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Shuttlers launches shared door to door car service in Lagos
Getting around Lagos can mean taking a bus, ordering a ride-hailing car or paying for a private trip. Shuttlers is adding another format to its transport business: a car that can be shared with other passengers but still picks you up from your location.
Sun King joins Kenya’s smartphone financing race
Sun King is moving deeper into Kenya’s smartphone market, offering customers a way to pay for phones in small daily instalments.
Sawa Energy partners with dfcu Bank to help Ugandan businesses finance solar
Ugandan clean-energy company Sawa Energy has partnered with dfcu Bank to help businesses finance solar and other clean-energy systems.
Africa50 puts $71m behind smaller renewable energy projects
Africa50 has secured $71 million for its Distributed Renewable Energy Fund, giving the infrastructure investor more capital to back smaller renewable power projects across Africa.
AfCFTA signs $5.17bn digital trade deal to make African trade easier
Trading between African countries is still harder than it should be. A small business can have a buyer in another country and still struggle to complete the sale because of different currencies, payment systems and the cost of moving money across borders.
City Distro is trying to solve one of Nigeria’s distribution problems
Getting everyday products from manufacturers to retailers in Nigeria can be a complicated process. A product can pass through several distributors before it gets to a shop, making it harder for manufacturers to know where their products are,
Christiane Zorn to take over as Volkswagen Group Africa boss
Volkswagen Group Africa will have a new chair and managing director from 1 October, with Christiane Zorn taking over from Martina Biene. Biene is moving to the Škoda board, where she will be responsible for sales and marketing.
Toyota considers hydrogen trucks as SMEs face changing logistics demands
Toyota is considering using hydrogen-powered trucks to move automotive parts and support other logistics operations at its factories, as the carmaker looks for more practical uses for hydrogen technology.
Village Capital invests $450,000 in two Nigerian startups
Village Capital has invested $450,000 in two Nigerian startups through its Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility. The investment is the facility’s first in Nigeria. The two companies are Trade Lenda, a financial services company for small and medium-sized businesses, and AirSmat, a climate-tech company that turns agricultural waste into biochar based fertiliser.
BIS tests XRP Ledger to verify official economic data
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is testing whether the XRP Ledger can be used to verify official economic data. The research looks at a simple problem.
Angola’s tech sector is paying more attention to cybersecurity as AI adoption grows
Angola’s technology industry is putting cybersecurity and artificial intelligence on the same agenda as more businesses start using digital tools in their day-to-day operations.
Odyssey raises $74m to expand the financing of distributed energy projects
Odyssey Energy Solutions has raised $74 million in equity and debt funding as it expands its business helping renewable energy developers secure and manage financing for distributed energy projects.
Former British soldier builds a $1 billion lending business in Kenya
Wayne Hennessy-Barrett arrived in Kenya in 2013 with little experience in finance and no loan book to speak of. What he did have was a question for the small traders he met in the country's informal markets: what do you need? The answer was simple. “I walked around and asked people what they needed,” Hennessy-Barrett
Former Goldman Sachs banker turns to Africa's funding gap
Grace Legodi has worked on both sides of the finance industry. She studied finance at the University of Cape Town, worked in mergers and acquisitions at Goldman Sachs in New York and Johannesburg, and later moved into venture capital and entrepreneurship development. She is now using that experience to fund early-stage businesses in Southern Africa
Geely launches its Riddara electric bakkie in South Africa
Geely has launched its Riddara electric bakkie in South Africa, with prices starting at R611,900. The Chinese brand is bringing three versions of the double cab to the local market, with one rear wheel drive model and two all wheel drive models. The range topping Riddara Apex RD6 4WD produces 315kW and 595Nm. This makes
African startups are making money by solving everyday business problems
African startups are increasingly building products for other businesses instead of trying to get millions of individual consumers to use their apps. The shift is showing up across areas such as payments, accounting, payroll, procurement, logistics and business software. For a startup, selling to another business can mean fewer customers are needed to build a
Kenyan fintech Flowt is using AI to help small businesses get working capital
Kenyan fintech startup Flowt is using AI to assess small businesses for working-capital loans, using the financial information they already generate through banks, accounting systems and M-Pesa. The Nairobi-based startup has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round from Delta40 Fund I and Impacc, with grant support from the Argidius Foundation. Flowt was founded by Elana Laichena
Rwanda puts $1.6 million into electric transport
Rwanda has launched a $1.6 million project to support electric transport. The programme will run from 2026 to 2030.Rwanda’s environment authority launched the project on August 26. It will focus on electric mobility policy, demonstration projects and the wider use of electric vehicles. For small businesses, the programme could affect delivery costs and motorcycle operations.
Telviva launches Viva, a digital agent for South African businesses
Businesses still have staff spending their time answering the same questions, transferring calls and looking up information for customers. Telviva wants Viva to handle some of that work. The new digital agent can answer calls, respond to WhatsApp messages and access information from a company’s existing systems. The South African cloud communications company says it
NCBA and BasiGo team up to finance 1,000 electric vehicles in Kenya
Getting more electric vehicles onto Kenya’s roads is becoming less about whether the technology works and more about whether operators can afford to buy the vehicles. NCBA Group and electric mobility company BasiGo are now trying to make that part easier. The two companies have agreed to finance 1,000 electric vehicles, giving public transport operators,