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Africa Tech Festival 2025 concludes with a call for policy harmonisation and collaboration to secure Africa’s digital future

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Africa Tech Festival

This year’s festival brought together technology leaders, policymakers, global innovators, founders, investors, and future talent for three days of critical dialogue, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 14, 2025/APO Group/ –The closing day of the 28th annual Africa Tech Festival 2025 (https://AfricaTechFestival.com/) delivered a clear message: Africa is on a technology trajectory unlike anything seen before, and its potential is limitless. With the world’s youngest population and a rapidly expanding digital economy, the continent is charting its course toward digital sovereignty.

This message was reiterated in the headline keynote, Closing the Talent Gap to Power Africa’s AI Economy, which emphasised that Africa’s digital transformation depends on embedding foundational digital literacy and AI skills across education systems. Along with moderator Dr. Miriam Altman, panellists Mary Mahuma (Philip Morris SA), Sipho Mtombeni (Google), and Shamiela Letsoalo (Naspers/Ecommerce Forum SA) highlighted the need for critical thinking, problem-solving, and adaptable “AI-enabled” workers across all sectors. They pointed to scalable talent models and partnerships as catalysts for preparing Africa’s youth for emerging digital careers.

Data excellence was in the spotlight at the AI Summit, with Building Africa’s Data Backbone – Governance, Infrastructure and Interoperability, focusing on the foundations required for continental-scale digital growth. SenthilKumar Velayutham (African Development Bank), Matis Pellerin (Oracle), Caitlin Tallack (The AI Collective), James Turuthi (TESPOK), and Matthias Reusing (Delegation of the EU to the African Union) emphasised that harmonised data regulation, interoperable systems, and aligned regional standards are crucial for unlocking innovation, supporting AI development, and enhancing Africa’s digital resilience.

Africa Tech Festival 2025 has proven that when innovation, investment, and policy align, transformation follows

Policy as a catalyst for African startups took centre stage at AfricaIgnite, where Kunbi Tinuoye (UrbanGeekz), Nikita Thakrar (Included VC), and Natalie Miller (XRGlobal) called for gender-equitable investment environments and coordinated cross-border regulation to expand capital access beyond the continent’s major hubs. Speakers noted that Africa’s next wave of high-growth ventures will depend on investor diversity, streamlined regulation, and policies that reflect the realities entrepreneurs face across 54 markets.

The AfricaCom panel Collaboration in Action – Fostering Telco Partnerships to Drive Digital Inclusion brought together leaders from MTN, Standard Bank, RMB, and the Mobile Ecosystem Forum to explore how cross-industry alliances are extending connectivity, enabling digital commerce, and supporting the continent’s broader inclusion agenda.

In addition to the sessions taking place at the main venue, the Next Gen Talent Summit at UVU Africa celebrated Africa’s emerging innovators, showcasing the young entrepreneurs and digital talent shaping the continent’s future technological progress.

Reflecting on the successful conclusion of the event, Kadi Diallo, Portfolio Manager for Africa Tech Festival, noted, “Africa Tech Festival 2025 has proven that when innovation, investment, and policy align, transformation follows. Over three impactful days, Africa Tech Festival 2025 reaffirmed Africa’s position not only as a participant in the global technology landscape but as a continent shaping how innovation can be inclusive, responsible, and transformative.”

Across all four programmes – AfricaCom, AfricaTech, The AI Summit Cape Town, and AfricaIgnite – this year’s festival brought together technology leaders, policymakers, global innovators, founders, investors, and future talent for three days of critical dialogue, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing. Framed by the central themes of responsible innovation, inclusive investment, connectivity for development, and policy harmonisation, Africa Tech Festival 2025 featured high-level keynotes, policy-shaping panels, fireside chats, startup pitches, and cross-industry networking designed to accelerate Africa’s digital progress.

Africa Tech Festival has once again reaffirmed its role as the premier platform where Africa’s technology ecosystem comes together to collaborate, co-create, and shape the continent’s digital future.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Africa Tech Festival.

Energy

ExxonMobil Backs Angola’s Next Growth Phase as Gold Sponsor of Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) 2026

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ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil joins AOG 2026 as Gold Sponsor, reinforcing its commitment to Angola as the country advances a $70 billion upstream investment strategy

LUANDA, Angola, July 21, 2026/APO Group/ –ExxonMobil has joined Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) 2026 as a Gold Sponsor, reinforcing its long-term commitment to one of Africa’s largest upstream markets. Taking place in Luanda from September 9–10 – with a pre-conference day on September 8 – AOG 2026 will bring together operators, investors, financiers and policymakers as Angola pursues more than $70 billion in upstream investment to sustain production and unlock new exploration opportunities.

 

ExxonMobil has been a cornerstone of Angola’s offshore industry for more than three decades and remains one of the country’s leading international operators, with interests in producing deepwater Blocks 15, 17 and 32. The company continues to support Angola’s objective of maintaining production above one million barrels per day while advancing the next generation of deepwater investment.

