Breaking News Today – Thursday 7 May 2026

African Start-up News Headlines:

• Fintech platform, Kaleidofin (www.Kaleidofin.com), has closed Kenya’s first private-sector local currency securitisation in the smallholder agriculture sector, in partnership with agri-finance company Apollo Agriculture and with investment from the IDH Farmfit Fund, a blended finance impact fund, marking a significant step in developing institutional capital markets for rural lending.
• The Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility, a $4M investment facility managed by Village Capital, has announced its first two investments in Ghana. The Facility is deploying capital into Rivia Clinics, a tech-enabled primary healthcare startup, and VDL Fulfilment, an e-commerce logistics platform built for African SMEs, both based in Accra. The aim is to help identify high-potential early-stage companies often overlooked by traditional investors.
• Bellatrix Investment Managers, a Namibia-based alternative investment firm, has launched a new seed fund named Ndjaba (meaning elephant). The Fund is a $10 million venture capital vehicle, developed to support early-stage startups across Southern Africa. the Ndjaba Seed Fund, which was launched yesterday, will target a diversified portfolio of between 35 and 50 startups over a ten-year investment period. The fund will be looking to invest in including fintech, agritech, healthtech, education, clean energy, e-commerce, and enterprise software startup businesses.

Business News Today 

African Bourses Lift Tracking Global Increases

South Africa’s Main Bourse, the JSE, climbed around 4% yesterday, closing at 119 166 index points, mirroring a wide global share recovery. The lift was driven mainly through improving global sentiment, with investors responding to reports of a possible peace talk restart between Iran and the United States. Most major international indices also saw gains, with the FTSE 100 and DAX up around 2%, while France’s CAC 40 gained roughly 3%. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng were up around 1%, with the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 also edging about 1% higher. This morning Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped more than 5% toward 63,000 in post-holiday trading on Thursday, reaching a new record. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) continued to show positive momentum, with the All-Share Index advancing by 0.34% to 204,458.86 points. 

Energy Boost for Kenya on Track

Kenya is moving towards joining Africa’s fairly exclusive oil-producing club for the first time, with commercial production anticipated to start before the end of 2026. The oil region of South Lokichar fields in Turkana, will start producing between 20 000 and 50 000 barrels per day, as the country continues to explore long-term refining options to support future output growth. Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi noted that while oil output is now becoming viable, Kenya’s refining ambitions remain constrained by scale. Refining will only become viable with crude oil volumes of over 100 000 barrels a day and will require greater scale to achieve this.

Inflation in Egypt Cools in April After March Spike

Egypt’s annual urban inflation saw a drop to 14.9% in April 2026, down from 15.2% in March, which had been a ten-month high. This, despite inflationary pressure from the Iran conflict, which raised fuel and food prices and weighed on the currency. The largest component of the inflation basket was food and beverages, which climbed by 6.7%, – the most in ten months, after a 5.8% rise in March. On a monthly basis, the consumer price index (CPI) lifted by 1.1%, slowing from a 3.2% surge in the previous month. A broader full country view saw the annual inflation rate tick down to 13.4% from 13.5%, mainly attributed to slower increases in prices of healthcare – 10.1% vs 17.1% in March; transportation and communications down to 24.5% vs 29.3%; miscellaneous goods & services at 12.5% vs 13% and restaurants & hotels slipping to13.4% vs 13.7% in March.

Breaking Business and Market News Shorts:  

• US shares lifted yesterday as a potential end to the war with Iran improved the macroeconomic backdrop, while a series of strong earnings boosted AI stocks. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose over 1% to new records, and the Dow added 600 points. AMD surged by 20% after beating earnings estimates and lifting its guidance on soaring levels of data centre growth.Super Micro Computer saw a 15% surge on strong earnings.
• Ghana’s consumer inflation saw an increase for the first time since December 2024. CPI lifted to 3.4% year-on-year in April from 3.2% in March, the Ghanaian statistics service said yesterday. Government statistician Alhassan Iddrisu said the increase was mostly driven by services like transport, education, restaurants and accommodations.
• Workers at a major Guinea ore mine, are striking over a pay dispute have halted mining since last week on the two ‌blocks of Guinea’s giant Simandou iron ore project operated by a consortium led by China’s Baowu Resources, according to a report from Reuters. Baowu, is the world’s largest steelmaker and is also the operator ​of Simandou’s blocks 1 and 2, have said it remains in compliance with Guinea’s labour and mining regulations.
• Cocoa futures rose above $4,130 per tonne, hitting the highest level since February this year, amid growing supply risks. While weather conditions in West Africa, particularly in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, have recently improved, supporting short-term output and allowing for a gradual rebuilding of global stocks, the outlook remains uncertain. Cocoa has lifted by over 21% in the past week.

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar weakening against major currencies today. The Greenback is trading against the Euro at 1.17530 while trading against the Pound at 1.35976. The Yen is currently trading at 156.34 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR), is currently trading around the 16.38 mark against the US dollar this morning.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures are trending higher, and currently trading at around $4699.00 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are trending almost 0.16% higher today, with prices currently around $6.1466 per pound
• Silver futures are trending 0.76% higher today, and currently trading at around $77.846 per ounce.
• Platinum futures are up around 0.5% this morning, and currently trading at $2074.30, While Palladium prices are trending 0.26% higher, and currently trading around $1557.00 per ounce.
• Brent crude oil prices are trending around 0.5% higher and currently trading around $101.85. WTI is trading at $95.61 currently
• Cocoa futures continue to lift, up by 1.5% this morning, with prices currently around $4135 per ton. Prices are up over 20% this week.
• Coffee futures are trending around -2% lower today, and currently trading at around $2.8385 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices are trending 0.3% lower this morning, and trading at around $81 061 per coin currently 
• Ether prices are trending -0.7% lower today, and currently trading around $2332.32
• $Trumpcoin are currently trading level at around $2.383

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H15 Central African Time) 

African General News Briefs:

•  Uganda’s parliament has passed new ​legislation aimed at reducing alleged foreign influence. This after scaling back proposed restrictions on funding from ‌abroad that the central bank governor said risked “economic disaster”. The bill, entitled “The Protection of Sovereignty Bill”, was adopted late on Tuesday and now only requires the signature of President Yoweri Museveni to be enacted. Museveni, and allies in the ruling party have regularly criticised external influences in Ugandan politics, accusing domestic ​political rivals of receiving funding from abroad and pushing foreign agendas. 
• TANZANIAN President, Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, and President of Kenya, William Ruto, have witnessed the signing of eight Memoranda of Understanding and bilateral agreements aimed at strengthening of regional cooperation between the two nations. According to official statements, the eight agreements cover several strategic sectors. The countries have agreed to enhance cooperation in the development and management of railway systems, a move intended to facilitate the movement of people and goods while improving trade efficiency within the East African Community.