African markets and business updates

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition through Competent Veterinary Authority lifted the suspension on the importation of specified livestock and livestock products from the Republic of South Africa (RSA) with immediate effect. This is according to the department of livestock services circular No. 5 of 2026 shared by the Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition Mr. Selibe Mochoboroane on his Facebook page.…

Uganda and Vietnam strengthened their longstanding bilateral relationship through economic diplomacy when the Pearl of Africa Business Forum – Vietnam Chapter brought together more than 300 government officials, business leaders, investors, researchers and development partners in Hanoi. The forum provided a platform to translate Uganda–Vietnam political relations into practical cooperation in trade, investment, agriculture, agro-processing, ICT, tourism, energy, minerals, oil and gas, and manufacturing.…

Sub-Saharan Africa has closed 68.8% of its overall gender gap, but at the current pace, the region is projected to take another 102 years to achieve full gender parity.

Traditional banking works best when the customer fits a relatively predictable profile. A salaried worker receives a regular income, has proof of address, can maintain an account and can absorb transaction or monthly fees. That model becomes less useful when income is irregular, employment is informal, or a customer lives far from a branch. Botswana has a financial inclusion problem that looks less like an issue of access to technology. Mobile phones are everywhere. Financial services are available on those phones, and mobile money is widely used. Yet traditional bank accounts reach only 58% of adults. That contradiction is what makes Mukuru’s latest move in Botswana interesting.…

The launch comes as African businesses move beyond experimenting with AI to embedding it in daily operations. Bujeti , a Y Combinator-backed Nigerian fintech, is turning its financial management platform into an artificial intelligence (AI) workforce that can process documents, chase unpaid invoices, monitor transactions, and answer employees’ finance questions. Its Real-time Agent Intelligence Network (BRAIN) uses four AI agents, which Bujeti calls Teammates, to automate routine finance tasks using the accounts, budgets, vendors, contracts and transactions already on its platform. The company said Teammates will become publicly available on September 30.…

Pula wants to buy African startups as it prepares for an exit. FSD, backed by British aid money, and S2E Africa, a consultancy, are helping find sellers. For years, investors in African tech have grappled with a question: how to return capital within a fund’s seven to ten-year lifecycle. On a continent with few public examples of venture-scale exits, that question has grown more relevant in recent years as many African venture firms approach the end of their first fund cycle.…

Senegal has signed a memorandum of understanding with Italian energy giant ENI to evaluate five offshore blocks, the country’s energy minister announced on Tuesday.

As Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine (SMM) focuses on delivering the first production of a high-grade thorium and rare earth deposit in the Western Cape, newly appointed SMM Chief Operating Officer (COO) Aiden Schoonbee will oversee the project’s execution into full production and the subsequent development of downstream hydrometallurgical cracking facilities. “This follows an increasing global and …

West Africa consumes some 22 to 24 million tons of milled rice annually but produces only about 60% of it; a vast untapped market.

Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America is in shambles after four of his supporting acts quit over a row about political speech.