Trade finance agency Export Development Canada (EDC) opened a permanent representation in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday. Over the past five years, EDC has brought more than $7.4 billion to African and Canadian businesses; $235 million of it in Nigeria. EDC extends financing to sub-Saharan corporations, project owners and banks that seek business with Canadian companies. Read More »

Bamboo Finance and agribusiness leader Louis Dreyfus Holding will establish and manage NISABA, a $50 million impact investment fund. The fund's focus will be on small- and- medium-sized agribusiness ventures in Sub-Saharan Africa. The $10 million needed to launch the fund will be provided by Louis Dreyfus Holding. The fund will be supported by a network of local expertise. Read More »

Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi was named joint special representative for Darfur and head of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) Tuesday. In this role, Uhomoibhi, who is Nigerian, will also be African Union-United Nations joint chief mediator.He succeeds Abiodun Oluremi Bashua of Nigeria. Uhomoibhi has had a long career in international forums. Read More »

Educators and science professionals from African Union states gathered Wednesday at the Meeting of Senior Experts of the First Specialized Technical Committee on education, science and technology. Taking place at the AU Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dr. Mahama Ouedraogo said the main goal of the meeting was to bring together the commission's departments. Read More »

The U.S. Agency for International Development appointed Andrew Karas as their mission director in Ghana Oct. 23. Working closely with the government of Ghana to help establish its middle class, Karas will be responsible for USAID's agriculture, governance, economic growth and education programs in Ghana. Karas served as USAID's deputy mission director in Ghana since December 2012. Read More »

Guinness Nigeria Plc honored its distributors Wednesday at the 2015 national Distributors’ Conference and Awards Night for best-in-class performance and responsible marketing of its alcoholic beverage brands. At the conference, Guinness representatives announced new trade incentives and received input from distributors from across the country. Dr. Edmond Okafor was also honored. Read More »

Training workshops were established at eight points of entry in Ghana to educate port officials on Ebola preparedness. The workshops were for officials at the Tema and Takoradi ports; Kotoka international airport; and the Elubo, Aflao, Paga, Hamile and Sampa border crossing points to prepare them to include EVD and other communicable disease surveillance in their daily routines. Read More »

Magnus Nmonwu, regional director for Sage West Africa, recently expressed that it is imperative for businesses in West Africa to invest in products that will help them digitize their processes. Nmonwu insisted that enterprises that fail to keep abreast of technology will face major disadvantages. Nmonwu advised keeping up with mobile web, e-commerce and social media solutions. Read More »

Humanitarian service organization Rotary International contributed $6.9 million Monday to help Nigeria remain polio-free.  The funds will be used to increase immunization availability and activities overseen by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. This year, the World Health Organization removed Nigeria from its list of countries experiencing polio endemics. Read More »

Africa Finance Corp. has made three key appoints with Dr. Adesegun Akin-Olugbade, Oliver Tunde Andrews and Sanjeev Gupta in order to change its organizational structure this year. A Harvard Law School alumnus, Akin-Olgubade has spent more than 30 years in the financial and legal sectors. Dr. Akin-Olugbade has now been named executive director and Chief Operating Officer of AFC. Read More »

The World Health Organization removed Nigeria from the list of polio-endemic countries Monday. While Nigeria has not has reported positive test for wild polio virus in 15 months, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries that remain. A ceremony took place to celebrate Nigeria's removal from the list and was attended by the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health. Read More »

Standout Business Solutions recently partnered with WebNMS to help extend its Internet of Things platform to businesses in West Africa. The WebNMS IoT Platform develops scalable IoT applications for multi-vendor networks. It's the first open platform to combine remote sensor monitoring, energy management, security, location management, on-board diagnostics and vendor support. Read More »

The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre recognized Stratcomm Africa as one of Ghana's top 100 companies at an awards ceremony Oct. 22 at the State Banquet Hall in Accra. The Club 100 companies were selected by the American consulting firm Ernst & Young for their exemplification of this year's theme. Club 100 members will be expected to advise the GIPC on the next Club 100 event. Read More »

São Tomé e Príncipe officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. Oct. 7 to design and build a deep-sea trans-shipment port. The port will be built on São Tomé and add to the shipping infrastructure of the Gulf of Guinea. The first phase of construction is scheduled to be complete in 2018 and is projected to be fully operational by 2019.  Read More »

Partners for Development and the United States Department of Agriculture will boost the production, processing, and export of pineapples in Benin with their Pineapple Processing for Export (PINEX) program. The 5-year PINEX program will reach out to 5,200 pineapple farmers and 70 processing companies. The industry is currently the third most-valuable agricultural market in Benin. Read More »

The Africa 2.0 Annual Leadership Symposium will take place in Maputo, Mozambique, Nov. 24 to Nov. 26 to discuss financing infrastructure development in and for Africa. Africa 2.0 is a pan-African civil society organization that was founded in 2010 by Mamadou Toure. The organization's goal is to provide a platform for new and established African leaders to transform the continent. Read More »

The 553rd meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) convened Oct. 21 for an update on the recent Ebola virus disease (EVD) and the recovery efforts that have taken place in the affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A council of healthcare workers and officials spoke on the progress that had been made in the fight against EVD. Read More »

Pierre Buyoya, the high representative of the African Union (AU) for Mali and the Sahel and head of the AU Mission for Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL), introduced a project that will boost education in northern Mali's Gao region Oct. 15. With the project, which is under the direction of the non-governmental organization CRADE, school kits will be donated to children in the Bourem area. Read More »

Bintou Keita of Guinea was appointed the deputy joint special representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation (UNAMID) in Darfur Tuesday. The appointment was announced by the United Nations secretary-general and African Union Commission chairperson. Keita succeeds Abdul Kamara of Sierra Leone. Keita served as Ebola crisis manager in Sierra Leone. Read More »

Kfw and the African Development Bank (AfDB) unveiled a program Oct. 22 to advance agriculture throughout Africa at the Feeding Africa conference. The goal of the program is to develop solutions to spur the growth of agriculture in Africa by increasing access to financing options in the agricultural sector. AfDB promotes sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa. Read More »