Private equity firm, African Capital Alliance (ACA) announced in a release published on February 15, 2016 it has acquired a 49% stake in the reinsurance firm, Continental Reinsurance Plc that operates in 44 African countries.

The amount of the transaction carried out via Capital Alliance Private Equity IV (CAPE IV), an ACA-sponsored fund was not disclosed.

The transaction was possible through the dilution of the shares of Saham Finances, the insurance subsidiary of the Moroccan Saham Group, in Continental Re.

Subsequent to the dilution which was approved by the regulatory authorities, Saham Finances’ shares in the reinsurer dropped to 51% from 100%.

“This is an extremely positive move for our company and we are very pleased to have shareholders who share our determination to realise our vision for Africa”, said the Managing Director of Continental Re, Femi Oyetunji.

“The new structure will position Continental-Re favorably to bolster its strategic objectives and strengthen what it has achieved over the past few years in terms of our pan-African foothold, expansionary plans and market positioning as the largest private pan-African reinsurer, outside of South Africa”, he added.

Established in 1985, Continental Re is one of Africa’s main reinsurers. The firm, listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange [NSE] since 2007, indeed supports more than 200 insurance companies operating in the various sub-regions of the continent and has offices in six countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia and South Africa).

ACA focuses on sub-Saharan Africa. Since its establishment in 1997, the firm launched four private equity funds and a real estate fund that raised more than a billion dollars.

To date, ACA has made 40 investments, mainly in the oil and gas, financial, energy and consumption goods sectors.

As shifting global economic conditions place further pressure on revenue and investment streams in Africa, Bloomberg will convene leading newsmakers and game changers from across sub-Saharan Africa, CEOs of global corporations, influential investors and government leaders this week in Cape Town, for the Bloomberg Africa Business and Economic Summit.

The event will be held at the Westin Hotel in Cape Town on Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 February and will gather more than 40 speakers to discuss the opportunities that lie at the point where technology, gender equality, political transparency and global partnerships meet.

Topics include financial transparency, the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Africa, capital access, Africa’s energy needs and infrastructure challenges and the future of Africa’s relationship with China, among others.

“The goal of the Bloomberg Africa Business and Economic Summit is to foster meaningful discussion and debate about the opportunities and challenges for investment and growth in Africa, for both foreign investors and African companies,” says Matthew Winkler, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Bloomberg News and co-host of the Summit.

Speakers include:
Tembinkosi Bonakele, Commissioner, Competition Commission, South Africa
Mike Brown, Chief Executive, Nedbank Group
Alan Knott-Craig, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Project Isizwe
Karen Daniel, Chief Financial Officer, Black & Veatch
Bob Diamond, Chief Executive Office and Founding Partner, Atlas Merchant Capital
Dana Hyde, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Corporation
Jay Ireland, President and Chief Executive Officer, GE Africa
Wendy Luhabe, Economic Activist and Social Entrepreneur
Ben Magara, Chief Executive Officer, Lonmin, South Africa/ UK
Phuti Mahanyele, Executive Chairperson, Sigma Capital
Joseph Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology, Republic of Kenya
Patrick O’Sullivan, Chairman, Old Mutual

To open the programme, a dinner will be hosted by Peter T. Grauer, Chairman Bloomberg L.P. and Matthew Winkler, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Bloomberg News. Jeff Radebe, Minister in the Presidency, Republic of South Africa and Patricia de Lille, Executive Mayor, City of Cape Town will welcome guests and the evening will feature an interview with Dr. Donald Kaberuka, Former President, African Development Bank and Senior Advisor, TPG/ Satya.

The Summit is sponsored by GE and The Coca-Cola Company.

The event aims to build on the discussions and outcomes of the 2014 U.S.-Africa Business Forum which was held in Washington D.C. and convened nearly 50 heads of state and government and more than 300 global CEOs, demonstrating the enormous interest in the growing African markets for U.S. investors and companies.

Bloomberg Philanthropies and the U.S. Department of Commerce have announced they will host the second U.S. –Africa Business Forum in New York during the 71st UN General Assembly meeting in September 2016.

Orange announces a new partnership with Google™ to bring the best of mobile internet across its full African and Middle Eastern (Orange MEA) footprint.

By combining the strength of Orange’s mobile network and mobile expertise with Google’s mobile applications, the move offers customers the best of both partners in terms of access and content through an all-inclusive digital communication package. Orange and Google have come together to deliver a package that is tailored to meet the needs of the market. Customers across the Orange MEA footprint will now have access to a range of best-in-class online services including, but not limited to, popular content covering fashion, sport and music, as well as everyday tools such as Google Search™, YouTube™ and Google Maps™.

Bringing Value to Customers through Enriched Local Content
The partnership will address the mass market for Orange in Africa and the Middle East, following Orange’s ongoing success of delivering smartphones across the region.

Through an educational campaign, customers will be offered advice to better understand the benefits and direct value mobile Internet can bring. Important information will be made accessible, for example, finding answers to questions instantly through Google Search or the ability to locate the nearest health clinic using Google Maps.

Languages, such as Arabic, will be supported to enrich the customer experience, with additional languages to be added throughout the year.

