It is with profound sadness that we inform you of a tragic traffic accident involving five of our valued Mukuru Tendeseka (www.Mukuru.com) employees on the evening of 21 May 2024. 

The accident occurred as a staff vehicle transported employees home at the end of the workday. Three of our colleagues have tragically lost their lives. Two employees died at the scene of the accident, and a third succumbed to injuries en route to the hospital. The remains of Tarisai Chigwande, Felix Java and Ednah Ndogwedu have been transferred to Nyaradzo Funeral Parlour. 

Two of our employees survived the accident with serious injuries and are currently receiving medical treatment in hospital. One has been admitted to high care with head trauma and multiple broken bones, while the other has suffered a broken leg and is recovering in the general ward. 

Mukuru CEO Andy Jury says, “Our senior managers are on the ground working together with so many others to ensure we get the best care for the survivors while communicating with the next of kin who lost their loved ones in this tragic accident. 

“We know, this morning as the sun rises, many hearts are broken and lives shattered. We will do everything we can to keep serving the customers they cared so much about while assisting our injured colleagues and the families grieving this terrible loss. 

“I, and the entire Mukuru team, send them our condolences as we continue to support the survivors in their recovery.” 

In this time of immense grief, we have arranged for counseling and support for the colleagues of the injured and deceased. We are committed to ensuring they receive the care and support they need while continuing to serve the needs of our customers at this difficult time. 

We have also extended the services of bereavement counselling to the immediate families of our beloved colleagues and have personally engaged with them to offer support during this time. We have also provided financial assistance and we will continue supporting them where we can.   

Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the families, friends, and colleagues of those affected by this devastating incident. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mukuru.

About Mukuru:
Mukuru is a leading next generation financial services platform in Southern Africa that offers affordable and reliable financial services to a customer base of over 16 million+ across Africa, Asia and Europe. 

With over 100 million transactions to date, our core was built providing international money transfers and from this base, we’ve developed a set of services to address the broader financial needs of our customers. We now operate in over 60 countries and across over 500 remittance corridors. 

We are a business that puts the customer at the centre of everything we do, and for that reason, we serve clients across physical and digital channels, by various payment methods (cash, card, wallet) as well as a range of engagement platforms including WhatsApp, USSD, contact centre, App, website, agents and a branch and booth network. 

Mukuru has, for the fifth consecutive year, been listed as one of the top 100 Cross Border Payments businesses in the world in the 2024 FXC Intelligence Top 100 Cross-Border Payment Companies (https://apo-opa.co/3WWWTx7), one of only six African companies to receive this accolade. 

In 2023, Mukuru officially ranked sixth on the LinkedIn Top Companies List in South Africa. 

Mukuru was celebrated for innovation and excellence at the 2023 Africa Tech Festival Awards, receiving the Fintech Innovation of the Year Award – an acknowledgment of the transformative power of financial technology in driving economic growth, financial inclusion, and digital transformation.  

Further information can be found at https://www.Mukuru.com.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) approved the mid-term review of the Country Strategy Paper (CSP) 2022-26 for Rwanda in Abidjan on 21 May 2024. The progress during the first half of the implementation period has been significant.

The CSP for Rwanda was approved by the Boards of Directors of the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund – the Bank Group’s concessional funding window – in November 2021, focused on two priority areas. The first is strengthening physical infrastructure to increase productive resources and reduce the cost of doing business, and the second is developing skills and financial capacity to boost the private sector and drive growth based on productivity.

In the first priority area, 66% of the transport sector indicators have been achieved and have contributed to reducing travel time from over three hours to less than one, improving access to markets and commercial opportunities, and reducing the cost of doing business. Around 50% of the targets have been met in the energy sector, including national access to electricity, which rose from 40.5% in 2017 to nearly 75% in December 2023. An additional 375,543 households and 2,306 connections for schools, healthcare facilities, small businesses, and national offices have benefited from grid and off-grid power connections, improving livelihoods. Similarly, around 50% of the water sector results indicators have been achieved by connecting 1.5 million more people to drinking water, improving their quality of life as a result.

