Investors update: Africa received ~$32bn investments from India in the last decade

Africa received ~$32bn investments from India in the last decade

Highlights

• Africa has become the second-largest recipient of credit from India as the country tries to catch up with China in expanding its influence in the continent. 
• Forty-two African nations received about $32 billion or 38% of all credit extended by India in the last decade — just a few percentage points below its neighbors, per Harsha Bangari, the managing director of India’s Export-Import Bank. 
• The South Asian nation has also opened up 195 project-based lines of credit worth about $12 billion across Africa, three times the number it has in its own region in the last decade.

Source: Bloomberg

Our Takeaway

India has recently tried to engage with nations in Africa, the second-largest continent in the globe, but its efforts have trailed behind those of its larger and wealthier neighbor—China. In the 10 years to 2020, Beijing pledged $134.6 billion to African nations, almost 11x more than what India has offered. The scramble shows Africa remains a major geopolitical player with an undeniably huge economic potential that cannot be ignored by the developed world and reflect an increasing realization that the resource-rich continent will play an important role in the global economy over the next couple of decades.

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SecondSTAX, ASEA join forces to unify Africa’s stock markets

Highlights

• SecondSTAX, a Ghanaian fintech that provides access to stock markets for institutional investors, recently signed an agreement with the African Securities Exchange Association (ASEA) to unify Africa’s stock markets. 
• Founded in 2020, the startup’s suite of investment tools includes an order management and execution routing system for brokerage firms and institutional investors as well as full access to data and company research from all of ASEA’s participating exchanges.
• The company recently raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding from private investors and venture capital firms for its technology, which provides access to debt and equity securities in Accra and Nairobi’s bond and equities markets.

Source: IBS Intel

Our Takeaway

With a combined market capitalization of around $1.6 trillion, of which South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) accounts for $1.36 trillion, most of Africa’s exchanges are too small for major investors to concentrate on a single market. Needless to say then that the continent stands to gain a lot from interconnected capital markets, which would deepen the capital pool available to both private and public sector players through the cross-border listing, issuance, and trading of financial securities across the region.

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Kyosk acquires KwikBasket to launch fresh produce business

Highlights

• Kyosk Digital, a digital-first and data-led distribution platform, has expanded into the African fresh produce market with the launch of its Farm & Fresh line of business.
• This follows on the back of Kyosk’s recent acquisition of KwikBasket, a player in the distribution of agricultural produce and other services and solutions provided to farmers, commercial kitchens, and other stakeholders in the food chain.
• With the launch of Farm & Fresh, Kyosk hopes to combine its digital-first approach and large-scale operations with KwikBasket’s agricultural venture to boost the African fresh produce market, creating a more efficient and inclusive ecosystem.  

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

The African retail market is valued at approximately $600 billion and is projected to grow at a rate of 5% to 6% annually. Kyosk has so far focused on serving small retail outlets and traditional retailers, which account for over 60% of retail trade in Africa and are primarily located in low-income, informal urban communities. The platform helps them order products directly from FMCGs without the need for intermediaries, gaining access to competitive prices and cost savings. And now, Kyosk looks to replicate its success so far in the agricultural space; supporting farmers with technology.