World
IFC, World Bank Charge Benin to Drive Growth with Agribusiness, Tourism
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Republic of Benin can create quality jobs, grow its economy, and reduce poverty by enabling private sector–led expansion in its agribusiness and tourism sectors and by better leveraging its strategic location as a transit point into West Africa, according to a report published by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank.
The Benin Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) explores the challenges and opportunities for Benin’s private sector, suggests areas for reform, and highlights sectors with the greatest potential to drive sustainable, inclusive growth in line with Benin’s Government Action Program (Programme d’Actions du Gouvernement, 2021-2026).
Benin enjoyed growth rates in the 2010s of about 5 per cent annually, well above the average across sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty rates remained high, measured at almost 40 per cent in 2019.
The CPSD is geared towards maximizing the job-creation potential of the private sector and making Benin’s economy more resilient to external shocks such as the recent COVID-19 crisis and new headwinds, including inflation.
In agribusiness, increased private sector participation in crop production, including pineapples and soybeans, improving access to markets, and enabling solutions to channel more financing to agribusiness firms and farmers, would support growth in the sector, which accounts for 40 per cent of employment in Benin.
The CPSD specifically highlights Benin’s Glo-Djigbé Special Economic Zone, which was established in 2021, as a positive platform to support increased agro-processing and exports.
Regarding tourism, the report points to neighbouring Nigeria—Africa’s largest economy and most populous country—as a huge but largely untapped source of visitors. Benin is home to international heritage sites, including the historic city of Ouidah and spectacular scenery, yet tourist visits have stagnated because of inadequate market development.
Speaking on this, Mr Kyle Kelhofer, IFC Senior Country Manager for Benin, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo, said, “The CPSD recognizes Benin’s progress in developing a business-friendly environment and recommends further reforms to exploit Benin’s competitive advantages in agribusiness, tourism, and regional integration.
“IFC has ramped up its presence in Benin to provide support to improve the investment climate and help Benin attract more investment.”
“The CPSD advances Benin’s Government Action Program by identifying specific sectors with the highest potential for growth, job creation, and poverty reduction,” said Mr Atou Seck, World Bank Country Manager for Benin. “Additionally, the CPSD informs the framework for the World Bank Group’s partnership with Benin in achieving higher rates of economic and social well-being in 2023 and beyond.”
The CPSD also highlights Benin’s strategic location at the crossing of the Abidjan-Lagos and Cotonou-Niamey regional corridors, giving it an advantage as a transit point for regional trade. Benin could seek to turn its transit corridors into economic corridors.
To unlock the opportunities in tourism and regional trade, and in other sectors, Benin could accelerate its digitization agenda, including by outlining clearer regulations and allowing for more competition in its telecoms sector, according to the report. Other urgent reforms include promoting a sustainable supply of energy and increasing the resilience of the electricity network to climatic shocks.
The private sector would also benefit from greater access to finance, including through digital finance solutions and strengthening the credit infrastructure.
In line with the CPSD’s findings, the World Bank Group’s strategy for Benin focuses on transformative sectors such as agribusiness, financial markets, and tourism, leveraging digitization and public-private partnerships.
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.
