Breaking News Today – Friday 17 April 2026

African Start-up News Headlines:

• My Easy Transfer Raises $420k Pre-Seed: Tunisian fintech startup My Easy Transfer has closed a $420,000 funding round, targeting the cross-border payments space for North and West Africa. While modest in size, the deal reflects continued investor interest in the remittance and payments corridor, particularly in Francophone markets that have historically been underserved by digital financial tools.
• Tizeti Secures Debt Financing for 15-State Broadband Expansion Nigerian broadband startup Tizeti has secured long-term debt financing from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund (NIDF) to finance the rollout of its broadband network across 15 Nigerian states. Tizeti’s hotspot network currently serves more than 2.5 million active users across Nigeria and Ghana. 
• Inclusivity Solutions Raises $1.5m Series A Extension South African insurtech startup Inclusivity Solutions has closed a $1.5 million extension to its Series A round. The company focuses on making insurance products accessible to underserved and low-income populations across Africa. The extension signals continued investor appetite for inclusive financial products in South Africa’s mature but underserved insurance market. 

Business News Today 

Ghanaian cedi and Zambian kwacha Face Fresh Currency Pressure

Forex analysts have forecast further depreciation for the Ghanaian cedi and Zambian kwacha over the next week, while Kenya’s and Uganda’s shillings are expected to hold steady. Ghana’s cedi slipped to 11.03/$ due to a tight dollar supply environment, where central bank auctions saw $401 million in bids but only $110 million offered. Zambia’s kwacha at 19.40/$, remains exposed to volatile copper prices. Kenya has benefited from a U.S.-Iran ceasefire easing demand but are seeking urgent IMF support. Uganda in comparison has been assisted by relatively steady coffee prices and gained from coffee export fund inflows. The pressures reflect sector-specific forex demand, commodity swings, and lingering global uncertainty, highlighting uneven currency resilience across key African markets.

Moroccan Fertiliser Giant OCP Raises $1.5 billion With First International Hybrid Bond

OCP Group, the world’s leading phosphates and fertiliser producer, has successfully raised $1.5 billion in its debut U.S. dollar hybrid bond, making it the first African issuer to do so globally. The bond was oversubscribed 4.6 times with $7 billion in demand from 176 investors across 23 countries. The deal featured tranches due 2031 (6.74%) and 2036 (7.37%). Proceeds are set to bolster finances and further developments, amid tightening global fertiliser markets caused by Iran-related sulphur price spikes (up 35%) and China’s export curbs. OCP has ramped capacity to 16 million tonnes in 2025 and shifted toward lower-sulphur TSP production. The robust investor appetite indicates confidence despite geopolitical volatility and positions OCP to stabilise African agricultural supply chains.

DRC Creates Strategic Cobalt Reserve

The Democratic Republic of Congo which produces around 70% of cobalt globally, has launched a state-managed strategic reserve for cobalt and other critical minerals under a new cabinet decree. Mineral Regulator ARECOMS will stockpile 10% of export quotas (9,600 tonnes of cobalt in 2026) and can intervene in markets to balance supply and prices. This follows last year’s export ban-to-quota shift after an oversupply price crash. Major miners (CMOC, Glencore, etc.) are affected by the regulations. The move aims to strengthen the country’s economic sovereignty and provide predictable state intervention after an era of volatile quotas. It is aimed at enhancing the DRC’s leverage in the EV battery supply chain, and potentially stabilising prices and revenues while reducing reliance on ad-hoc bans.

Breaking Business and Market News Shorts:  

• Factory, the AI agent developing startup for enterprise engineering teams, announced it had raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone. The company’s key differentiator is its ability to switch between different Ai foundation models.
• Citi’s Chief Africa Economist David Cowan has predicted debt defaults in Senegal by 2027, and in Mozambique, and Malawi within two years, blaming the Iran oil-price shock for worsening fiscal strains. Africa has already seen four G20 restructurings since 2020. The outlook shows persistent debt vulnerabilities across the continent
• Asian stocks were generally lower today even after Wall Street set another record, as investors watched for signs of more U.S.-Iran talks and an extension of the ceasefire of the US-Iran war, that is set to end next week. Nikkei 225 fell -1% after reaching an all-time high on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi was -0.6% lower, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down -1%, while the Shanghai Composite index dropped -0.1%
• The U.S. stock market jumped to a second consecutive high yesterday. The S&P 500 lifted 0.3%, a day after topping its prior all-time high set in January, for its 11th gain in 12 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 115 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. U.S. stocks have leaped more than 10% since hitting a low in late March
• Brent crude futures slipped toward $98 per barrel this morning, slicing gains from the previous session after US President Donald Trump voiced optimism about a possible agreement to end the conflict with Iran. He said Tehran had accepted terms that include abandoning ambitions for a nuclear weapon, providing “free oil,” and reopening the Strait of Hormuz,

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar flat against major currencies today. The Greenback is trading against the Euro at 1.17823 while trading against the Pound at 1.35197. The Yen is currently trading at 159.50 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR), is currently trading around the 16.41 mark against the US dollar this morning.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures are up around 0.3% today, and currently trading at around $4804.00 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are trending -0.5% lower today, with prices currently around $6.0355 per pound
• Silver futures are up by around 0.9% today, and currently trading at around $79.144 per ounce.
• Platinum futures are around -0.7% lower this morning, and currently trading at $2097.00, While Palladium prices are trending around -1% lower this morning, and currently trading around $1566.00 per ounce.
• Brent crude oil prices are trending around -1.3% lower today and currently trading around $98.03, WTI is trading -1.4% lower at $93.30 currently
• Cocoa futures have lost further momentum this morning, dropping around -3%, with prices currently trading around $3455 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are trading -2.6% lower today, and currently trading at around $2.9040 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices are trending -0.5% lower this morning, and trading at around $74 712 per coin currently 
• Ether prices are around -1.1% lower today, and currently trading around $2322.87
• $Trumpcoin are currently trading at around $3.006

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H30 Central African Time) 

African General News Briefs:

• According to a report, Kenya has requested urgent and significant financial support from the World Bank to help it ​mitigate the impact from the war in Iran. This was according to its central bank governor ‌who spoke to Reuters yesterday. Kenya is heavily reliant on fuel and other energy imports, and the country is scrambling to deal with shortages of essential commodities including petrol, while managing cost increases that ​may well drive up inflation.
• Nigerian airlines have warned that the company will ​suspend all flight operations from April 20, unless crippling jet fuel ‌prices, which they have accused the country’s fuel marketers of artificially inflating, are reduced. The Airline Operators of Nigeria, an industry body composed of around a dozen mainly domestic carriers, wrote to the Major Energies ​Marketers Association of Nigeria complaining that jet fuel prices had ​risen by about 270% since late February.