Insights from the World Bank GROW Expo Despite women contributing nearly 40% of Africa’s GDP, they receive less than 7% of private equity and venture capital funding–and only a fraction of that reaches women-led SMEs. At the recent World Bank’s GROW Expo in Uganda, the Graça Machel Trust’s Afrishela Fund challenged this disparity with a…
Africa accounts for 70% of the R18 trillion stored in mobile wallets. Credit bureau TransUnion believes it is possible to enable as many as 500 million financially excluded Africans to join the formal economy, growing gross domestic product (GDP), through analysing mobile network subscribers’ behaviour when they buy data or airtime. TransUnion Africa − in…
TLDR The African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), a new privately owned credit rating body, is set to begin operations by September 2025 The agency is backed by private sector stakeholders across Africa, not governments, to ensure independence and credibility The launch was originally planned for June 2025 during an African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) summit,…
As we headed into 2025, the stage seemed set for South Africa’s interest rates to drop, with inflation within the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) target range. However, global factors – including heightened geopolitical instability and tariff-related tensions – prompted SARB to hold firm. This interest rate stagnation has had both direct and indirect effects…
While some South Africans may have been notified by their banks, many consumers are not aware of the recent change in South Africa’s credit reporting system, where banks are now required to report overdrafts if consumers are overdrawn by more than R500 for a period of 30 days. Having come into effect from 1st March…
0% introductory APR for 21 months on Balance Transfers: One of the longest introductory periods we’ve come across, you’ll get 0% intro APR for a full 21 months on Balance Transfers, which means you’ll have almost two years to pay off your balance. 0% introductory APR for 12 months on Purchases: You’ll also get 0%…
