In an effort to increase its presence in West Africa, Sony Music Entertainment has launched operations in Lagos, Nigeria. The new office will be the central location for Sony's planned expansion in West Africa. The company has also signed Nigerian artist Davido to a worldwide record deal. West African listeners can also hear musical offerings via MTN Nigeria's IMI. Read More »

With its acquisition of 100 percent of the shares of Nigeria's FBN Microfinance Bank (FBN MFB), Letshego Holdings Limited of Botswana has made its first investment in West Africa. Letshego, which operates in nine nations throughout eastern and southern Africa, presently serves more than 265,000 customers. Company officials estimate Letshego will gain more than 385,000 customers. Read More »

In an effort to streamline business operations, a BRC has been put in place for programs in Ghana that are funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). The DIFD is a United Kingdom-based governmental department that administers aid to nations overseas in an effort to promote sustainable development and stem poverty. In Ghana, DIFD funds the BEEP. Read More »

The poor in Ghana and Tanzania will have better access to financial services through Financial Inclusion on Business Runways (FIBR), a new initiative of global consulting firm BFA and the MasterCard Foundation. This multi-million-dollar project will span four years and see financial experts gathering and digitizing data from business transactions in Ghana and Tanzania. Read More »

To address the economic consequences of plummeting oil prices, Gene Leon led an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team on visits to Abuja, Nigeria, Dec. 14 to Dec. 17 and Lagos Jan. 10 to Jan. 25. The visits were part of a required 2016 Article IV consultation. Leon said the Central Bank of Nigeria, in an effort to protect reserves, had implemented foreign exchange restrictions. Read More »

Clavister recently entered into a distribution agreement with West African company Defis & Strategies Group. Defis & Strategies provides services for businesses in the West African nations of Burkina Faso, Togo, Senegal, Congo, Cameroon and Ghana. Under the terms of the distribution agreement, the company will sell and distribute Clavister’s NGFW and gateway security solutions. Read More »

The African Union Commission (AUC) and European Union (EU) partnered Wednesday to host a two-day workshop, where representatives from businesses and organizations with an interest in the energy sector began developing a cooperative framework for energy. The workshop is part of the AUC's Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL), Eastern and Southern Africa initiative. Read More »

The inaugural meeting of the Continental Free Trade Area Negotiating Forum (CFTA-NF) took place in Addis Ababa at the African Union Commission (AUC) headquarters. The Continental Free Trade Area was established last June during the 25th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. The target date for it to be completely operational is 2017. Read More »

Azzad Asset Management expanded its offerings Tuesday with ethical trade financial opportunities for Asian and African clients through its Azzad Wise Capital Fund. It is estimated that the unmet demand for trade finance in Africa carries a price tag of between $110 and $120 billion. The majority of the fund is made up of sukuk and community development bank investments. Read More »

GSMA Foundation and government officials from the U.K. have come together to make mobile technology more accessible to underserved areas. The initiative will be funded by the U.K.'s DFID. Technologies to be included in the program are those that can enhance natural disaster response as well as assist individuals with finding financial services, clean water and sustainable energy. Read More »

Nigerian and Saudi Arabian leaders met Tuesday to discuss strategies to stabilize the oil market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The meeting took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and was hosted by King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia. Abdul-Aziz discussed the threat of terrorist acts in the region and ways to prevent them with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.  Read More »

U.S.-based Mondelez International's Cocoa Life Sustainability program has assisted 76,700 farmers in nearly 800 communities since it began in 2012. The program covers the cocoa-growing regions of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, India and Brazil. Mondelez reports that farmers in the Cocoa Life regions have experienced tripled incomes since 2009. Read More »

An emergency arbitrator has partially granted and denied emergency relief measures requested by SCS Corp. for a dispute with multinational oil and gas exploration companies Tullow Guinea Ltd. and Dana Petroleum Ltd. SCS, an oil and gas exploration company, filed action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Jan. 8. Read More »

Roxgold Inc. announced positive results from QV1 and QV Prime drilling programs at its Bagassi South project in Burkina Faso. The Bagassi South project is adjacent to Roxgold's main gold interest in Burkina Faso. Gold is expected to be produced from these projects; Roxgold officials anticipate the Bagassi South project will enhance the value of the Yaramoko gold project. Read More »

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo took time to visit with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah during a visit. The leaders talked about ways Nigeria could benefit from WTO's services, and Azevêdo expressed the organization's commitment to keeping Nigeria moving forward. Read More »

In an effort to make the telecom sector more transparent to its customers in Ghana, the AFAG has been a vocal supporter of establishing an ICH. According AFAG officials Henry Haruna Asante, Wesley Owusu and Davis Opoku, a recent NCA press conference indicated that many of Ghana's telecom providers were in favor of the ICH, which has been in development for seven years. Read More »

Shallow oxide results have come in from the Tanlouka Gold Project, which is owned by Canadian gold development company West African Resources Limited. Among the findings at the project's M3 eastern zone were shallow oxide gold mineralization, potential to add ounces to existing heap leach and a probable ore reserve of 440,000 ounces of gold. The project has been active since 2010. Read More »

The 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Nigeria and China was marked on Feb. 10. In a letter to Nigeria's Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that much effort has gone into maintaining good relations between the two nations, including many missions back and forth that brought high-level leaders to the countries. Read More »

With its acquisition of Tundra Corp., liquefied natural gas shipping company Golar LNG is now the owner of Golar Tundra, a floating storage and regasification unit off the coast of Ghana. The transaction was worth $330 million, $230 million of which will cover remaining lease obligations and bank financing. Golar made an upfront payment of 10 percent of the purchase price. Read More »

To prevent debit and credit card fraud for West African users, representatives from Visa Business School is hosting a three-day fraud prevention workshop in Dakar, Senegal. Topics being covered at the workshop, which was attended by 17 banks, included the latest technology in debit and credit cards and best practices for using them as well as fraud trends and how to detect them. Read More »