News

South Africa's health regulator is recalling batches of Johnson & Johnson's children's cough syrup Benylin after high levels of diethylene glycol were detected. The batches, 329304 and 329303, date from 2021 and were sold in South Africa, Eswatini, Rwanda,...

Chinese online discount consumer goods marketplace Temu has started operations in Morocco, having opened in South Africa, its first African market, in January 2024. Temu has reportedly signed an agreement with Poste Maroc/Barid Al-Maghrib subsidiary Chrono Diali to...

Launch Africa Ventures, a Pan African Venture Capital firm, has announced it has invested an undisclosed amount into Zuri, an emergent start-up within the haircare and cosmetics sector. This comes after Zuri closed a $1.25m round in 2023 and launched a new $5m...

A new EU framework designed to prevent deforestation and which imposes due diligence requirements on the production of six key agricultural products, is likely to add cost and complexity to Ethiopian coffee exporters. It could potentially also have secondary...

Qatari dairy company Baladna has signed an agreement with the Algerian government to build a farm in Algeria for the production of powdered milk. The farm will cover 100,000 hectares and aim to produce 200,000 tonnes of powdered milk annually. In March...

Shoprite has co-launched a $125m venture capital fund with Tesco, Ahold Delaize, Woolworths Group and Empire Company/Sobeys. The fund will have a focus on sustainability in retail. The fund is called W23 Global and will be run out of Sydney by Ingrid Maes, who is...

Retail startup Jump n Pass has partnered with Nigerian chain Justrite to activate its mobile self-checkout at Justrite supermarkets in Nigeria. The system is currently operating at its Bariga, Lagos outlet. The plan is to roll out the mobile self-checkout to all 26...

Fast food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill has opened its first outlet in the Middle East. The American QSR franchise has partnered with Alshaya Group, the major Middle Eastern QSR and retail operator that also operates franchises of Starbucks, Shake Shack, The...

Abidjan bans beggars, street sellers and go-slow vendors who operate along the city's major roads. At the beginning of March the governor of Abidjan, Ibrahim Cissé Bacongo, declared that he disliked itinerant traders and beggars and wanted to find an alternative to...

Arçelik, Beko’s parent company, has acquired Whirlpool’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) operations. Arçelik now owns Whirlpool’s UAE and Morocco businesses and manages Whirlpool's major domestic appliance (MDA) business in the MENA region. In January...

Heineken subsidiary Braliwa has opened a new production line at its Gisenyi brewery in Rubavu district, from where it has brewed since 1957. The move is part of a €30m ($32m) expansion project designed to allow the company to scale more sustainably and achieve net...

The Giplait dairy company has opened up six new dairy outlets in the Algerian city of Oran. The initiative is designed to improve the penetration of its products in one of its key growth markets. Giplait produces fresh milk, skimmed milk, butter, cream, yoghurt and...

BURN Manufacturing (BURN), a Kenyan manufacturer and distributor of clean cooking stoves, has raised over $12m to expand across Africa. The investment has been led by Key Carbon and Cartesian. The company has raised $30.5m to date but plans to raise up to $120m....

Libya’s Central Bank has instructed commercial banks to temporarily impose a 27% fee on foreign currency exchange rates. If successful, the move will dramatically push up the cost of legally imported goods in Libya. The instruction to banks from Hamza Ashour...

Zimbabwean supermarkets have now effectively dollarised, buying and selling in US dollars. From last week, major chains OK Zimbabwe, TM (Pick n Pay) and Spar have adopted exclusive US dollar pricing in stores. The continued loss in value of the Zimbabwean dollar,...