Features

AFSIC – Investing in Africa, scheduled for May 5th -7th 2020 in London, has confirmed over 300 speakers including a huge range of Africa’s most important investors, dealmakers and business leaders. AFSIC is focused on profiling Africa’s most compelling investment opportunities and promoting new business transactions through structured presentation sessions complemented by an array of networking events, business match-making meetings, workshops and country focussed sessions, offering multiple opportunities to network and develop strong business relationships…

NEW WORK(Capital Markers in Africa) – Current and former workers from 13 Illinois restaurants are suing McDonald’s Corp. for failing to adequately protect employees from customers who become violent. “McDonald’s breach of duty was the in-fact and proximate cause of plaintiffs’ injuries,” according to the complaint, which was filed Thursday by 17 workers in Cook County court. The lawsuit claims the workers “are regularly exposed to violent and criminal behavior by customers,” and that the defendants —…

ADISS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ethiopia’s ethnic Sidama voted Wednesday in a referendum on creating a new regional state, the likely precursor to a series of plebiscites that will test demands for more autonomy. Besides offering an indication of the Horn of Africa nation’s ability to hold a peaceful general election slated for next year, it will also gauge whether the country’s political model of ethnic federalism can accommodate growing calls for self-determination amid clashes…

ADISS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Since taking power last year, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been on a drive to open up Africa’s second-most-populous nation. He has scrapped bans on opposition and rebel groups, purged allegedly corrupt officials and ended two decades of acrimony with neighboring Eritrea — an initiative that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. He has also put out the welcome mat for foreign capital in an effort…

NEW WORK(Capital Markers in Africa) – The House Intelligence Committee impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump plans Thursday to hear from Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council director for Europe and Russia, and David Holmes, a Foreign Service officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Here are the latest developments: Holmes Recalls Loud Trump Call With Sondland (10:43 a.m.) Holmes said he could hear the call between diplomat Gordon Sondland and Trump at an outdoor restaurant terrace…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa)- South Africa’s post office is cutting several hundred jobs, the second state-owned company in as many days to detail plans to lay off workers as the government looks to slash its wage bill. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni signaled last month he’s intent on lowering the government’s payroll costs, which consume 35% of national spending. The cuts are part of a plan to defend the nation’s last remaining investment-grade credit rating,…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – West African states’ failure to coordinate their response to piracy off their coastline is the main reason attacks are persisting, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe said. Seaborne assailants boarded two vessels off the coast of Togo and neighboring Benin earlier this month, the latest in a series of attacks in the world’s worst piracy hotspot in the Gulf of Guinea that stretches from Senegal to Angola. While the 15 states and western…