All of the results indicators in the second priority area have been achieved. A total of 120 targeted specialist graduates were employed within a year of graduating and 100 sustainable digital businesses have been created by young people, helping increase revenues in the beneficiary population.

In addition, new priority studies were completed on projected growth drivers between now and 2035 and to identify top investment strategies to support the preparation of the second national transformation strategy 2024 = 2029. These studies have strengthened the dialogue on growth, private sector development and the formulation of the country’s industrial policy.

“These are reassuring results for the next stage of implementing the CSP. There are still challenges and the remaining phase of the CSP will continue to tackle them following the same objective, namely helping Rwanda to encourage the development of productive capacity to boost growth based on productivity, free up the potential of the private sector and ultimately, accelerate the country’s structural transformation,” commented Aïssa Touré-Sarr, African Development Bank Country Manager in Rwanda.

On 30 April 2024, the Bank Group’s active portfolio in Rwanda comprised 22 operations, with a total value of $1.72 billion.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Media contact:
Alexis Adélé
Communication and External Relations Department
media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is the premier multilateral financing institution dedicated to Africa’s development. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NSF). The AfDB has a field presence in 41 African countries, with an external office in Japan, and contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org

A new milestone has been reached in Angola as energy major TotalEnergies and its partners on Block 20/11 announced a final investment decision (FID) for the Cameia and Golfinho fields. The announcement signals the start of development of the $6 billion Kaminho deepwater project – the first large-scale deepwater development in the Kwanza Basin. As the voice of the African energy sector, the African Energy Chamber (AEC) (www.EnergyChamber.org) commends the partners for the milestone achieved. The AEC believes this project will set a high standard for the development of deepwater projects – both in Angola and across the broader continent.

Block 20/11 is being developed by TotalEnergies as the operator with 40%, energy company Petronas with 40% and Angolan national oil company (NOC) Sonangol with 20%. Located approximately 100km off the coast of Angola in water depths of 1,700 meters, the project features a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit with a capacity of 70,000 barrels per day (bpd). The FPSO – the seventh developed by TotalEnergies in Angola – will be connected to a subsea production network, with over 10 million man-hours expected to be involved – primarily covering offshore operations. Now that FID has been reached, production is on track to start by 2028.

Angola has set a target of maintaining oil production at 1.1 million bpd by 2027 and thereafter increasing output to two million bpd. The Kaminho project will be instrumental in increasing production while creating jobs and bolstering economic growth. As the first development in the maritime zone of the Kwanza Basin, the Kaminho project represents a new oil frontier and forms part of a broader national strategy to consolidate the country’s footprint as one of the continent’s biggest oil and gas players.  

For TotalEnergies, achieving FID underscores the energy major’s commitment to developing Angola’s offshore oil and gas reserves. Having been active in the country for over 70 years, the company has established a long-standing partnership with Angola. The Kaminho project further solidifies this partnership while demonstrating TotalEnergies’ expertise in developing low-cost, low-emission oil and gas in Africa.

Meanwhile, for Sonangol – Angola’s NOC-turned-operator – the project highlights the company’s emerging role as a major player in the Angolan oil and gas upstream market. Following a national privatization initiative, Sonangol has been transformed into a competitive operator, and its partnership with TotalEnergies on the Kaminho project demonstrates both its expertise and strategic contribution towards developing large-scale oil and gas projects.

“Angola – one of Africa’s largest oil and gas producers – is proving time and time again its commitment to increasing production and alleviating energy poverty through oil and gas monetization. The announcement by TotalEnergies and the ANPG is a critical step forward towards this goal and the AEC commends the efforts by the partners on Block 20/11 to driving this important project forward. The Cameia and Golfinho fields further cement Angola’s status as a major global producer,” states NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the AEC.  

In addition to the announcement of FID, TotalEnergies signed an MoU with Sonangol EP for the decarbonization of the oil and gas industry, laying the foundation for a new era of low-carbon oil and gas developments in Angola. The MoU will see the parties jointly pursue research and development initiatives, with a strong focus on reducing emissions and increasing renewable energy projects. The respective research and development teams of TotalEnergies and Sonangol EP have agreed to collaborate on the implementation and development of laboratories while supporting the development of skills in the fields of geology and electrification.

