Corporate and Investment

Just ten months after the historic Oval Office meeting between President Obama and President Guelleh of Djibouti, the two countries last week held the inaugural Strategic Dialogue in Washington, DC.  The announcement of a “strategic partnership” came last May when the two sides agreed to a ten-year lease extension for…
Continue Reading U.S. and Djibouti Hold First Strategic Dialogue

A new, comprehensive report published by the African Union’s high-level panel on illicit financial flows and the United Nations economic commission for Africa (Uneca) concludes that Africa loses more than $50 billion every year to illicit financial flows (IFFs).  The report, entitled Illicit Financial Flows, represents the first African …
Continue Reading AU-UN Report Reveals Startling Illicit Financial Flows in Africa

In the coming months, Egypt and the American company Blumberg Grain will create the world’s largest integrated food storage system for grain, constructing 93 sophisticated wheat storage facilities across Egypt that will process 3.7 million tons annually and store 750,000 tons of wheat.  The food storage system will launch this …
Continue Reading Egypt and Blumberg Grain Launch World’s Largest Integrated Food Storage System

As foreign investment into Sub-Saharan Africa continues to grow, inevitably, so does the risk of disputes arising between commercial parties. The potential benefits of arbitration in settling a commercial dispute, including procedural flexibility and neutrality, are well known (read more from the ICC here). This post provides…
Continue Reading Planning Ahead to Arbitration – Important Considerations for Investors

One of the most important opportunities to emerge from the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was the Obama Administration’s commitment to increasing the counseling and technical assistance provided to U.S. private sector companies who are looking to do business in Africa.  Several recent Commerce Department announcements related to Mozambique indicate that that…
Continue Reading U.S. Commerce Department Prioritizes Mozambique in 2015

Chinese companies are adopting new approaches to investing in Africa. These changes, if they become widespread, will boost the positive impact of China on Africa’s development agenda and improve how Chinese companies are perceived on the continent.

Conversations in China last month suggest a growing perception that the country’s model…
Continue Reading Are Chinese Companies Retooling in Africa?

Earlier this month, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Nigeria’s Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) announced the launch of a Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) that will rank NSE-listed companies based on their corporate governance practices and anti-corruption policies.  The new rating system is designed to promote a more transparent…
Continue Reading Nigeria Launches New Corporate Governance Rating System

IBM and Metropolitan Health–one of South Africa’s largest financial services and healthcare companies–recently announced Africa’s first commercial application of IBM’s Watson Engagement Advisor (“Watson”).  Watson is a potentially revolutionary cognitive computing application that can “comprehend” a question posed to it in natural language, process relevant data equivalent to about one …
Continue Reading IBM and Metropolitan Health Announce Africa’s First Commercial Application of Watson Engagement Advisor