Every shortcut a tech company takes is a loan. That’s the whole idea behind “technical debt”, a phrase programmer Ward Cunningham coined more than 30 years ago and the smartest bit of financial language software ever borrowed. In my last column, I argued that we sell products before we build them. This is what happens…
A Chinese development expert, Dr. Zhou Taidong, has rejected claims that China uses loans and aid to trap poor countries, saying China’s cooperation with African countries is based on mutual benefit and South-South cooperation. Dr. Zhou, who is the Deputy Director of the China International Development Center, speaking to the New Dawn in Beijing briefly…
Nutun South Africa CEO Robert Amoils. (Image supplied) Global business process outsourcing (BPO) and credit-lifecycle management company Nutun launched its new AI Lab in Johannesburg last night. The team introduced Zoey, an agentic AI debt collector that is already recovering close to R10 million a month. “Zoey is live. Zoey is working. Zoey is operating…
Within the next 12 months, Telkom must manage R4.3 billion in short-term borrowings. (Photograph: Telkom) Telkom is set to wipe 30% off its short-term interest-bearing debt on Wednesday by fully settling a R623 million maturing corporate bond, cutting that portion of its debt to R1.4 billion. The payment retires the TL31 bond, effectively an institutional…
Andrew Mwenda’s recent remarks on Uganda’s fiscal predicament should resonate far beyond Kampala. When nearly half of government revenue, 46 percent, is consumed by debt servicing, leaving only 54 percent for salaries, roads, bridges, dams, healthcare, education, and other public investments, the challenge is no longer merely fiscal. It is developmental. A nation cannot sustainably…
One of the experts said Africa’s debt crisis should not be viewed only through economic indicators but through its impact on ordinary citizens At least 32 African countries now spend more on debt servicing than on healthcare, exposing the growing human cost of the continent’s worsening debt crisis, experts said on Wednesday at the opening…
Fintech firms Ozow and Happy Pay have established a partnership to position BNPL as an option at checkout, tapping growth within the BNPL space. (Image: 123RF) The buy now, pay later (BNPL) model does not encourage or drive overspending, according to South African payment platform Happy Pay, which says this would not serve anyone’s interest…
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (BRVM: ETIT) is preparing to raise $500 million through a subordinated debt issue as it moves to refinance part of its balance sheet ahead of a regulatory deadline in June 2026. The Lomé-based lender plans to use the proceeds to exercise a call option on about $350 million of existing Tier 2…
Cassava Technologies and Liquid Intelligent Technologies CEO Hardy Pemhiwa Liquid Intelligent Technologies has completed a US$660-million (R10.8-billion) refinancing that neutralises the near-term default risk that was hanging over the pan-African fibre operator – but at a sharply higher cost of capital than it was paying before. The centrepiece of the deal is a US$300-million senior…
Discover moreOnline Magazine SubscriptionsAfrican Cultural ExperiencesReal-time Event UpdatesBloomberg The Iran war is raising borrowing costs for African countries that are only just recovering from the post-pandemic shock that sent debt burdens soaring. Research published Tuesday by ONE Data showed borrowing costs from the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development jumped to 5.2% in…
