Business

Why 80% of African startup funding comes from foreign investors and what it means for local founders

Photographer Desola Lanre-Ologun/Unsplash By The African Exponent In Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town and Cairo, the cranes of a different sort of construction project have been busy for a decade. Co-working spaces, accelerators, fintech licences and pitch decks have all multiplied. Politicians and development bankers talk earnestly of “ecosystems”. And yet for all the noise, in

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How pay-as-you-go solar financing in Africa is shifting from equity to debt

Photo by American Public Power Association /Unsplash By The African Exponent In July of last year, in offices in Nairobi and London, lawyers from Clifford Chance closed a deal that few outside the off-grid solar industry noticed. Sun King, a seller of small solar systems to East African households, raised $156m in Kenyan shillings (equivalent),

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Xi holds talks with Trump in Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 14, 2026. Photographer Ding Lin By Xinhua News Agency Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with visiting U.S. President Donald Trump at the

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China, Mozambique upgrade ties as Xi, Chapo hold talks

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with President of the Republic of Mozambique Daniel Francisco Chapo and his wife Gueta Chapo ahead of the talks between Xi and Chapo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 21, 2026. Xi held talks

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Pakistan receives $2B from Saudi Arabia to bolster reserves

By Anadolu Agency Pakistan received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia on Thursday, providing support to its foreign exchange reserves as the country faces mounting external payment obligations. The State Bank of Pakistan said in a post on the US social media platform X that it received the funds from Saudi Arabia’s Finance Ministry with a

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Global financial instability increases amid Mideast conflicts: IMF report

Tobias Adrian (3rd R), director of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Monetary and Capital Markets Department, speaks at a press briefing on Global Financial Stability Report in Washington, D.C., the United States, on April 14, 2026. IMF on Tuesday released its Global Financial Stability Report, warning that risks to global financial stability are rising amid

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Ethiopia’s flagship investment forum secures over $13 billion in deals

By Xinhua News Agency Ethiopia’s flagship investment forum, dubbed “Invest in Ethiopia,” concluded on Friday with the signing of investment agreements worth over 13 billion U.S. dollars. The fourth edition of the forum was held under the theme “Ethiopia: Ready for Business” in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital, attracting hundreds of investors, business leaders, and

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Kenya says it has finalised trade deal negotiations with China

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kenyan President William Ruto shake hands during a signing ceremony at The Great Hall of The People on April 24, 2025 in Beijing, China By Reuters Kenya has finalised negotiations ​over a trade deal with China, two months after ‌announcing a preliminary agreement that would grant the East African country

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South Africa’s gold producers stay in the shallows as prices surge

Gold bars are displayed to be photographed at bullion house in Mumbai December 3, 2009. Photographer Arko Datt By Reuters Record gold prices are pushing South Africa’s beleaguered mining industry to find new ​ways to recover the metal that sidestep the costly deep-shaft mining of old, industry executives said. But with ‌no boom in new

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China targets GDP growth of 4.5% to 5%, vows to oppose hegemonism

By Anadolu Agency China set its 2026 economic growth target at 4.5%-5%, slightly lower than the 5% achieved last year, as the National People’s Congress (NPC) convened Thursday in Beijing for its annual session. According to a government report delivered to the NPC, the main targets for development include a surveyed urban unemployment rate of

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