Economy
Why Global Businesses are Banking on Africa
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, ever-changing lockdown regulations and travel bans for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the continent has held firm with a positive outlook for its tourism and hospitality sectors. This has been further cemented by the increase in major global businesses either setting up shop in Africa or expanding further across the continent.
Tech hot spots for an expanding ecosystem
Zoho, the global technology company that offers the most extensive suite of business software in the industry, announced the opening of its South African office at the end of 2021 – the company’s flagship – in Cape Town.
“Zoho strongly believes in its growth being closely tied with the growth and development of the broader community that it serves, a strategy we refer to as ‘transnational localism’. As part of this vision, we’re focused on contributing to the creation of self-sufficient economic clusters across the world,” says Hyther Nizam, President MEA at Zoho Group.
In South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt, Zoho offers its products in local currencies. Additionally, Zoho has hired individuals in all of these countries for customer-facing roles. And the company is committed to establishing partnerships that will aid local businesses in their digital transformation efforts.
SweepSouth, SA’s leading on-demand home services brand, recently expanded its Pan-African presence by launching into Egypt. Already operating in Kenya and Nigeria, they acquired Egyptian start-up Filkhedma – Egypt’s leading home services marketplace that operates across three cities and serves tens of thousands of customers with cleaning, maintenance and beauty services.
“Africa has massive growth potential for us as a company,” says Aisha Pandor, CEO and co-founder of SweepSouth. “We already operate in three key markets and the acquisition of Filkhedma means that SweepSouth will be one of a few African start-ups operating in the continent’s four key tech ecosystems of South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria.
“Egypt has a strong and growing middle-class that has been underserved in the domestic home services arena, which can be said of many other regions across the continent, too. With a compelling economic growth track record and outlook, and an economy that has been resilient in the face of challenging times, it made sense for us to eye this market for our next big leap. Our presence there now primes us for further expansion into other parts of Africa and the Middle East.
“We are entering a rapid growth phase and executing on a number of other new country launches in 2022,” adds Pandor. “Having the Filkhedma team on board is particularly exciting as it’s an intra-African acquisition by two companies in the same vertical. This acquisition almost doubles our addressable market on the continent and enhances the products and services that we already offer.”
An African expansion plan
Ramsay Rankoussi, Vice President, Development, Africa and Turkey for Radisson Hotel Group, says that while the Radisson Hotel Group will continue to pursue organic growth underpinned by domestic and regional travel, the Group will also be exploring other routes through inorganic growth that may be slightly more unconventional and would include different types of partnerships, joint-ventures, co-branding and potential capitalistic approaches.
One of these – Radisson Individuals, a conversion brand that offers smaller hotel operators the opportunity to be a part of the Radisson family without losing their identity – already came to fruition in 2021.
“Africa holds immense potential across various segments and product types – from resorts and city hotels to serviced apartments and boutique offerings. The lack of funding, be it equity or debt, along with the high cost of capital remains the biggest burden across the continent.
“Inorganic growth will certainly help us to not only mitigate materialisation risks but should also unlock synergies and economies of scale with other local and regional chains to the benefit of local communities,” he says.
As such, the Radisson Hotel Group has set its sights on Africa, boosting its African portfolio with 14 signings and five hotel openings in 2021, setting it on a positive path to reach its ambitious goal of more than 150 hotels by 2025.
A recognised business hub
South African serviced office provider The Business Exchange (TBE) recognised the Mauritian potential and in April 2021, the company launched its second investment opportunity in Mauritius – a sectional-title serviced office space.
Beyond the white beaches and get-away-from-it-all lifestyle, Mauritius is increasingly recognised as one of the hottest business hubs on the continent. In fact, the island paradise is currently the highest-ranked economy in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Index.
“Mauritius presents a sound environment, both politically and economically. Major international brands, including Samsung, Broll, Expedia and NBA (North America’s National Basketball Association), have already based themselves at our serviced office space there, which speaks to the potential of the location as a foremost business hub,” believes David Seineker, TBE founder and CEO.
Mauritius’s proximity to South Africa – it’s a mere four-hour flight from Johannesburg – is a further advantage, as the City of Gold remains the continent’s foremost business hub. Mauritius is also perfectly positioned en route from Asia and the Middle East to the tip of Africa, making it ideal for expansion into Africa as well as from Africa to the rest of the world. While the strategic relevance of the location was key to TBE’s expansion plans, others look for opportunities in regions that face the same challenges as in the business’s key operational area.
Remote working made easy
Cheapflights, a global travel search site that compares flights, hotels and rental cars, reports that searches from South Africa to the rest of the continent were up 67% on average between September and December last year compared to the same period in 2019. Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mauritius, Namibia and Mozambique were the most searched countries within the region.
Additionally, the site recently also launched its Work from Wherever Index, which provides travellers looking to work away from home or while on vacation a definitive list of the best countries that are easiest to work from while enjoying a new country.
The results of the Index are based on popular searches made on the Cheapflights site as well as on how well each country scored across six categories. Nigeria ranks 95th globally and 14th amongst countries in the Middle East and Africa region, with its highest scores in the categories of price, travel and weather.
Mauritius, which ranked fourth globally, beating out many European heavyweights, topped the ranking for the Middle East and Africa. The island nation offers great weather, low crime rates and a fairly low cost of living in addition to a remote work visa (also called a digital nomad visa), which is a travel authorisation for on-the-go workers, allowing them to work independently during their stay in a country.
Other African countries that made the list include Seychelles at number 26 globally and number 2 in the region; Réunion (at number 69); Kenya and Tanzania (ranked 80th and 81st, respectively); and Tunisia (ranked 84th); amongst others.
