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Blogs 23 August, 2020

Is Covid-19 accelerating Cameroon's digital transformation?

Cameroon’s telecommunications sector has made significant advances in recent years. In support of the country’s goal of ‘economic emergence’ by 2035, the government introduced new telecommunications and e-strategy policies in...

Blogs 28 July, 2020

Mining - a cornerstone of the Togolese economy

Togo’s significant gold, iron ore and uranium deposits as well as an abundance of other minerals such as phosphate, limestone, and marble are attracting both domestic and international investment interest. Current estimates...

Blogs 21 July, 2020

Cameroon's banking sector - weathering the storms of COVID-19 and low oil prices

The size of Cameroon’s economy and its central location in the African continent make it an influential country in the Central Africa Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). Similarly, Cameroon’s banking industry tends to take a...

Blogs 12 July, 2020

Unitel, Sonangol and Angola's privatisation programme - disconnected?

One of the key objectives of the Angolan privatisation programme ‘PROPRIV’ set in motion by President Joao Lourenco, was to privatise Angola’s dominant mobile phone operator Unitel, which currently controls over 80% of Angola’s...

Blogs 5 July, 2020

Covid-19 and the coming of age of e-commerce in the MENA region

As Covid-19 continues to upend social norms and business models around the globe, the virus has forced different regions and sectors to adapt to a changing way of life. In the second of a series of blogs, we look at how changes...

Blogs 8 June, 2020

Togo's agricultural sector a magnet for overseas investors

The attractiveness of Togo as a destination for foreign investment has improved dramatically in recent years, thanks to its government’s efforts to improve infrastructure and cut red tape for businesses; according to the 2020...

Blogs, Healthcare 2 June, 2020

Effective collaboration - the UAE's response to the Covid-19 crisis

The UAE has been widely lauded for its response to the Covid-19 crisis, both in terms of its actions domestically and in how it has provided international support to other affected countries. That the UAE has been relatively...

Marketing material 31 March, 2020

Family offices product information

Our Family Offices dataset is a meticulously verified and growing collection of identified high net-worth families. Access your copy of our PDF by clicking the button below....

Blogs 2 March, 2020

The IT market - Saudi Arabia

The IT market in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach SAR 48 billion by 2021, driven by initiatives focusing on SMEs, citizen services e-commerce security and smart cities. The government continues to inject significant investments...

Blogs 4 February, 2020

Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento, aka “General Dino”

Last Friday, 31 January 2020, the Provincial Court of Luanda in Angola issued a preventive seizure over some of the assets of Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento, aka “General Dino”, a key member of the “Futungo” or inner circle of...

Blogs 20 January, 2020

Big business in Uganda

In 1908, Winston Churchill called Uganda “the pearl of Africa” in his book ‘My African Journey’, after visiting the country in 1907. Located in central-east Africa on the shores of Lake Victoria, Uganda is blessed with abundant...

Blogs 7 January, 2020

Angola: tomorrow's #1 diamond producer?

Angola is the fifth largest diamond producer in the world and the third biggest in Africa. With diamond reserves estimated at 180 million carats, Angola could be on track to become the top producer and the government is putting...

Blogs 17 December, 2019

Saudi Aramco: where ambition meets clarity – Diligencia’s year in review

As I write, financial newspapers are leading with the news that Saudi Aramco has on the second day of public trading briefly achieved a valuation of US$2 trillion. This is the culmination of a two-year story since the IPO...

Blogs 11 November, 2019

Technology-driven growth takes centre stage in the GCC

Digital technologies are disrupting economies globally and the GCC is no exception. According to Mergermarket, there were approximately 40 technology-related M&A transactions in the region between 2015 and 2017, focused on...

Blogs 29 October, 2019

Who's who in Nigeria

Each year Forbes ranks the world based on its wealthiest people. In this blog, we take a closer look at the most prosperous people in Nigeria and their business connections....

Blogs 21 October, 2019

In the spotlight: Mubadala and its interests in North Africa

Abu Dhabi-based global investment firm, Mubadala Investment Company, is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds and invests in more than 50 countries. With assets under management of over US$225bn, Mubadala is a shareholder in...

Blogs 1 October, 2019

Running red hot – the global shisha tobacco market

While the global tobacco industry is facing the combined challenges of stricter regulations, new entrants from technologies such as vaping, and rapidly changing consumer behaviour, there is one market segment that is experiencing...

Blogs 19 September, 2019

Mining in the UAE - a clear opportunity

Anyone who has lived or worked in the UAE will know how much of what is consumed inside the country is imported. You might also be surprised to know, in a country that consists largely of desert, that the UAE’s imports also...

Blogs 22 August, 2019

We are all storytellers

OK so it has taken me a while, but I have finally found the time over the summer to read the excellent ‘Sapiens’ by Yuval Noah Hariri – a masterful sweep of human history, mixing anthropology, sociology and good old-fashioned...

Blogs 31 July, 2019

Boom or bust? What is really going on with Egypt’s economy?

“Egypt’s economy isn’t booming…it’s collapsing” says a former minister in Mohammed Morsi’s short-lived administration....