“The reforms implemented by the President João Lourenço and his oil minister Diamantino Azevedo are proving effective. They have addressed many of Angola’s above-ground risk issues, streamlined the permitting and approval processes, and made a compelling case for capital investment in the country. Achieving FID while partnering on decarbonization initiatives underscores TotalEnergies and Sonangol’s commitment to the development of low-carbon oil and gas in Angola. This is what Africa needs: to bring its oil and gas resources online while developing low-carbon technologies and skills to support a just energy transition,” adds Ayuk.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

With proven oil reserves of 9 billion barrels and gas reserves of 11 trillion cubic feet (tcf), Angola has established itself as a significant player in the global energy market. Meanwhile, recent milestones in Mozambique, such as its first successful shipment of LNG to Europe in 2022, highlight the country’s emergence as a reliable gas market.

This year’s Angola Oil&Gas (AOG) 2024 conference and exhibition – taking place in Luanda from October 2-3 – is poised to stand as a premier opportunity for burgeoning industries such as Mozambique to learn from Angola’s success. By leveraging the AOG platform, planned projects including energy supermajor TotalEnergies’ $20 billion Mozambique LNG project are set to serve as important opportunities for investment in the country’s energy sector.

AOG is the largest oil and gas event in Angola. Taking place with the full support of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas; the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency; the African Energy Chamber; and the Petroleum Derivatives Regulatory Institute, the event is a platform to sign deals and advance Angola’s oil and gas industry. To sponsor or participate as a delegate, please contact sales@energycapitalpower.com.

Cross-Border Cooperation Opportunities Abound

Last month, Angola’s Foreign Minister Téte António attended the 10th Joint Commission of Cooperation between Angola and Mozambique in Maputo. The meeting evaluated projects, review agreements and addressed bilateral issues across various sectors including politics, defense, economy and energy. The collaboration highlights the countries’ longstanding relationship, providing Mozambique with valuable insights to improve its LNG market competitiveness.

Boasting a reserve base of 100 tcf, Mozambique is the third-largest holder of natural gas in Africa. Developing an effective and prosperous natural gas infrastructure and distribution network will require an earnest commitment to collaboration among nations throughout the continent. A rail network connecting the city of Nacala in Mozambique to Lusaka in Zambia offers an inland transportation route for LNG to international markets.

Meanwhile, pipelines connecting Lusaka to floating storage regasification units in Angola offer the country the opportunity to play a central role in connecting active natural gas operations in Mozambique to existing and established LNG infrastructure in Angola.

Building on the Momentum of Established Success

Poised to contribute up to 90% of Angola’s total natural gas output, the Angola LNG Project – operated by Angola LNG Limited – will support the country’s ambitions to expand infrastructure for future growth and export non-associated natural gas by 2025. Meanwhile, recent milestones in Mozambique, such as the successful shipment of LNG cargo to Europe via multinational energy company Eni’s Coral Sul floating LNG facility in 2022, highlights the country’s emergence as a reliable gas market.

In the downstream, a comprehensive terminal and logistics hub in Angola’s city of Soto capable of producing 65,000 barrels of oil per day and storing 2 million barrels, is set to start operations by 2026. Meanwhile, with plans to develop two onshore LNG trains – with FID planned for early-2025 – Mozambique stands to emerge as a major LNG exporter in the coming years.

Joint efforts can overcome financing and regulatory hurdles, while regional projects optimize infrastructure investments. Market integration through shared hubs and networks are set to enhance efficiency and flexibility and this collaboration not only strengthens Africa’s position in the global LNG market but also promotes sustainable development and energy security continent-wide.

By participating in AOG 2024, Mozambican companies are poised to benefit from networking opportunities while gaining insights into the regional market and showcasing its capabilities. By collaborating with industry stakeholders, Mozambique is well-positioned to establish partnerships and secure investments to expedite the expansion of the country’s energy sector.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital&Power.