Momentum accelerated in 2026 with the redevelopment of Block 15, where ExxonMobil awarded a major EPCI contract for the Likembe Redevelopment 2.0 Project. The subsea tie-back development is designed to restore and increase production by leveraging existing infrastructure, extending the productive life of one of Angola’s most prolific offshore assets while improving capital efficiency.

The redevelopment follows the extension of the Block 15 production sharing agreement, which supports continued operations and new investment across the asset. The renewed framework paves the way for additional redevelopment activity while extending the operational life of the Kizomba A, Kizomba B, Mondo and Saxi-Batuque FPSOs. Together with an 18-well redevelopment campaign that increased production by approximately 30% and discoveries such as Bavuca South-1 and Likembe-01, the project underscores ExxonMobil’s strategy of maximizing value from mature deepwater assets while pursuing production growth.

Alongside redevelopment, ExxonMobil continues to expand its long-term exploration portfolio. The company is evaluating opportunities in Angola’s frontier Namibe Basin following completion of the basin’s first exploration well and has continued geological studies to assess future investment potential. Company executives have reaffirmed their commitment to further investment in Angola while advanced data analysis is used to determine the basin’s long-term resource potential.

ExxonMobil’s participation as a Gold Sponsor reinforces AOG 2026 as the premier platform for shaping Angola’s upstream future. As the country advances licensing opportunities, mature field redevelopment and frontier exploration, the conference will provide a forum for operators, government and investors to examine the partnerships, technologies and capital required to sustain long-term production growth. ​

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

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Energy

Meren Energy to Spotlight Production Growth and Orange Basin Strategy as African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 Silver Partner

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Meren Energy

Meren Energy will showcase its Nigerian production growth, Orange Basin strategy and Venus development ambitions as a Silver Partner at African Energy Week 2026

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 21, 2026/APO Group/ –Independent E&P company Meren Energy will participate at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 – taking place in Cape Town from October 12–16 – as a Silver Partner, showcasing its evolution into a major independent upstream producer with a balance portfolio spanning high-margin production in Nigeria and world-class exploration opportunities across the Orange Basin. The company arrives at the event following a transformational year marketed by a corporate rebrand, a major portfolio consolidation and a sharpened focus on delivering long-term production growth.

 

Formerly Africa Oil Corp., Meren Energy completed its corporate rebrand in May 2025, reflecting its transition from an exploration-led company into a full-cycle upstream producer. The transformation accelerated with the completion of its Prime Oil & Gas consolidation in July 2025, which doubled the company’s working interest production and reserves while strengthening its cash flow through expanded interests in Nigeria’s prolific deepwater assets.

Today, Nigeria represents the cornerstone of Meren’s business. Through interests in Prime, the company holds stakes in some of the country’s largest offshore producing fields, including Akpo, Egina and Agbami. These assets underpin virtually all of the company’s current cash flow, benefitting from premium Brent-linked pricing, low lifting costs and long-life production.

Meren Energy represents the evolution of Africa’s independent upstream sector

The strategy has translated into a strong financial position. During the first quarter of 2026, Meren reported entitlement production of approximately 31,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (bpd) while maintaining guidance for an average of roughly 30,000 bpd for the year. The company also strengthened its balance sheet by refinancing its reserve-based lending facility, increasing commitments to $600 million with maturity extended to 2032, while continuing to return capital to shareholders through quarterly dividends.

Alongside its producing portfolio, Meren is positioning itself for the next phase of growth through one of the world’s most closely watched emerging petroleum provinces: the Orange Basin.

In Namibia, the company retains an effective interest in the giant Venus discovery through its investment in Impact Oil & Gas. Following a corporate restructuring announced in May 2026, Impact has become a streamlined Namibia-focused company dedicated to advancing the Venus development toward final investment decision. The project, led by TotalEnergies, ranks among Africa’s largest recent offshore discoveries and is expected to become one of the continent’s most significant new sources of oil production later this decade.

While Impact concentrates exclusively on Namibia, Meren continues to directly hold an 18% interest in South Africa’s Block 3B/4B in the Orange Basin, where high-impact exploration drilling is anticipated. The company also maintains operated exploration acreage in Equatorial Guinea, providing additional long-term exploration upside alongside its producing assets. ​

“Meren Energy represents the evolution of Africa’s independent upstream sector. By combining strong producing assets with strategic investments in frontier basins like the Orange Basin, the company is demonstrating how African-focused independents can deliver both shareholder value and long-term energy development,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber.

At AEW 2026, Meren Energy is expected to engage investors, operators and government stakeholders on opportunities across its diversified portfolio, with particular emphasis on the Venus development, exploration potential in South Africa’s Orange Basin and continued investment in Nigeria’s offshore sector. As a Silver Partner, the company reinforces its commitment to advancing Africa’s next generation of upstream projects while supporting the continent’s growing role in global energy supply.  ​

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

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Business

$2.1 Billion and Counting: African Real Estate Is Executing

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Africa

Ahead of the 17th Africa Property Investment (API) Summit in Cape Town, investment pipelines are converting into a record number of transactions as the continent’s real estate and hospitality sectors move from potential into real momentum

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 21, 2026/APO Group/ –Verified data gathered from across Africa’s real estate investment landscape reveals that the continent’s leading property and hospitality roleplayers completed more than $2.1 billion worth of transactions over the past 18 months, representing one of the most concentrated periods of institutional real estate deal activity in the continent’s history.