The digital communication package is especially well-adapted to youth who have high data usage and want the latest generation smartphone. Customers will receive one of the most competitively priced tariff plans in the region starting at $40, which will consist of a high-specification smartphone and a communication bundle with voice, SMS and data.

The offer will be delivered in a phased approach and will start to roll-out across the full Orange MEA footprint in Q2 this year. The device will launch with the native set of Google services and the goal of the partnership is to develop local services and content over time.

“As the first pan-Africa and Middle East mobile partnership with Google on this scale, we are able to bring direct value to our customers by offering the best access and services to ensure they get the most out of the mobile internet,” says Yves Maitre, Executive Vice President of Connected Objects and Partnerships, Orange.

“Through this all-inclusive digital communications package, we are proud to continue our promise to deliver affordable internet access across the region and connect people to what is essential in their lives.”

Richard Turner, Director Android Partnerships for Europe, the Middle East and Africa says:
“Today, over three billion people across the world are using the internet to live better, richer lives and create opportunities for themselves and their communities. The driving force behind this growth – particularly in Africa and the Middle East – is smartphones. We are very excited to work with Orange to bring together data services, content and a high quality Android™ device to provide a great experience for first-time or experienced smartphone users.”

Orange Rise 31 Special Edition, 3G flagship device for Orange MEA
The affordable offer will launch on the Orange Rise 31 Special Edition, a new and exclusive Orange branded 3G device. As the flagship model of Orange’s 2016 smart family line-up for Orange MEA, it will be running on Google’s latest OS Android 6.0 Marshmallow, has a 4-inch screen and comes with the latest version of Orange Experience 8 to ensure a smooth and supportive smartphone experience.

The smartphone is a powerful quad-core product, boasts a high memory package (1GB RAM/8GB ROM) and will provide access to the full suite of Google Apps.

Coming with a 3 mega pixel camera with LED flash and a 1500mAH battery, it will be the first Orange customised smartphone to run Android 6.0 Marshmallow at a low-price point.

Visa Inc., a global payments technology company, organized its first ever fraud prevention workshop dedicated to its West Africa-based clients and partners.

Held in Dakar, the three-day workshop provided an in-depth look at the latest tools, information, and best practices for issuers and acquirers to effectively combat fraud. Workshop attendance was high, with thirty-two delegates representing 17 partner banks from eight markets in West Africa attending the workshop.

Conducted by Visa Business School, the workshop outlined the key functional areas that are critical for identifying fraud trends and neutralizing the most advanced fraud threats in the payment industry. These areas include operations, compliance programs, fraud risk management, data, merchant cardholder monitoring and loss controls.

“This workshop is part of Visa’s commitment to share fraud prevention best practices and the latest technologies with our clients in West Africa, a region that is witnessing considerable growth in electronic payments driven by high rates of mobile penetration and adoption of new trends in the payments industry,” said Ismahill Diaby, Visa’s West Africa Manager.

“The topic is very important as the region embarks on a journey to gain the needed tools to offer more payment options, provide financial services to underserved populations, and adapt to a fast-changing payments environment.”

With decades of expertise and practical payments experience gained across every continent in the world, Visa Business School is uniquely positioned to deliver fresh insights, relevant strategies, and best practices across a wide range of payment topics.

The school consists of Visa specialists who work every day with clients in the industry, as well as a select group of external industry experts who can offer additional insights into the most topical trends and payment techniques.

About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc.is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments.

We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers.

Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products.

The Africa CEO Forum launched a Q&A Campaign#AskDelphine this week through their Twitter handle @africaceoforum and their LinkedIn pagewherein they are asking their followers to #AskDelphine Maïdou CEO of Allianz Group’s industrial insurer, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) in Africa aboutAfricaBusinessRisksfor2016andbeyond.

The campaign is run in both English and French, which enables brokers and risk managers across both Francophone and Anglophone Africa to take part.

Africa CEO Forum will then pick relevant questions after a week and post the responses fromMaïdou on @africaceoforum and LinkedIn and also tweet to AGCS and twitter handles@AGCS_Insurance and @Allianz. Brokers, risk managers and stakeholders can participate by replying, retweeting, liking and sharing the content using #AskDelphine.

This campaign is based on the 2016 Allianz Risk Barometer, which was released in January this year. “Risk management is an ever changing discipline and it is important for us to constantly engage brokers, risk managers and other stakeholders beyond our four walls to get a sense of the type of risks they are dealing with and how we as AGCS Africa can work with them,” says Maïdou. “While businesses in Africa are less concerned about the impact of traditional industrial risks such as natural catastrophes or fire, they are increasingly worried about the impact of other disruptive events, fierce competition in their markets and cyber incidents, so this platform enables AGCS Africa to continue our discussion in finding relevant risk management and insurance solutions.”

The drive, which should run for over a week gives AGCS in Africa the ability to interact with brokers and risk managers about leading risks on continent ahead of the actual forum in Abidjan from 21 – 22 March. Maïdou and other colleagues from AGCS Africa will be taking part in it specifically at an AGCS Africa-sponsored knowledge session to discuss the topic – the finish line: becoming an African champion.

The forum, which is attended by leaders from government such as presidents – Alassane Outtara of Ivory Coast and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya – and business, will enable AGCS Africa to grow its followership and network on the continent with some of the most influential people in the region.