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Afreximbank announces 71 Sponsors of Intra-African Trade Fair 2023

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Trade Fair

The roll call of IATF2023 sponsors includes four companies in the IATF Official Premier Partner category, two IATF Trade and Investment Partner, one IATF Country Day partner, and 38 IATF Official Partners, among others

CAIRO, Egypt, November 10, 2023/APO Group/ — 

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com), in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, has released an impressive list of 71 sponsors of the third Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023), Africa’s premier trade and investment event, taking place in Cairo from 9 to 15 November.

Positioned as the premier platform for business exchanges in Africa, IATF2023 is drawing on the broad range of programmes and initiatives being implemented by Afreximbank to facilitate intra-African trade and on the promise of the AfCFTA to revolutionise trade, reshape markets across the Africa, boost output in the manufacturing and service sectors and fundamentally transform Africa’s economic structure.

Prof. Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, said: “This Intra-African Trade Fair will open the African market to African businesses and will enable us to create investment opportunities and regional value chains beyond anything we have imagined. We are grateful to our sponsors for supporting us in achieving this objective.”

The roll call of IATF2023 sponsors includes four companies in the IATF Official Premier Partner category, two IATF Trade and Investment Partner, one IATF Country Day partner, and 38 IATF Official Partners, among others.

Four IATF Official Premier Partners

The Dangote Group is a Nigerian multinational industrial conglomerate, founded by Aliko Dangote. It is the largest conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest on the African continent. The group employs more than 30,000 people, generating revenue in excess of US$4.1 billion in 2017. Dangote Group is a market leader in Sub-Saharan Africa in Cement Manufacturing, Sugar Milling, Sugar Refining, Flour Milling, Manufacturing of Pasta, Operation of Cement Terminals, Port Operations, Noodles Manufacturing, Packaging Material Production and Salt Refining. www.Dangote.com

Elsewedy Electric creates sustainable projects in energy and infrastructure that enable businesses, communities and regions to thrive. Listed on the Egypt stock exchange since 2006, the hallmarks of our approach are holistic, start-to-finish solutions and an unswerving commitment to excellence. www.ElsewedyElectric.com

Mota Engil is a multinational with activity centred on the construction and management of infrastructure segmented into the areas of engineering and construction (infrastructure, civil construction, other specialities), industrial engineering (mining services), the environment (collection, processing, recovery, waste-to-energy), Mota-Engil Capital (concessions, Mota-Engil ATIV, Mota-Engil Renewing), energy (generation, waste-to-energy, trading), concessions (bridges, highways), Mota-Engil Next (real estate, transformation and innovation). It operates in three continents and 22 countries. www.Mota-Engil.com

Oando Servco Nigeria Limited is part of Oando Plc which is one of Africa’s leading energy solutions providers with a proud heritage and a primary listing on the Nigeria Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The Oando Group comprises two companies which are leaders in their markets: Oando Energy Resources and Oando Trading. www.OandoPLC.com

Two IATF Trade and Investment Partner,

This Intra-African Trade Fair will open the African market to African businesses and will enable us to create investment opportunities

Atlantic Financial Group provides managed access to all international markets and investment opportunities with offices in Luxembourg, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Abu Dhabi and Monaco. Its services include wealth management, financial research, structured products, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and real estate. www.Atlantic-Financial.net

Vista Group Holding SA is a financial services holding company focused on contributing to economic and financial inclusion in Africa. Vista Group Holding SA has entered in strategic partnerships with various global financial institutions to drive its growth strategy by focusing on MSME (SME banking, leasing, mesofinance, banking on women), trade and supply chain finance, bancassurance increasing profitability while controlling operating costs and mitigating risks. www.VistaBankGroup.com

IATF Country Day partner

ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (Arise IIP) identifies industrial gaps in African countries that unlock value and create new industries in key sectors by creating local transformation, maximizing production, efficiency and cost, which in turn generates local value addition. Tailor-made special economic zones in Gabon, Benin and Togo seek to boost exports, enable the local transformation of raw materials and promote trade. www.ARISEIIP.com

Other Sponsors

NNPC Limited, Union Bank, Access Bank, Orion Oil, African Development Bank, KK Kingdom Nigeria, Export Trading Group (ETG), Hassan Allam, SOMOIL (ETU Energies), International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), Trinity Energy Limited and Bono Energy. 

