World
AfCFTA Expected to Boost Dealmaking in Africa
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
There are strong indications that dealmaking activity in Africa will increase by the time the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement is deeply implemented.
The trade deal officially commenced on January 1, 2021, after it was moved from the former date of July 1, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the moment, the agreement is struggling to begin to yield the expected results because many nations are still dealing with the global health crisis.
Last year, dealmaking activity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) dropped in the second half when compared to the second half of 2019.
According to Baker McKenzie’s analysis of Refinitiv data, M&A transactions in the region went down in H2 2020 by 4 per cent versus in H2 2019 with 329 deals in the period.
Also, the deal value fell by 17 per cent to $8.9 billion in the second half of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019 and for the full year 2020, transactions dropped by 8 per cent with 625 deals in 2020, and deal value dropped by 33 per cent, with deals valued at $17.4 billion in total for 2020.
In the report by Baker McKenzie, as Africa gears up for its post-pandemic recovery, it appears that the opportunities presented by AfCFTA, as well as foreign investment opportunities, due in part to new partnerships and trade relationships, could be a key factor in attracting much-needed investment to the region.
“While dealmaking has slowed across Africa, all is not lost and there are still plenty of opportunities to benefit from good deals on the continent,” the Head of Africa for Baker McKenzie, Mr Wildu du Plessis, noted.
“For the next while, we believe that deal activity across Africa, in general, will mostly be in the form of take-private transactions, distressed M&A opportunities, restructurings, disposals; and corporates looking for investment opportunities in offshore markets.
“The good news is that the AfCFTA agreement has done a great deal to bolster foreign investor interest in the region, and dealmakers are taking notice of the agreement’s first movers,” Mr du Plessis added.
The United Kingdom, for example, is already an important investor in SSA. According to Refinitiv data, the UK was the most active investor in the SSA region for the second straight year, with 29 deals announced in the second half of 2020.
There were also 29 deals from the UK for the full year 2020. When it comes to trade, recent research by Brookings showed the untapped export potential from African countries with regard to trade with the UK, with significant gaps in apparel, electronic equipment and cocoa products, for example.
Brookings pointed out that UK trade with Africa peaked in 2012 when it was valued at $51 billion, but by 2019 it had almost halved to $27 billion, representing only 2.4 per cent of total UK trade.
This shows the potential for increased trade between the UK and African nations, especially if more mutually beneficial economic partnership agreements are finalised, positioning the post-Brexit UK to take advantage of AfCFTA’s eventual continent-wide market of around 1.4 billion people.
Virusha Subban, Partner specialising in Customs and Trade at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg, noted that intra-African trading started on 1 January 2021 for African countries that had ratified the AfCFTA agreement and submitted their tariff offers.
“Trading in products started at the beginning of the year for the African Union member states that had aligned their customs procedures and agreed on the rules of origin for 81 per cent of the tariff lines.
“All countries in Africa, except for Eritrea, have signed the agreement and 34 countries have ratified it so far, including most of Africa’s major economies (South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana, for example).
“A total of 41 countries (including South Africa, Egypt and Mauritius) and customs unions (the East African Community, the Economic Community of West African States, the South African Customs Union and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community) submitted their tariff offers, and were ready to trade at the beginning 2021,” she noted.
Subban explained that the AU had called for other countries to ratify the agreement and submit their offers by the end of June 2021, although there had been some concern from poorer countries who relied on the income received from trading tariffs and were therefore hesitant to lower them.
However, efforts to protect the most vulnerable countries included tariff protections for domestically sensitive products.
A further boost to the success of the agreement, came in the form of an announcement in late January from the African Export-Import Bank, in which it noted it would fund a $1 billion adjustment facility to allow countries that had lowered their cross border tariffs to offset their losses. AfCFTA member countries are set to be able to draw from the fund by the end of 2021.
“Overall, AfCFTA has provided a strong impetus for African governments to address their infrastructure needs and trade logistics systems, as well as overhaul regulation relating to tariffs, bilateral trade, cross-border initiatives and capital flows.
“Both domestic and foreign trade are set to benefit from reforms to regulation and trade policies that enhance competitiveness and improve the ease of doing business across the continent. Accessing the new facility on offer from the African Export-Import Bank will further encourage African member states to fully embrace the benefits of free trade,” said Subban.
According to Baker McKenzie’s recent research with Oxford Economics – AfCFTA’s US$ 3 trillion Opportunity – there are now unprecedented opportunities for Africa, and its trade and investment partners, to reap economic benefits on the back of the possible improvements in transport infrastructure, reduction of red tape for cross-border dealings, renewed funding and improved liquidity. AfCFTA will provide the opportunity for African countries to diversify their economies, scale production capacity and widen the range of products made in Africa, in particular boosting the production of manufactured goods (and the potential for multinational companies to set up manufacturing plants in the continent).
“Closer integration of neighbouring economies is a potential avenue for creating scale and competitiveness through domestic market enlargement, thereby promoting development, and boosting foreign investment through greater efficiency. As such, the integrated free flow of trade brought about by AfCFTA is considered to be an essential element of Africa’s pandemic recovery,” Subban added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria regained its position as Africa’s leading destination for equity startup investment in the first half of 2026, raising $214 million in equity financing and a total of $254 million across equity and debt, according to the latest Africa: The Big Deal report.
