AI firm to invest $1 bln in Kenya data centre

BUSINESS

MICROSOFT (MSFT.O) is partnering with UAE-based AI firm G42 to invest $1 billion in a data centre in Kenya as part of its efforts to expand cloud-computing services in East Africa, the companies said. The data centre, which will be built by G42 and its partners, will be powered by geothermal energy and provide access to Microsoft's Azure through a new cloud region for East Africa. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Abu Dhabi-based G42, in which Microsoft invested $1.5 billion last month, has begun training an open-source large-language AI model in Swahili and English. CONTEXT Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Microsoft and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) are investing billions in new…

May

23

2024

By WENDELL ROELF

Vivo Energy to invest over $550 mln in South Africa, minister says

BUSINESS

VIVO Energy, owned by global commodities trader Vitol, will invest an initial 10 billion rand ($550.79 million) in its South African operations following its merger with Engen, South Africa's trade minister Ebrahim Patel said. The investment is part of a range of public interest and competition commitments, designed to prevent job losses and continue supply contracts with local refineries, that domestic regulators sought when the merger was considered. "The company (Vivo) has committed to a minimum of about 10 billion rands over the next five years to be invested in areas like green energy, infrastructure and the upgrading of its…

May

21

2024

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Why Nigerian companies topped Africa’s fastest growing list in a difficult year

BUSINESS

IN early 2023, when Nigeria began rolling out its newly designed currency notes, the country was hit by a cash crisis. The reason? Nigeria’s apex bank had put a cap on the maximum amount of hard cash that individuals and corporations could withdraw as part of wider efforts to tame money laundering. While this scarcity of hard cash worsened Nigeria’s tough economic situation, an unprecedented development occurred: e-payments soared and became the new norm in the country. In turn, Nigerian companies that rode on this development to help fix the flow of money in the country - by leveraging digital…

May

22

2024

By AMERICA HERNANDEZ

TotalEnergies moves ahead on $6 billion Kaminho oil project in Angola

BUSINESS

FRENCH oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) is pressing ahead with the development of the Kaminho oil project 100 kilometres off the coast of Angola after a final investment decision on the block, it said. The $6 billion project involves developing two oil fields located in Block 20/11, Cameia and Golfino, according to a statement from Angola's national hydrocarbon agency ANPG. Italian engineering firm Saipem will convert a very large crude carrier into a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit, which will connect oil from the offshore fields to a subsea production network. "This project... will become our seventh FPSO unit in the country and…

May

21

2024

By PATRICK NZABONIMPA, BIRD STORY AGENCY

How Africa’s women-led businesses are bridging the funding gap

BUSINESS

SPEAKING at the CEO Forum 2024 in Kigali, Rwanda, last week, Marie Ange Mukagahima, founder and CEO of Zima Healthy Group Ltd voiced her frustration about the difficulty of securing funding for business expansion. The main challenge, she explained, is that lenders focus more on collateral than on evaluating the demand for her company’s products in the market. “They should focus on the potential of my business, not just collateral,” said, whose company produces natural, pumpkin-based products. “They should be asking ‘Who will buy your products?’ instead of ‘What can you put up as security?’ That's what has been holding…

May

20

2024

By The African Mirror

TotalEnergies strikes supply deal with Dangote on Nigerian refinery

BUSINESS

FRENCH energy major, TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) had struck its first supply deal with Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said, following a meeting with Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote. "We met this morning, we made the first deal between both of us," Pouyanne told a panel at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. "The two CEOs met with our head of trading and we found the way to convince them to make a deal," he added. Dangote has been trying to secure crude supplies for his 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery, the largest in Africa and Europe when…

May

18

2024

By The African Mirror

Ghana parliament reconvenes, approves World Bank loan and appointees

BUSINESS

GHANA'S parliament, which had been adjourned since March following a dispute between the speaker and the president over an anti-LGBT bill, reconvened and approved ministerial appointees and a World Bank loan. Majority leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said in a statement that the urgent recall was "in good faith to enable the government to discharge its constitutional and democratic obligations to the people." Lawmakers in February unanimously passed one of Africa's most restrictive anti-LGBT bills, but President Nana Akufo-Addo has not yet signed it into law. His office said it would wait for the outcome of two legal challenges to the bill…

May

19

2024

By ANGE ABOA

Ivory Coast’s cocoa regulator suspends cooperatives for hoarding beans

BUSINESS

IVORY Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC) has suspended around 40 cooperatives they suspect were illegally hoarding cocoa beans in order to sell them at a higher price to exporters struggling to fulfil their contracts, two sources at the regulator said. Exporters, who have been short of supply due to cocoa disease and adverse weather, are looking for ways to buy beans to honour their contractual obligations and some suppliers were taking advantage of the situation, the sources said. Suspended cooperatives and independent buyers have stockpiled more than 60,000 metric tons of cocoa since the start of the mid-crop in…