Others are Great Horn Investment Holdings, Sahara Group, Levene Energy, Development Limited, Guiter, SAMCO Egypt, Oakwood Green Capital Ltd., Fidelity Bank, Pacific Energy Company Limited, Plot Enterprise, UBA, Epe Tasdir Spa /, SAFEX (Algeria), RS Oil & Gas Co. Limited, `Oilserv Limited, Matrix Energy, Lotus Bank, COGEB International, JNPM COMÉRCIO GERAL E REPRESENTAÇÕES and Econet.

Also among the sponsors are Harvest Group of Companies, CORIS Bank International, Scanning Systems, Woodhall Capital, Dorman Long, PAC Holdings, HAVIT INC, Eyrie Energy Limited, UTM FLNG Ltd, NSIA BANQUE Côte d’Ivoire, DPA Industries, FDH Bank PLC, Azikel Group, Bank of Industry, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Banque Misr and Afriland.

Others are Gemcorp, OPAIA GROUP, Liquid Tech Telecommunications (Jersey) Limited/Cassava,Technologies, Sterling Bank, African Energy Chamber, Alfa Services, Petrovision Energy Services, Bureau Veritas, SICOP Industries SA, RAWBANK, Blue, Horn Aviation, DOTT Services, Banque Populaire de Mauritanie, Exodus and and Company, FBC Bank and Samapeche.

IATF2023 is Africa’s largest trade and investment fair. It is projected to attract over 1,600 exhibitors and 35,000 visitors and buyers and to witness the conclusion of US$43 billion of trade and investment deals. It is a must attend event for everyone interested in trade and investments in and across Africa’s single market of 1.4 billion people which has been created by the AfCFTA and which has a combined Gross Domestic Product of over US$3.5 trillion. Attendees at IATF2023 will include buyers, sellers, importers, exporters, investors, manufacturers, captains of industry, senior government ministers, trade finance and advisory specialists, trade and economic organisations, senior executives from corporates and multinationals and innovative entrepreneurs from across Africa and beyond.

For more information about IATF2023 please visit www.IntrAfricanTradeFair.com 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

Business

Africa gains governance momentum in the 2026 Chandler Good Government Index, but sustaining progress is the real test

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Africa

Across Africa, average scores improved in six of the seven CGGI pillars over the past year, with the strongest gains in Helping People Rise and Financial Stewardship

This signals that stronger government capabilities are beginning to translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives

KIGALI, Rwanda, October 29, 2026/APO Group/ –Africa was the second best-performing region for governance progress in the 2026 Chandler Good Government Index (CGGI), with 71% of the African countries assessed in both 2025 and 2026 achieving higher overall scores. However, the continent remains the lowest-scoring region overall, highlighting the challenge of translating improvement in government capabilities into better outcomes for citizens.

 




 
 

These findings were highlighted by the Chandler Governance Group (CGG) at a joint session with the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) to launch the 13th edition of the Rwanda Governance Scorecard at the Kigali Serena Hotel on Thursday, 22 October 2026.

“This year, Africa’s strongest gains came in Financial Stewardship, followed by Helping People Rise, the CGGI’s outcomes pillar. This signals that stronger government capabilities are beginning to translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives, from access to quality education and healthcare to the public finances that fund them. The task now is to sustain that progress over the coming years,” says Dinesh Naidu, Director (Knowledge) at CGG.

Now in its sixth edition, the CGGI assesses government capabilities and effectiveness across 133 countries representing 94% of the world’s population, up from 120 countries in 2025. It measures 35 equally weighted indicators across seven pillars, providing governments with a framework to benchmark performance, identify gaps and learn from the experience of other countries.