 

Download Document: https://apo-opa.co/3TraTiH

The 28 transactions (across nine countries and eight asset classes) were closed by API Summit stakeholders from across the institutional property ecosystem – spanning listed capital markets, commercial, residential, hospitality, logistics and alternatives.

The full African Deals Index report – compiled in collaboration with Broll, the data and insights partner for API Summit 2026 – will be unveiled on the opening day of the event, taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 17 and 18 September.

Talk turning to investment action

The deal-making activity is a signal of the much-spoken-about potential for Africa converting into tangible action, driven by enhanced investor confidence.

“This isn’t a forecast – it’s a balance sheet. $2.1 billion in completed transactions tells you African real estate has moved past the conversation about potential and into the discipline of execution,” said Malcolm Horne, Group CEO of Broll Property Group.

Horne highlighted several key shifts reflected in the data.

“What’s notable is where the conviction is coming from: domestic pension capital acting as a structuring investor, not a passive landlord, and green-linked financing becoming a board-level decision, not a marketing line. At Broll, we see this in our own data every day – across the assets we manage, the cost of capital is increasingly tied to the quality of the asset, not just its location.

“That’s the market maturing in real time, and it’s exactly the momentum my team and I are looking forward to presenting and unpacking at API this year.”

The 17th Annual API Summit takes place under the theme Bold Capital. Real Momentum. and is expected to attract over 600 delegates from more than 30 countries.

Niyi Adeyele, Head of Real Estate Finance, Africa Regions at Standard Bank Group, commented on the evolution of real estate sector funding across Africa.

“It remains interesting to track the resilience and the evolution of activities in the sector, from growing capital market activities, to the rapidly increasing participation of domestic capital sources within the African continent from domestic focused institutional capital sources such as pension funds and family offices to pan-African investor platforms that tend to operate across multiple countries.”

He said that accordingly, sectoral activity levels remain positive, with the “growing pace of green field projects in key markets” providing “early indications of a new growth cycle for the sector”.

Investors now have listed, liquid exposure to African real estate, and issuers have a repeatable route to permanent capital

Major moves from domestic capital and DFIs

Domestic pension capital has moved decisively beyond its traditional role as a passive landlord, emerging as an active, structuring investor in African real estate – a shift that will be central to discussions at the summit.

The charge was led by South Africa’s Government Employees Pension Fund (through the Public Investment Corporation and retail property powerhouse Pareto), which concluded commercial, residential and industrial transactions valued at over $343.5 million since the start of 2025.

“Through the Standard Bank Group’s franchise operations across multiple countries, there are observed increase deployment of institutional capital to across key markets driving increased primary and secondary market activities,” said Adeyele, pointing to examples such as Grene Capital’s raising of $100 million from Nigerian pension for property investments in Nigeria and beyond.

Sustainability-linked deal leads the way

Sustainability remains a critical factor in real estate financing considerations – evidenced by the largest transaction completed over the past 18 months.

Standard Bank and its African Regions brand Stanbic (along with Rand Merchant Bank) acted as co-lender on a $300 million green financing facility to facilitate Lango’s bid to become Africa’s first Green Pure Play real estate company, with 90% of its portfolio certified according to international standards.

Amongst several other milestones, the Africa Logistics Property (ALP) Industrial REIT listing on the Nairobi Stock Exchange in March 2026 was notable as East Africa’s first listing featuring entirely IFC EDGE-certified green buildings.

Listed capital makes major moves

REIT capital markets were the second largest asset class by value across the period, accounting for $568.5 million of activity, with the action extending well beyond South Africa’s established counters.

East Africa welcomed ALP’s Industrial REIT (marking the region’s first industrial and first USD-denominated security); Centum’s TRIFIC Dollar I-REIT (the first green, income-distributing USD-denominated) and Acorn Holdings’ build-to-rent D-REIT.

On Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, the Pfuma Fund REIT and Eagle REIT both listed, deepening a hard-currency capital market that scarcely existed five years ago.

“Seeing multiple REITs listing on exchanges in one cycle tells you the asset class has crossed from novelty to norm. Investors now have listed, liquid exposure to African real estate, and issuers have a repeatable route to permanent capital,” said Raghav Gandhi, CEO of ALP.

API Summit 2026 – ushering in the next wave of deals

The unprecedented commitment of capital into Africa’s real estate sector takes centre stage when the 17th Annual API Summit convenes. Welcoming the investors, developers, financiers and policymakers behind the continent’s most prominent deals, this year’s event features a new Multifamily Forum alongside the popular Hospitality and Proptech Forums; an impactful main plenary, workshops, deals and meetings rooms and investment showcases, and the 10th edition of the prestigious API Awards.

For more information and to register, visit www.APISummit.co.za

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of API Events.

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