The report, titled H1 2026: Mapping the Money, showed that Nigeria ranked second on the continent in total funding, behind Egypt, which attracted $327 million, while Kenya and South Africa followed with $126 million and $83 million, respectively.
However, the report noted that Egypt’s top position was largely driven by a single fundraising by electric mobility company Spiro, which secured $327 million, including $270 million in equity and $57 million in debt. Excluding debt financing, Nigeria emerged as Africa’s largest equity funding market in the first six months of the year.
According to the breakdown by Africa: The Big Deal, Nigeria’s equity funding of $214 million was higher than Egypt’s $183 million, while South Africa and Kenya attracted $66 million and $46 million, respectively.
Beyond funding value, Nigeria also led the continent in the number of startups that raised at least $100,000 during the review period, reclaiming the top spot after what the report described as an “underwhelming” second half of 2025.
The publication observed that Nigeria’s fundraising performance has remained relatively stable over the past few years and exceeded the $250 million mark for the first time since 2022, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s startup ecosystem.
It also found that while the Big Four startup markets—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa—continued to dominate Africa’s investment landscape, their combined share of total funding stood at 58 per cent in the first half of 2026.
“Zooming back on the Big Four (110 out of 190 $100k+ deals, i.e. 58%), Nigeria is head and shoulders above its peers, with Egypt and Kenya almost tying, and South Africa in fourth position again,” the report noted.
The report highlighted contrasting performances among the continent’s largest startup ecosystems. While Nigeria and Egypt maintained strong funding momentum, Kenya recorded its weakest funding performance since early 2021 after a strong second half of 2025, and South Africa failed to attract $100 million in funding during the period despite leading the continent a year earlier.
Africa: The Big Deal also noted a broader shift in investor behaviour, with funding increasingly concentrated in larger transactions while early-stage investments continued to decline. According to the publication, the drop in smaller funding rounds reflects growing concerns about limited capital available for early-stage startups across Africa.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Accessing the US Dollar in the East Africa region has now been made easier with the expansion of the stablecoin settlement infrastructure of SCRYPT.
This development enables banks, payment providers and corporate treasury teams to move value into and out of the continent in real time.
Businesses paying international suppliers frequently have to convert local currency into USD before purchasing stablecoins for settlement, incurring FX conversions and spreads before any payment is made.
But SCRYPT is eliminating this intermediate conversion by enabling direct settlement corridors for local African currencies into stablecoins.
This development allows businesses to move from local currency to stablecoin settlement in a single licensed transaction, without first sourcing rationed bank dollars, as stablecoins are increasingly becoming settlement infrastructure rather than an investment product.
The expansion adds settlement support across four African currencies: the Kenyan shilling (KES), Tanzanian shilling (TZS), Rwandan franc (RWF) and Ugandan shilling (UGX). Each corridor is delivered through the same full-stack infrastructure our clients already use for trading, custody and treasury operations.
Speaking on this, the chief executive of SCRYPT, Norman Wooding, said, “Across Africa, stablecoin adoption is driven by economic need, not speculation.
“Businesses here are not chasing yield; they are trying to pay suppliers and manage treasury without losing margin to a banking system that rations dollars. Licensed, fair-rate dollar access is the clearest proof of what this infrastructure is for.”
Also commenting, the Managing Director of Markets & Trading at SCRYPT, Mr Gabriel Titopoulos, said, “Until now, reaching stablecoins from local African currencies meant buying scarce dollars and incurring several layers of conversion costs.
“SCRYPT removes this friction. Firms and payment providers can now settle straight from local currencies through live corridors, with local partners.”
World
African Graduates Association Promoting Multifaceted Initiatives With Russian Educational Institutions
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
In preparations for the third Russia-Africa Summit, scheduled for late October 2026, Dr Francois Ngan, deputy chairman of the Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities, during an official working visit, has held a consultative meeting with Professor Vladimir Filippov, the President of the Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship (RUDN), and former Minister of Higher Education of Russia, Chairman of the National Commission for Accreditation of Higher Education.
RUDN is an educational institution established in 1960, primarily to provide higher education to Third World students. It has now become a popular multidisciplinary spot for many students, especially from developing countries. The university offers various academic programmes and has research infrastructure that comprises laboratories and interdisciplinary centres. The university is named after the former Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba.
Dr Francois Ngan and Professor Filippov discussed the importance of the Graduates Association as a continental platform dedicated to strengthening unity, cooperation, and promoting shared progress among African graduates who studied in the former Soviet Union and in the Russian Federation. They also reviewed multifaceted initiatives that could bring together alumni associations from across Africa, whose members obtained education and professional training, and cultural experiences in Soviet and Russian institutions of higher learning.
Professor Filippov expressed optimism in addressing emerging challenges as a result of shifting geopolitical changes, emphasised strategic cooperation in the educational sphere with Africa, in general, and with the Republic of Cameroon, in particular, and further about the integration of African students during their studies in the Russian Federation.
The meeting also touched on academic and scientific work, the possibility of rewriting a scientific thesis, and the official organisation of transferring versions translated into six languages for the library of RUDN. Significant questions relating to Russia’s educational opportunities, collaborations and partnerships involving African countries were thoroughly discussed.
The Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities was created under one continental umbrella to promote friendship, for professional networking, to engage in cultural exchange, and with particular emphasis on forging strategic cooperation between Africa and Russia.