Globally, the findings point to improving governance performance. Of the 120 countries assessed in both 2025 and 2026, 61% recorded higher scores, representing the highest annual share of countries improving since the Index launched in 2021. However, longer-term progress has been less consistent, with only 43% of the 104 countries tracked since 2021 recording an overall improvement.

Africa’s leading governments

Mauritius remains Africa’s highest-ranked country, placing 55th globally, followed by Rwanda (62nd), Botswana (70th), Morocco (79th) and Tanzania (80th). South Africa ranks sixth on the continent, in 85th place globally.

Rwanda features prominently in the discussion, ranking 11th globally for Leadership & Foresight and emerging as the highest-ranked low-income country in the Index. It ranks 61 places above where its income alone would predict. Across the Index, government capabilities track citizen outcomes more closely than national wealth does, suggesting that strengthening government capabilities matter in delivering better outcomes for citizens.

The joint session brings together the CGGI’s international benchmarks and the Rwanda Governance Scorecard’s assessment of governance in the Rwandan context, creating an opportunity to consider both global perspectives and country-specific priorities.

Progress across key governance pillars

Across Africa, average scores improved in six of the seven CGGI pillars over the past year, with the strongest gains in Helping People Rise and Financial Stewardship. These improvements point to progress in areas associated with public services, including healthcare and education, as well as the management of public finances.

Longer-term trends also highlight areas of progress. Between 2021 and 2026, nearly every African country assessed across the period improved its Data Capability score, with Morocco recording the largest gains. Ghana’s overall score improved in 2026, supported by stronger Financial Stewardship, while South Africa continues to show relative strength in Robust Laws & Policies, ranking 44th globally, and Attractive Marketplace, ranking 48th.

Despite these gains, the scale of the challenge remains clear. Africa’s regional average is still below its 2021 level, 23 of the 35 African countries in the 2026 Index rank outside the global top 100, and none is in the top 50. Seven African countries joined the Index this year: Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia and Togo.

“Rankings provide a useful starting point, but the broader value of the CGGI lies in helping governments understand where they are making progress and where further work is needed. Sustained improvements depend on the ability to strengthen institutions, manage resources responsibly and turn policy into meaningful outcomes for citizens,” says Naidu.

A tool for learning and improvement

The CGGI is designed as a practical diagnostic tool, helping governments identify gaps, track progress over time, and learn from peers facing similar constraints. The collaboration with the RGB brings international benchmarking together with locally grounded assessment.

“Every country faces its own governance challenges and is driven by varying priorities. Governments that are willing to take stock of the evidence and learn from peers to strengthen their institutions are well placed to achieve real improvements,” concludes Naidu.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Chandler Governance Group.

 

 




 

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Spiro brings electric motorcycles and battery-swapping technology to Ghana, expanding its pan-African footprint

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Spiro

The integrated offering aims to reduce daily operating costs and minimise downtime, with battery swaps completed in just two minutes and potential savings of up to USD 2 per day compared with petrol-powered motorcycles

ACCRA, Ghana, October 29, 2026/APO Group/ —

  • Spiro’s entry into Ghana introduces the Ekon 450 M1 V3 electric motorcycle and its battery-swapping solution, bringing a new mobility option to commercial riders and delivery fleets.
  • The integrated offering aims to reduce daily operating costs and minimise downtime, with battery swaps completed in just two minutes and potential savings of up to USD 2 per day compared with petrol-powered motorcycles.
  • Test rides and product demonstrations across Greater Accra will support the rollout and help riders experience the benefits of electric mobility.

 




 
 

Spiro (www.Spironet.com), Africa’s largest electric mobility company, is expanding its footprint in Ghana with the introduction of the Ekon 450 M1 V3 electric motorcycle and its battery-swapping solution. Combining electric two-wheelers with access to charged batteries, Spiro aims to make everyday transport more affordable and practical for riders while supporting Ghana’s transition towards sustainable mobility.

