The Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) approved the launch of the Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme for Africa (UKAFPA), a programme of credit facilities that the Bank has developed to manage the impacts of the Ukraine crisis on African economies and businesses. The programme amounts to US$ 4 billion.
The Russia-Ukraine crisis which escalated on 24 February 2022 has had a significant effect on the global economy. Given the importance of both Russia and Ukraine as sources of crude oil and gas, raw materials and grains, the outbreak of the conflict has wider repercussions on a global scale, including adversely affecting African economies, especially those that rely heavily on grain, fertilizer and fuel imports.
Since its establishment, Afreximbank has built a track record and earned a reputation for introducing and implementing various emergency intervention programmes, with embedded strong risk mitigations to respond to various crises on a global scale and impacting Africa. Recent examples include the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) through which Afreximbank disbursed over US$7 billion in support of African economies in their fight against the Covid 19 pandemic.
Afreximbank launches $4 bln Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme
Crisis in Ukraine, agricultural machinery must ‘work as a system’
The fourth edition of the FederUnacoma Think Tank dedicated to the geopolitical emergency and the commodity crisis took place on 31 March in Bologna. The commodity crisis could last for years, so it is necessary for agro-mechanical companies to develop long-term strategies, while being reactive to sudden situational changes. Proposals were made by thematic study groups.
The international landscape presents many factors of instability that require agricultural machinery companies to adopt more flexible strategies than ever before. This is what emerged from the work of the fourth edition of the FederUnacoma Think Tank, which was held on 31 March in the evocative setting of the Dall’Ara Stadium in Bologna and which dealt with topics relating to the current geopolitical crisis and the raw materials emergency.
Jacobs Foundation calls for “culture shift” to put evidence at the heart of Africa’s $1.5 billion Edtech industry
The Jacobs Foundation called on investors, edtech companies, and academia throughout Africa and around the world to deepen their collaboration and integrate more research in the development of new edtech products. The Foundation also urged edtech venture capital funds to make greater use of evidence in investment decision-making, as analysts predict that the African edtech market, currently valued at $1.5 billion, will exceed $10 billion by 2026.
The Jacobs Foundation made this call ahead of May’s World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, where world leaders will convene under the theme, ‘Working together, restoring trust’. They will look at the role of public-private cooperation in rebuilding trust and shaping a more sustainable future. This comes after the pandemic disrupted learning for more than 1.5 billion students throughout the world.
To help further this drive, the Jacobs Foundation has committed CHF 40 million ($44 million) globally to foster greater cooperation between edtech investors, start-ups, and researchers. These key actors will convene in May this year at the Jacobs Foundation’s Unlocking the Impact of Edtech Conference in Germany, where they will discuss ways to make more and better use of evidence in edtech.
E-commerce plays role in retailing to consumers
Shega.com, an E-commerce company announced that it has availed its platform in December 2021 with a variety of locally made and other fast moving consumer goods for its online customers. Following the recent cooking oil shortage for instance, Shega worked with wholesalers and distributors and availed Tena cooking oil a local brand with an attractive pricing and is available for anyone that orders through Shega android and iOS applications, the website www.shega.com and the customer service direct line 8500.
In the words of Chris Rumenda, the CEO of Shega, “When we launched Shega with the entire Kifiya Financial Technology team, we set out with the purpose of digitizing commerce in Ethiopia by selling Ethiopian products sourced from Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and other manufacturers and distributors making Shega the leading online retail & market place in Ethiopia. With the platform coming into service in December 2021, its customers, major stakeholders, partner companies using Shega and with over 10,000 items listings we’ve been able to witness first-hand the technical talent and trade potential in Ethiopia.” He further added, “Technology has the opportunity to transform lives and economies across Ethiopia and Africa and we’re excited about Shega being a meaningful part of that transformation through making trade local, fair and transparent. So watch out for Shega in the coming few days with more variety, more local products and attractive prices”
