The UNIFAD is collaborating on a new initiative with Benin to boost production among market gardeners and create jobs for young people and women. The project will invest nearly $50 million in 17,000 market gardeners. The package provided to growers includes market research, better access to and from their gardens through 75 miles of new roads and help with collecting seeds. Read More »

The Africa-Arab Partnership meeting started Wednesday to discuss trade, investment, transport and communication at the African Union. The meeting was created to work on the development of an Africa-Arab Action plan, which will become part of the region's 2017-2019 action plan, set to be unveiled in November during the fourth annual Africa-Arab Summit in Equatorial Guinea. Read More »

John Deere is launching a new campaign to help African farmers improve productivity on their farms. The S.M.A.R.T. campaign offers African farmers one-stop shopping for all their agricultural equipment needs by advocating mechanization. John Deere is also developing its own financing network specific to African agriculture, brokering partnerships with local African banks. Read More »

Leonard Stiegeler, former general manager for Nigeria and head of West Africa operations for leading diversified digital media company Ringier in Africa, was recently appointed to general manager. The move is part of Ringier's international market restructuring program, which began Jan. 1. All of the new officials will report to Ringier CEO for Asia and Africa Robin Lingg. Read More »

CPhI, a global events portfolio company focused on pharmaceuticals, recently partnered with Africa's largest pharmaceutical exhibition, the APS. The APS was first held in 2013 and includes an exhibition, summit and networking opportunities. The pharmaceutical market in Africa has grown steadily over the past several years; it is projected to grow to a $40 billion industry by 2020. Read More »

With a goal of gaining an understanding of the workings of the West African oil and gas market and networking with possible partners and investors, Scottish oil and gas industry professionals traveled to Nigeria. The visit was organized by SDI, the Scottish government's international economic development division. SDI's African office opened in Accra, Ghana, in June 2014. Read More »

Government officials, business leaders, policy makers and African youth met at the African Union Commission recently for the 5th Intergenerational Dialogue. The gathering was aimed at discussing and identifying the role of African youth in the continent's ongoing development in light of Africa's Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals' strategic plans. Read More »

New York-based Transpay, a B2B/B2P cross-border payments platform, was honored Wednesday during Nigeria's Kalahari Awards. Transpay was named "Best e-Commerce Payment Solution" and was recognized for its services that allow business and individual customers to send mass payouts via its independent direct-to-bank network. Transpay is used by customers in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. Read More »

African capital markets experienced some hard times in 2015, according to PwC "2015 Africa Capital Markets Watch" released Monday. The report includes studies of equity and debt capital market transactions that took place between 2011 and 2015 on exchanges across Africa; it also looks at transactions completed by African corporations using international exchanges. Read More »

Businesses in Ghana and Nigeria received help from Facebook Tuesday. The company held a discussion with local business owners in Accra to show local businesses how Facebook can help them grow their brands. Facebook officials pointed out several Ghanaian and Nigerian businesses that have already had success employing Facebook as a tool for their marketing strategy. Read More »

Land degradation and drought are issues that have plagued African farmers for generations. In an effort to find solutions to those and other challenges faced by Africa's farms, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have entered into an agreement to support a program called Great Green Wall. Read More »

Indeed is continuing to draw more visitors, adding eight new country sites including Nigeria. The other new country sites are Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Morocco, Panama, Ukraine and Uruguay. With these additions, Indeed now serves job seekers in 60 nations. At the beginning of this year, Indeed.com had more than 200 million unique visitors over the first month of the year. Read More »

Roxgold Inc. released an update on its Yaramoko gold project Monday, located southwest of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Mine operations are being conducted through Roxgold's subsidiary Roxgold Burkina Faso SARL. The project's feasibility study was completed in April 2014; Roxgold received the signed mining convention from the Burkina Faso Ministry of Mines for the project in 2015. Read More »

Alecto Minerals, an African-based gold and base metal company, has signed a joint venture agreement with Randgold Resources of the U.K. to spur progress on the Kossanto West Gold Project in Mali. Two exploration permits, Kobokoto Est and Koussikoto, have already been secured for the project; Randgold will hold 65 percent of the permit interests and Alecto will hold 35 percent. Read More »

During the Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council, ICAO Council President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu discussed the place of politics in aviation safety and security oversight in Africa. Additional topics included air transport infrastructure modernization and human resources development. The officials also explored ways to use resources. Read More »

Those looking to obtain a work visa in the West African nation of Senegal may have the option to use priority service. Those who pay for priority service are guaranteed their completed applications will move straight to the front of the visa queue. Normal non-settlement visa applications are typically processed within five to seven business days. Cost for priority service is $172.47. Read More »

A major mobile operations corporation in the Ivory Coast has selected Swedish telecommunications provider Seamless to put in place a necessary transaction switch for $2 million. Seamless, which serves customers mainly in Africa, the Middle East and South America, will provide the Ivory Coast company with the information technology and logistics services necessary. Read More »

To increase awareness about the World Bank's services, the bank's vice president for the African region, Makhtar Diop, traveled to Burkina Faso Monday. Burkina Faso has been a member of the World Bank Group since 1963. Presently, there are 16 national projects underway in the nation sponsored by the World Bank. These projects carry a total investment of about $1,047.69 million. Read More »

Ghana National Petroleum Corp. (GNPC) recently partnered with pan-African energy investment firm Quantum Power on the storage, re-gasification and delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the Tema project in Tema, Ghana. Spanning 20 years, the project will cost more than $550 million to get started. It is estimated the project will produce 3.4 million tons of LNG annually. Read More »

As the result of a transaction worth more than $85 million, global insurance provider AXA became the exclusive insurance products and services provider for e-commerce firm Africa Internet Group (AIG) Tuesday. Under the terms of the agreement between the two companies, AXA will also own about 8 percent of AIG's capital. AIG's extensive portfolio of mobile platforms includes Jumia. Read More »