For commercial riders and delivery fleets, fuel expenses and time spent off the road directly affect daily earnings. Spiro’s integrated offering addresses both challenges: riders can exchange a depleted battery for a charged one at a Spiro battery-swapping station in just two minutes, while potentially saving up to USD 2 per day in operating costs compared with conventional petrol-powered motorcycles.

Ghana represents a major opportunity for electric mobility, with a rapidly growing two-wheeler market and increasing demand from commercial riders and delivery fleets

Designed to meet the everyday mobility needs of African riders, the Ekon 450 M1 V3 offers an alternative to petrol-powered motorcycles. Supported by Spiro’s battery-swapping technology, it allows riders to get back on the road without waiting for their motorcycle to recharge.

Auroasish Choudhuri Managing Director Central and West Africa, commented: “Our entry into Ghana is an important step in strengthening Spiro’s presence in West Africa. Our focus is on building a local ecosystem that riders can rely on, combining electric motorcycles with convenient access to battery swapping. By working closely with local partners and listening to riders’ needs, we aim to support the long-term adoption of electric mobility in Ghana.”

Kaushik Burman, CEO Mobility of Spiro said: “Ghana represents a major opportunity for electric mobility, with a rapidly growing two-wheeler market and increasing demand from commercial riders and delivery fleets. By bringing the Ekon 450 M1 V3 together with our battery-swapping solution, we are addressing two key barriers to adoption: operating costs and access to charging infrastructure. Our ambition is to build a strong foundation for electric mobility to scale across Ghana.”

To support its rollout, Spiro is engaging with prospective customers through test rides, product demonstrations and live demonstrations of its battery-swapping technology across Greater Accra. These activities give riders the opportunity to experience the Ekon 450 M1 V3 and understand how battery swapping can fit into their daily routines.

Mr Maxwell Dodd, Managing Director of Spiro Ghana, said: “For riders in Ghana, the value of electric mobility lies in what it can deliver every day: lower operating costs, less downtime and more time on the road. Through the Ekon 450 M1 V3 and our battery-swapping solution, we want to make those benefits accessible and support riders as they make the transition to electric motorcycles.”

Ghana forms part of Spiro’s wider expansion across Africa. Building on its recent USD 270 million equity funding round and an additional USD 18 million in debt financing from the Africa Go Green Fund, the company is scaling its electric mobility ecosystem with the ambition of establishing a presence in 20 African markets. Spiro is also preparing to enter new countries, including Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Spiro.

 

 




 

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Huawei Wireless Unveils Innovation Breakthroughs to Pioneer New Communications Networks

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Huawei

The innovation breakthroughs for pioneering new communications networks include RetinaMIMO, new materials, and OSCAR solution among other root technologies. By tackling coverage, energy consumption, and capacity challenges, the breakthroughs drive ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency. The breakthroughs have unlocked a wealth of new capabilities, including the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU, GigaGreen Plus series, and UBBPi series.
Huawei promotes A2A-T standards and drives commercial open-source OpenAN through extensive partnerships to build an open telecom agent ecosystem.

 




 
 

SHANGHAI, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 29 October 2026 – At Huawei Decoding China 2026, Fang Xiang, Corporate Vice President and President of Wireless Network Solution of Huawei, unveiled a series of innovation breakthroughs to pioneer new communications networks. The innovation breakthroughs mark major leaps in root technologies focused on ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency. With the breakthroughs, Huawei has launched the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU, GigaGreen Plus series, and UBBPi series. Additionally featuring the new progress in open ecosystem for telecom agents, the breakthroughs will lay a solid foundation for new communications networks.

With booming intelligent devices and services, new devices, traffic, and applications are taking shape in the mobile industry. The new devices are expanding network connectivity from people to things and agents, increasing the number of connections by 100 times. Device-cloud synergy for intelligent services calls for stronger uplink capabilities to support training and inference, shifting network focus from downlink dominance to both uplink and downlink. With new applications, come a diversity of new interaction modes, calling for higher standards in experience and driving networks to support ubiquitous steady ultra-low latency with a high reliability.

