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MTN Targets Nigeria’s $236 Billion Credit Gap as its $500 Billion MoMo Business Pushes into Lending
MTN Group is moving to turn its African mobile-money empire into something much bigger than a payments business, as the telecoms giant prepares to separate its fintech operations in Nigeria and Uganda, bring in strategic investors, and push into lending across some of the continent’s most underbanked markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Courageous Capital: How Africa Built its Own Tech Ecosystem
Africa’s tech sector has been thriving for almost three decades, during which its entrepreneurs have quietly built a self-sustaining ecosystem. And as Marsha Wulff at LoftyInc Capital explains, instead of government and charitable institutions taking the lead, it has been Africa’s own innovators who have developed its tech infrastructure and driven its commercial success. She explores how African entrepreneurs and investors have built a vibrant and resilient tech ecosystem that addresses the continent's unique needs — and taps its massive growth potential.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
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After Securing $260 Million in 2025, Madagascar Billionaire Lands Another €170 Million for Telecom Growth
Madagascar billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee has secured another major vote of confidence from international financiers after AXIAN Telecom landed a €170 million ($196 million) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), extending a funding streak that has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars into the fast-growing African telecom operator.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
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Understanding Africa’s Broken Climate Finance System: How the Missing Layers in the Capital Stack are Holding the Market Back
Africa needs roughly $277 billion a year in climate finance to meet its 2030 climate goals. Yet as Gagandeep Bakshi at the William Davidson Institute and Santosh Singh at Intellecap explain, with annual flows of $44-50 billion, the gap is considerable — and investors are pulling back just as the need for this funding is growing. Making matters worse, they argue that the problem is not just in the numbers, since beneath these totals, there is a thin layer of capital piling into a handful of companies and countries, while missing layers in the capital stack prevent the emergence of a more balanced market. They explore how this issue is holding investors and entrepreneurs back, and propose a more effective approach.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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Press Release: IFC Anchors Highland Central Asia Fund II to Boost Private Equity and SME Financing in Central Asia
IFC is investing up to $10 million in Highland Central Asia Fund II to increase SME funding in Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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Arm-Harith Secures $76 Million First Close for Climate Transition Fund
The fund, which targets a final close of $200 million, is designed to mobilise African institutional capital and accelerate investments in energy transition and climate-resilient infrastructure projects across Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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WFP and Government of Nepal Launch Innovation Accelerator for Climate and Food Security
The accelerator supports local start-ups to pilot and scale solutions across the food system, including solar-powered irrigation and clean energy solutions, digital advisory platforms for farmers, satellite-based insurance and climate data tools and market and value chain innovations for smallholders.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Investing, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Digital Africa Launches €30 Million Seed Fund
The fund will target 30 tech-enabled startups across 20 priority African countries.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- development finance, MSMEs, startups
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