The Work from Wherever Index, as well as the increase in flight searches to the continent, might be additional indicators of renewed business and growing confidence among travellers.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Despite signs that Nigeria’s headline inflation is easing, rising food prices continue to threaten the country’s inflation outlook, the chief executive of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Mr Muda Yusuf, has warned.
He noted that structural inflationary pressures in the real economy remain pronounced despite improving macroeconomic stability.
In a policy brief released following the inflation report, he noted that headline inflation eased marginally, while month-on-month change moderated from 1.75 per cent to 1.66 per cent, indicating that headline inflation has largely plateaued.
According to him, the dominant concern in the latest inflation report is the renewed acceleration in food inflation.
This growth, he said, suggested that food prices have resumed an upward trajectory after a brief period of moderation.
Warning that a renewed increase in food inflation has significant economic and social implications, he stressed that food inflation remained the biggest driver of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, stressing that rising food prices continue to erode household purchasing power, worsen poverty and food insecurity while weakening the inclusiveness of the current reform programme.
He maintained that sustained moderation in food prices is critical to improving citizens’ welfare and strengthening public confidence in the ongoing economic reforms.
Acknowledging the easing of core inflation as encouraging, he drew attention to the persistence of urban inflation.
At 16.08 per cent, urban inflation exceeded the national headline inflation rate of 15.91 per cent, while month-on-month urban inflation increased from 1.99 per cent to 2.13 per cent.
According to Mr Yusuf, the figures indicated that inflationary pressures remained particularly intense across urban centres.
He attributed the rising urban inflation partly to increasing population displacement from rural communities affected by insecurity, expressing worry that as more households migrate to urban areas, demand for housing, transportation, utilities and other essential services would increase, adding to inflationary pressures and creating additional urbanisation challenges.
Addressing insecurity in farming communities, he said, was important not only for protecting lives and property and boosting agricultural output but also for easing cost pressures in urban centres, adding that the June CPI data reinforced the view that Nigeria’s inflation challenge is predominantly structural rather than monetary.
On the monetary policy outlook, he said the data do not justify further monetary tightening, arguing that headline inflation has largely stabilised.
The CPPE chief expected the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to retain the current monetary policy rate at its next meeting, adding that the priority is for monetary and fiscal authorities to work together to accelerate structural reforms to expand food supply, improve logistics, reduce energy and production costs, lower debt service costs, as well as strengthen domestic value chains.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Additional shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The new equities were added to the company’s existing stocks on Customs Street on Thursday, July 16, 2026, a notice from the bourse confirmed.
Business Post reports the total new ordinary shares of Sterling Holdings listed yesterday were 13,812,239,000 units.
They were from the offer for subscription of 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each sold for N7.00 per share, which was oversubscribed by investors.
The financial institution brought the new shares to the stock exchange to increase its total issued and fully paid-up shares to 65,929,251,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each from 52,117,012,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
“Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 13,812,239,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc were on Thursday, July 16, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares listed on NGX arose from the company’s offer for subscription of 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N7.00 per share.
“With the listing of the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have now increased from 52,117,012,414 to 65,929,251,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each,” the notice read.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has signed a Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, establishing a new framework to coordinate the regulation of virtual assets across government agencies as Nigeria seeks to curb fraud while supporting innovation in the digital economy.
The Executive Order, which takes immediate effect, creates a Virtual Asset Council chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to harmonise oversight of cryptocurrencies, tokenised assets, stablecoins, and other digital assets without creating a new regulator.
As part of the new framework, the CBN will establish a regulatory sandbox that will allow eligible firms to test virtual asset products, blockchain solutions, and related services under regulatory supervision before they are introduced to the wider market.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
According to the presidency, the Executive Order responds to the growing complexity of virtual assets, which increasingly cut across the traditional boundaries of currencies, securities, commodities, and payment systems.
The fragmented regulatory environment has left gaps that have exposed Nigeria to money laundering, terrorism financing, cybersecurity and data privacy risks, fraud, and revenue losses.
The government said some unregistered operators have exploited these regulatory gaps to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians, resulting in significant financial losses.
“The Order is designed to close these gaps through supervisory coordination, without introducing new layers of regulation or displacing the mandates of existing agencies,” the statement read.
Under the new framework, the Virtual Asset Council will be chaired by the CBN, with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serving as vice chairs. Other members include the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The Council will provide policy direction, improve cooperation among participating agencies, and work with the Attorney General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal and institutional framework for the sector.
The Executive Order also establishes a Virtual Asset Office, which will serve as the Council’s operational arm. The office will be domiciled at the CBN and will coordinate information sharing, applications, and reporting among the participating agencies through a shared supervisory technology platform.
The presidency stressed that the Executive Order does not create a new regulator or transfer statutory powers from existing agencies, clarifying that instead, each institution will continue to exercise its existing mandate while working within a coordinated framework.
Under the arrangement, registration of virtual asset businesses will depend on the nature of the service being offered.
Activities classified as securities will continue to be regulated by the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody, and other services involving non-security virtual assets will fall under the CBN.
Where there is uncertainty over regulatory jurisdiction, the Virtual Asset Council will determine the appropriate supervising agency.
“The sandbox will provide a controlled environment in which eligible operators can test and operate virtual asset products, services, and blockchain-based solutions under close supervision, enabling the participating agencies to assess the implications for monetary sovereignty, financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection, financial inclusion, and revenue administration before products reach the wider market,” the statement added.
According to the presidency, the sandbox will enable regulators to evaluate the implications of emerging products for financial stability, monetary sovereignty, consumer protection, financial inclusion, market integrity, and revenue administration.
The central bank is expected to announce further details of the sandbox.