As the world steps into an intelligent era, the value of connectivity is not only about quantity—it’s more about quality. This has been inspiring Huawei to convert cutting-edge breakthroughs into the commercial practices of new communications networks by focusing on root technologies for ubiquitous experience, simplified and green networks, and superior spectral efficiency.

Pioneering ubiquitous experience

RetinaMIMO is a new pioneering technology designed to solve the challenge of concurrent ultra-high bandwidth and ubiquitous coverage. It features the industry’s first Retina scanning system that allows RF link topologies to be reconstructed to eliminate coverage collapse in the vertical direction. It also adopts a reconstructed antenna array architecture to address the diminishing marginal gains as array elements (AEs) increase.

Based on RetinaMIMO, Huawei has launched the world’s first commercial U6 GHz device VitaAAU. Compared with similar products with 1024 AEs, VitaAAU widens coverage by about 30%, enabling U6 GHz to match C-band in both horizontal and vertical directions. This enables operators to deliver U6 GHz coverage for new communications networks on their C-band sites, minimizing overall TCO. To date, VitaAAU has seen commercial adoption in the UAE and other markets, with peak downlink speeds exceeding 10 Gbps, making ubiquitous premium experience a reality.

Pioneering simplified, green networks

Huawei’s pioneering EP power amplifier (PA) architecture capitalizes on new materials and technologies to solve the problem of energy efficiency decline on higher frequency bands, maximizing energy conversion efficiency. The industry’s first-ever multimode dielectric filters allow antennas to have small dimensions and low power consumption on multi-channel networks with high frequency bands. Powered by new materials, technologies, and architectures, VitaAAU antenna is reduced to 1.5 m in diameter while supporting “0 Bit 0 Watt 0 Loss”, delivering superior energy saving efficiency. These innovations enable Huawei’s GigaGreen Plus series products to achieve significant reductions in dimensions, weight, and power consumption, better positioned to power simplified and green networks.

Pioneering superior spectral efficiency

Multi-band, multi-cell, and multi-user interference is a major restrictive factor of capacity. The time scaling of the Tau (τ) law is introduced to base stations for the first time to realize optimal dynamic resource scheduling across all domains based on the OSCAR solution. With low-latency bus and high-speed interconnect technology, a high-speed architecture is built to enable the real-time exchange of massive data. Thanks to software and hardware synergy, new UBBPi series products improve average user experience by 1.3 times while reducing power consumption by approximately 40%, further improving spectral and energy efficiency.

Pioneering open-source autonomous networks

Autonomous networks have emerged as an inevitable choice to deal with the growing AI services and increasing network complexity. RANSpirit is another industry first from Huawei, implementing single-domain network autonomy based on the telecom foundation model and digital twins. To date, RANSpirit is serving more than 1.2 million cells across 25 networks around the world, providing assistance to more than 2,000 engineers.

Extensive agent collaboration relies on an open, win-win ecosystem. This galvanizes Huawei to join industry partners to develop ecosystem standards, communities, and industry alliances. In terms of standards, Huawei adapts to the TM Forum, building a cross-agent foundation on the A2A-T standard and framework agreed upon by the industry. In terms of communities, Huawei jointly promotes neutral open-source communities and donates open-source agent components to the Linux Foundation, driving global collaboration and innovation. With regard to industry alliances, Huawei has taken the initiative to pool ecosystem strengths to accelerate business implementation based on the GSMA industry platform.

Fang concluded with the reiteration of Huawei’s unswerving pursuit of dual-drive innovation to promote new breakthroughs in mobile networks and work with partners from around the world to deepen the OpenAN ecosystem, advancing new communications networks through technological innovation and open collaboration.

FAQs

Q1: Why is it challenging to balance ultra-high bandwidth and ubiquitous coverage?

Ultra-high bandwidth depends on higher frequency bands. As we know, a higher frequency leads to a greater propagation loss of electromagnetic waves and a weaker ability for them to penetrate obstacles, because high-frequency signals attenuate fast and have short coverage distances, while ubiquitous coverage requires signals to travel a long distance in complex environments. Inherently, the two priorities pull in sharply opposite directions.

  




 

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